In order to welcome the oldest boys' choir in the world to Taipei, I embarked upon a challenging journey to study the German language. I wish I could extend the Taiwanese hospitality to 34 little boys and 20 older boys from Regensburg Domspatzen during their Taiwan Concert Tour from April 28th till May 10th.At Taipei Skal Toastmasters Club's 1st anniversary party Wednesday evening (1/19), I asked Toastmaster Ronald Wiplinger if he would be interested in exchanging the language with me, he teaches me German and I teach him Mandarin. Toastmaster Ronald Wiplinger replied, why not? We didn't waste time and started our first two classes the following days, Thursday (1/20) and Friday (1/21).
I am happy for Toastmaster Ronald Wiplinger. He finally made up his mind to study Mandarin after having lived in Taiwan for more than 20 years. I am sure he can master the language fast being surrounded by Mandarin speaking people everyday. Toastmaster Ronald Wiplinger is excited about delivering his icebreaker speech in Mandarin at a Mandarin speaking Toastmasters club in the near future. And me, to deliver a speech in German at a Toastmasters club in Germany? I couldn't even dream about it!
My wishful thinking to entertain the Regensburg Domspatzen in their mother tongue is unrealistic, to be honest! I simply over-estimate my ability to acquire a foreign language in a short time. Firstly, the pronunciation of German is painstaking regardless how hard Toastmaster Ronald Wiplinger helps me articulate the vowel and consonant sounds again and again. Secondly, the verbs and nouns of the German language must be conjugated and changed in a strict way accordingly. Thirdly, I can't use the German language in my everyday life in Taipei.
What's more, I felt very frustrated that I couldn't find any German Textbooks in the library this weekend. The bookshelves of the Taipei City Library are jammed with Foreign Language Textbooks, from Spanish, French, Thai, Indonesian, Malay, not to mention English and Japanese. I don't know why there are no German textbooks. What happened to the German Language in Taiwan?
2 comments:
Toastmaster Virginia Lee recommends I try my luck at the Goethe Institute in Taipei.
http://www.goethe.de/ins/cn/tai/wis/bib/cnindex.htm
Thank you, Virginia, for the valuable information! I shall pay a visit to the Goethe Institute this week!
Ask me why I join the Toastmasters! The answer is simple, to meet talented people from all walks of life.
Take the German language learning for example, just when I was at lost not knowing how to acquire the lanague, I was recommended to try Deutsch Interaktiv For Students
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,9572,00.html
People to learn free and effectively online with specific interactive exercises.
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