Southeast Asian countries are seeking to dispel the image of being underdeveloped.
At the end of
2015, the ASEAN-10 nations jointly issued the
Kuala Lumpur Declaration, formally launching the start of the
ASEAN economic community. With a population of 600 million, this region has drawn interest from businesses in
China,
South Korea, and the US. To successfully benefit from this market, one needs to understand the local language and local culture.
Taiwan''s current economic strength cannot compare to
China, Japan, and South Korea, but it does have relatively greater numbers of second generation new immigrants. However, just 10 percent of these second generational new immigrants are able to speak their mother tongue. These students are reading
Vietnamese along with their teacher at
Kaohsiung’s
Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages.And here, an
Indonesian language class is almost completely packed with students.Li Yun-hsuan is a sophomore university student who is learning
Indonesian. She herself is a second generation new immigrant from
Indonesia.Li Yun-hsuan
Second Generation New Immigrant In middle school and high school there were no Indonesian language courses. These courses were only offered in the university and this why I decided to join the class.
Whether it’s elementary school or university, Taiwan''s second generation immigrants typically are not able to speak their mother''s native tongue. Many are wondering why this deficiency is so prevalent.
Chen Yu-wenNTU
Social Work Professor When a woman comes here, the government’s assimilation policies and multicultural class are only designed to help them blend into the local (
Taiwanese) culture. Li Han-You, who is originally from
Vietnam, echoes the feelings of other new migrants, when she says they realize that they have to actively “Sinify” and please their husbands’ families and societies, but in the process they lose their mother tongue.The current culture in Taiwan asks new immigrants to assimilate, with many of them losing their native language or having it ignored. The second generation of new immigrants is also influenced by subtle social values to develop negative attitudes towards their mothers’ native tongue.
Chang ChengFormer 4-Way
Voice Editor in ChiefChildren know that these languages are looked down upon at home and in the community. So they are not encouraged to speak this with their good friends. I have heard many second-generation new immigrants speak about them with contempt, which is actually the attitude of the community.In Taiwan, there are widespread tendencies to view Southeast Asian nations as (lower down) in the hierarchy of rich and poor nations. But this just reveals our own lack of understanding of international developments. Our understanding is too shallow. Over the past ten years, the rapid rise of Southeast Asian economies and launch of the ASEAN economic community at the end of 2015 have caused all nations to want a piece of the economic pie. Cheng Wen-chung is a
Taiwanese businessman with 20 years of experience in
Southeast Asia, who has witnessed the transformation first hand.Cheng Wen-chungTaiwanese
Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam I have lived in Vietnam for more than 13 years and also lived in Indonesia for five years.
Ho Chi Minh City’s (economy and consumer spending) are no less than
Taichung.The vigorous development of these countries together with the potential of emerging markets is attracting the interest of some Taiwanese young people.Chang Shoou-HueyWenzao Ursuline UniversityMore and more people are enrolling in
Southeast Asian language courses, so we set up a Southeast Asian language teaching center.In addition to language instruction, we also teach (students) about different industries, and also teach the political, social, and historical background of Southeast Asia.At the moment Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages is the only one in Taiwan to establish a program dedicated to
Southeast Asian languages and industry. In comparison, in neighboring South Korea, interest in ASEAN markets is more widespread.He Jing-rongSecond
Generation New ImmigrantKorean business consortiums such as
Samsung or
Lotte or
Hyundai each year send some 100-200 students from within their company to study Indonesian language and culture
.In the face of this strong competition, Taiwan actually has more advantages than
Korea because it has some
300,
000 to 400,000 second generation immigrants from Southeast Asia.He Jing-rongSecond Generation New ImmigrantSecond generation immigrants know the situation in Taiwan and they know about Southeast Asia. If one can speak a Southeast Asian language skillfully, then Taiwanese businessmen won’t need to hire local translators. Ideally, if second generation new immigrants can understand both
Chinese and Southeast Asian languages, along with the necessary cultural background, they could be attractive
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- published: 11 Apr 2016
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