In this episode, we’ve learned some useful phrases for asking and giving directions, as well as essential vocabulary of Taiwanese addresses.
(These show notes use tables and rich formatting. Please visit the episode webpage for an optimal viewing experience.)
TAIWANESE ENGLISH tsia?t-?n MRT (Mass Rapid Transit), subway mn?g l?o to ask for directions (literally: ask-road) pò l?o to give directions (literally: inform-road) su-ki driver ùn-tsiàng driver
Culture note: the “ùn” part comes from the Japanese word “???” (un-ten-shu), which means “driver”, and “tsiàng” comes from “???” (-chan), which is a Japanese diminutive attached to a person's name or job title to make it a bit more friendly. It’s like a casual version of “sir” or “miss”. ti?t-ti?t khì / ti?t-ti?t kiânn go straight ahead uat tsiànn-tshiú-pîng / tsiànn-uat turn right uat tò-tshiú-pîng / tò-uat turn left kiânn kàu tshenn-âng-ting go until you reach the traffic light l?o-kháu intersection it-ti?t kiânn keep going kuè pi?n-l?-siong-tiàm pass by/after the convenient store T? ha?k-h?u thâu-tsîng, tò-tshiú-pîng koh uat--ji?p-khì. In front of the school, turn left again. Tsiànn-tshiú-pîng ê tu?-lâu t? s?--ah. It’s the building on the right-hand side. Tiàm tsia thîng t? hó. Stopping right here is fine. Pháinn-sè, tsioh-mn?g--tsi?t-?, Tâi-pak-tshia-thâu án-tsuánn kiânn? Excuse me, can I bother you for a second? How do I get to Taipei Main Station? __ án-tsuánn kiânn/khì? How do I get to…? *Syllables requiring tone changes have been greyed out.
To learn more about asking and giving directions in Taiwanese, check out our workbook. It also gives you some additional vocabulary, culture and grammar explanations, and great exercises to reinforce what you’ve learned in this episode.
TAIWANESE ADDRESSES If you jump into a taxi, sometimes it can be faster to just give the address of where you are going. If the driver is familiar with the roads, there may not be a need to enter it into a GPS. Let’s take a look at some common words used in the Taiwanese address system.
TAIWANESE ENGLISH t?-tsí address tsh? city ku?n county khu district l?o road (greater than 15 m, or 50 feet in width) ke street (8-15 m, or 20-50 feet in width) tang East se West lâm South pak North tang-sai-lâm-pak the four cardinal directions
Culture note: Whenever we say the 4 cardinal directions in English, it’s typically North, South, East, West. But in Taiwanese, it’s usually East, West, South, North. tu?nn section (longer roads or streets are often divided into sections called “tu?nn”) h?ng lane l?ng alley h? number ONE BITE CHALLENGE: EAST AND WEST, THIS AND THAT In this episode, we’ve talked a lot about directions so our One Bite Challenge this week is about a special usage of East “tang” and West “sai”. Notice here, that we use a different form of West, “sai” instead of “se”.
The sentence pattern goes like this:
verb - tang - verb - sai
Here East and West just means “this and that” or “all sorts of things”. It often suggests that you think those things are random or trivial.
Let’s look at some examples:
“mn?g” (to ask) ? “mn?g-tang-mn?g-sai”
This means to ask all sorts of questions. It can be used to describe someone who is nosy and keeps asking all these details about random things.
“si?nn” (to think) ? “si?nn-tang-si?nn-sai”
This means to keep thinking about all kinds of random stuff (often not focusing on actually doing things), to imagine things, or even to be paranoid.
There are quite a few common verbs that fit into this sentence pattern. If you don’t see one that you’ve heard before, leave us a message and we’ll add it to the list below for everyone to see!
TAIWANESE ENGLISH kóng-tang-kóng-sai to keep talking about all sorts of things, to gossip hiâm-tang-hiâm-sai to complain about all sorts of things, to be fault-finding and difficult to please kiann-tang-kiann-sai to be afraid of all sorts of things, to be spineless or overcautious tshòng-tang-tshòng-sai to do/make various unspecified things, to be busy with several things bú-tang-bú-sai to do/make various unspecified things, to be busy with several things pìnn-tang-pìnn-sai to do/play with various unspecified things, to be busy with several things
Music Credit: TeknoAXE
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