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English is not a culture bind

Let us not be too critical and give some credit to Taiwan's students, parents and government ("When to learn our ABCs," Nov. 22, page 8). Internationalization by learning English is the right track and elementary school is the right time to start.

A TOEFL score is, well, just a score. Although many things depend on it, such as admission to US colleges, it still indicates how much effort a student put in to enable him or her to study abroad. As for proficiency, it comes with the environment -- the more you use the language, the more proficient you become.

Give credit to the government for trying to provide an environment to use English.

One distinct difference from promoting "colonial" foreign languages, such as Japanese and Mandarin, is that nobody is attempting to supress native languages.

That should be sufficient to explain why promoting English will not suppress Taiwan's conscience or national identity and nor will it impede Taiwan's cultural development.

Culture is a very complicated and interesting living thing. Nobody would say that Taiwan's culture today is the same as it was fifty years ago. It is by connecting Taiwan's culture to the world rather than to China that will liberate and enrich Taiwan's culture.

Many Taiwanese-Americans, such as myself, will attest to the fact that, after using English as a first language for decades, our Taiwanese conscience and national identity remain strong, perhaps stronger than many who never left Taiwan or learned to speak one word of English.

So, when is the best time to start learning your ABCs? The earlier the better. Children need to learn it and will learn it -- if grown-ups make it fun and unintimidating.

Chen Ming-chung
Chicago
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