What's the quickest way to understand a country's culture? Learning its language, many might reckon. For ambassadors from Taiwan's diplomatic allies, learning to speak Mandarin Chinese has offered a way to get involved in all corners of Taiwan's life.
After a recommendation by Honduras Ambassador Marlene Villela De Talbott, who suggested to Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) the benefits of language training to gaining an understanding of Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in January began to provide Mandarin classes to ambassadors from Taiwan's 25 diplomatic allies and their spouses.
The year-long course ended recently, with the ministry holding a two-day trip to Nantou and Taichung counties led by Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山), who gave out certificates in recognition of the ambassadors' efforts.
Chen said he noticed that all of Russia's envoys to Taiwan and their wives can speak fluent Chinese, adding it would be ideal if all foreign diplomats in Taiwan and Taiwan's diplomats abroad could strive to master the languages of their countries of residence.
To mark the end of the course, ambassadors and their wives from nine allied countries staged a performance to showcase their newly acquired Mandarin skills on Tuesday night at Sun Moon Lake's Lalu Hotel (
The site of the hotel used to be a summer residence for Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and has now become one of the country's top hotels. It accepts only a limited number of guests per day.
Most of the ambassadors introduced their countries using Chinese, holding Romanized scripts in their hands to help with pronunciation.
"Costa Rica has very beautiful scenery. The weather there is fantastic. You are very welcome to visit Costa Rica," Costa Rican Ambassador Oscar Alvarez said in Mandarin.
Sao Tome and Principe Ambassador Ladislau D'Almedia and his wife spoke confidently without any notes and told of how ties were built between the Western African country and Taiwan.
The group's language teacher, Huang Kuei-ying (黃桂英) from National Normal Teachers' University, who previously taught at Columbia University in the US, said that although the course was short, the ambassadors were very diligent about practicing.
"Once they were practicing how to say `stop' in Chinese in a taxi, which caused the taxi driver to stop the car immediately. They had to explain to the driver that they were only practicing speaking Chinese instead of wanting to get out of the car," Huang said.
As beginners, errors in pronunciation and grammar among the group were inevitable.
D'Almedia made a minor grammatical mistake, calling his teacher "Teacher Huang" instead of "Huang Teacher." Chinese grammar puts the name before a person's title.
Expressing gratitude to the foreign ministry for arranging the course, Alvarez said: "This important academic activity organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has allowed us to initiate a knowledge of Mandarin and strengthen our knowledge of the culture of this friendly country."
Chen said members of the diplomatic corps had responded positively and the ministry was likely to continue the classes.
The two-day tour also took the ambassadors to other parts of central Taiwan, which is home to many Aboriginals as well as the center of the 7.6 earthquake that hit Taiwan on Sept. 21, 1999.
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