UBC GO GLOBAL CHIN234: LEARNING CHINESE IN A LIVING CLASSROOM IN TAIWAN
ABRIELLE WINSOR'S REFLECTIONS
林安
REFLECTION 1
My experience with researching Taiwanese politics
上网学台湾的政治有一点儿麻烦。少的人在网上聊天儿台湾的政治，所以台湾的政治新闻很难找！虽然很难找，可是我看网上看了一个小时以后找到政治的新闻。我觉得跟台北的人聊天儿政治有一点儿难。我的中文水平不太好，所以我有的时候听不懂台北的人。我问八个人跟我聊天儿，可是一个人不愿意，两个人太忙，和一个人很愿意可是我忘了录影。In other words, it took a lot of effort to get the three interviews taped that I did. However, I have a lot more confidence now than before about approaching people, because although it was difficult the interviews went smoothly and everyone was kind!
I also experienced technical difficulties in the actual editing of my vlog. The program I was using was not exactly kind to me, and I was having a lot of trouble syncing up the audio recording. Luckily, I had some help- 我的男朋友帮我！他以前去大学校学录影，所以他可以帮我解决我的电脑问题！ However, in the future, I will not be using that program.
What did I learn, and what am I going to do next?
我觉得台湾的政治很有意思。My initial research indicated that there seems to be a fairly positive view of politics in Taiwan。我觉得台湾的人觉得政治很重要，因为很多的人每天投票。Out of the eight people I approached only one seemed reluctant to discuss the issue of politics itself, which shows that politics still isn’t a completely out-and-free topic- but then, is there anywhere where isn’t the case? 在加拿大些个人也不喜欢聊天儿政治。
我觉得很多的人可以明白台湾的政治。台湾的政治不太难懂。学习一下以后我觉得台湾的政治跟加拿大差不多一样，差不多不一样。Although Taiwanese politics most certainly have major differences from Canada, in terms of political structure their political systems are a bit more similar than I was originally anticipating. Moving forward, I want to dig more into the specifics and technicalities of Taiwan’s democracy. Ie how much power do the people really have? Do the people understand what is going on in their country? Does the government effectively try to solve problems within Taiwan?
I will hopefully be able to find some people to interview for my next vlog- that is currently a work in progress.
谢谢你们!
-林安
REFLECTION 2
你好老师们。这是我的第二个政治录影感想。
首先，我要告诉你为什么我觉得第二个录影非常有意思，再告诉你为什么电脑很糟糕。
为什么很有意思？
我来台湾以前不知道台湾的政治怎么样。我知道台湾跟中国不一样，也知道很多的台湾人觉得中国的政治人不太好，可是我不知道为什么中国跟台湾有很多政治课题。现在我知道为什么他们有很多课题! 为了我做录影做得很好，我花很多的时间学台湾政治。我除了学台湾政治以外，还学台湾历史！Since I’ve spent so much time looking at Taiwanese politics (and a bit of history), I now understand why so many Taiwanese people are frustrated with the situation. 我觉得政治和历史都重要极了。And politics and history aren’t just important to some people- I think one way or another, they affect everyone. Looking at the tensions between China and Taiwan allowed me to better understand Taiwan’s political situation, and understanding their political situation has helped me understand Taiwan’s people better. 那太好了，是因为除了为了中文水平越来越高，我来台湾以外，还为了我认识台湾人越来越好，我来台湾。
我觉得第二个录影很有意思! 虽然做录影不容易，但是很好玩儿！台湾是一个很有意思的地方，我希望我会越来越了解台湾。
为什么电脑很糟糕?
哈哈哈哈哈哈。。。。
Before I tell you, just let me give you some background.
我常常用我的电脑给别的人发电子邮件，看录影，也听音乐。我这个星期以前觉得我的电脑很有用，可是现在我觉得我的电脑有的时候没有用。Two nights ago, I did some editing work on my vlog.. Everything was going great, I had already spent over six hours editing my vlog. I saved my work, put my laptop away, and fell asleep. Yesterday I went to work on my vlog some more. But when I opened laptop and started the program… I saw that five and a half minutes of my vlog were completely ruined. Parts were randomly missing, parts were randomly added- it was disastrous. And it happened for no reason! My computer decided to attack me overnight. Evil.
At first, I had no idea what to do.That was hours and hours of work that I would need to make up for, and even if I managed to get it done… I’d have to do it all over again just a few days later. With less time. I got very stressed. I had a problem I had no idea how to deal with, and if I spent too much time trying to fix it I could be taking time away from other schoolwork. As such, I tried to distract myself by doing other schoolwork and doing relaxing things (such as drawing) until I felt calm enough to sort it out. I knew I could talk to the teachers about it more today, so I came up with a possible plan and brought it to 小李老师and 王老师 this morning. Thank GOODNESS all the teachers are so kind and understanding. I asked if I would be able to combine my last two vlogs into one and they agreed. This means I now know exactly what I want to do for my next vlog. My second vlog was going to discuss the Taiwan-China issue (which is why I was talking about it above), and now I will be discussing not only Taiwan- China relations but political problems within Taiwan itself. In order to avoid more troubles I also downloaded a much better editing software, so hopefully now I will have no more problems!!! I am also hoping to use some of the extra time to maybe try to figure out how to add Mandarin subtitles to more of my vlog- we’ll see how much I can do!!
I love learning about Taiwanese politics and Taiwanese people, and editing the videos has been so much fun. I really don’t mind all the time I spend on it. Taiwan has such an interesting political situation and I’ve gained so much more knowledge on the complexities of it since starting this project. It’s exciting, and I feel like it’s a very important thing to understand about Taiwan. I didn’t expect to be learning so much from this project, but I’m happy I am!!
谢谢你们!
REFLECTION 3
我第三个录影是我最好玩做的录影。我不但很喜欢学我三个政治的录影，而且很喜欢学政治以后拍我的录影！I learned so much about Taiwanese politics for this vlog, and it was really neat because I was also able to connect the dots much better between what the teachers I interviewed were saying and what I was seeing in the news. 我越来越明白台湾的政治！This vlog let me go further into Taiwan's politics, and I'm coming out with new questions still- which I am actually very excited about! 我还没学很多的课题，还没听很多台湾人的看法。我希望我可以一直学台湾的政治！我觉得政治很重要，所以知道越来越多的政治课题然我当然很高兴。我也很高兴是因为我可以教别的人台湾政治的课题，所以很多的人越来越明白台湾。
I also really enjoyed the editing process for my vlog. 为了我的录影不但很好看，而且很特别，我花很多的时间做我的录影。可是我觉得做我第三个录影不麻烦，是因为做我的录影很好玩儿！I loved making the video because it was an opportunity for me to not only share what I had learned, but also to express myself and have fun trying something new! 现在我知道怎么做很好的录影，所以我觉得我会再做好几次!
这个录影没有下个录影那么多问题。我的电脑没坏子，所以我很高兴!!! The majority of my difficulties were just related to the limited time I had to shoot and edit my vlog. 下个星期六，我在咖啡店做录影十个钟头。非常长的时间！开始的时候我担心我不会能做完录影，可是两天以后我做完录影- 太好了!!
谢谢老师们帮我做录影- 要是你没帮我，我觉得我下个星期六可能死了。
我第三个录影对我很重要。I am happy that I can keep the video for as long as my Gmail account survives:)