Students from the US won the top three prizes at a Mandarin public speaking contest in Taipei on Tuesday, in which the 54 contestants, all foreigners, had to choose from one of five topics to speak on.
Pierce Gissler McDonnell, an International Chinese Language Program (ICLP) student at National Taiwan University, won first prize at the Foreign Students Chinese Public Speaking Competition with his commentary on religious belief in Taiwan.
McDonnell described the loud and sharp sounds often heard at temple fairs in Taiwan. His presentation in fluent Mandarin earned him the first prize of NT$20,000.
Photo: CNA
The 24-year-old American said that he arrived in Taiwan about two months ago and hopes to look for work after studying at ICLP for a year.
“I began learning Chinese at an early age when I was three,” McDonnell said. “In fifth grade, I had the opportunity to come to Taiwan, and ... made a friendship with my host brother.”
They remained friends, and when he came back to Taiwan as an adult they went to see a religious festival in Changhua County’s Lukang Township (鹿港), where he was introduced to the religious side of Taiwanese culture, McDonnell said.
McDonnell is the vice president of education of the San Francisco Mandarin English Toastmasters, which gives people a chance to practice bilingual public speaking once a week.
“We’ve got a lot of members in Taiwan, China and the US. We meet virtually, and through that club I’ve had the opportunity every week to give speeches together,” McDonnell said.
The annual competition is organized by Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall to promote Chinese-language learning and showcase the beauty of Mandarin, memorial hall director-general Wang Lan-sheng (王蘭生) said.
“It shows that Taiwan provides an excellent environment in which to learn Mandarin, and I am very happy that the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall holds such an event, so that students from many different countries can conduct exchanges,” Wang said.
The contestants, from 16 countries, used powerful body language, facial expressions, and clear and authentic pronunciation, to enliven their speeches.
Clay Skaggs, a 21-year-old US student, who won the second-place prize of NT$16,000, spoke on the topic of whether people should tell white lies.
He gave a comedic example of refusing to answer a former girlfriend when she asked if she looked fat in a certain outfit.
Skaggs said he hopes to use his Chinese-language ability in diplomacy or historical analysis within academia, where one needs to study many Chinese sources.
The third prize of NT$12,000 was won by 21-year-old US student Angel Martinez Acevedo for his talk on breaking gender stereotypes.
One of the judges, Peter Chen (陳彥豪), a professor of foreign languages and applied linguistics at National Taipei University, said that Acevedo moved him to tears with his words.
“I am usually invited every year to judge the Mandarin public speaking contest, but this is the first time I shed tears. I was really touched,” Chen said.
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