This book provides composite materials for learning Taiwanese, suitable for both autodidacts and instructed students. The romanization and characters used are standardized orthography promulgated by Taiwan's Ministry of Education, a must-learn system if you aim to pass the proficiency test organized by the Ministry.

You will find musical notes, Do Re and Mi, under each example sentence. They give you a rough grasp of the tone pattern. You can ‘sing’ the sentences along and find them understandable to a native speaker. You may sound like a Taiwanese speaking robot, but never mind! It’s a useful tool before you master all the tones and sandhi tones. They also help you read a sentence without consulting its audio file.

In this book, we do not confine ourselves to ‘proper language’. You also encounter words and phrases deemed impolite or rude on formal occasions. They help you comprehend the language in the everyday life context. Caution: think twice before uttering words or phrases marked ‘vulgar’.

Both teachers and students can use this book flexibly, according to their course designs or learning purposes. For example, you can use each unit of the lexicon as a vocabulary list for reference, and rearrange the words as you see fit. And there is no need to memorize all the words before moving on.

Due to lack of space, this book is limited only to the language, although extralinguistic information of culture, history, customs, etc. is always interesting and linguistically relevant. Teachers and students are encouraged to explore and communicate other aspects of Taiwan, which will eventually benefit your learning and understanding of the Taiwanese language.

This book provides composite materials for learning Taiwanese, suitable for both autodidacts and instructed students. The romanization and characters used are standardized orthography promulgated by Taiwan's Ministry of Education, a must-learn system if you aim to pass the proficiency test organized by the Ministry.

You will find musical notes, Do Re and Mi, under each example sentence. They give you a rough grasp of the tone pattern. You can ‘sing’ the sentences along and find them understa...

How to Use This Book 001
To the Reader 002

Chapter 01
1.1〈knowledge〉The Language and Its Speakers 010
1.2〈conversation〉Self-introduction(1) 014
1.3〈conversation〉Useful classroom expressions 016

Chapter 02
2.1〈knowledge〉Vowels 026
2.2〈lexicon〉Useful expressions 028
2.3〈lexicon〉Fruit and snacks 032
2.4〈conversation〉Greeting 034

Chapter 03
3.1〈conversation〉Self-introduction (2) 038
3.2〈conversation〉Borrowing things 042

Chapter 04
4.1〈knowledge〉Consonants 050
4.2〈lexicon〉Family members and relatives 054
4.3〈knowledge〉Pronouns 058
4.4〈lexicon〉Numbers 060

Chapter 05
5.1〈activity〉Huah tsiú-kûn / Tâi-uân-kûn 066
5.2〈lexicon〉Classifiers and measure words 068
5.3〈conversation〉Time and date 072
5.4〈knowledge〉Tones 084

Chapter 06
6.1〈conversation〉Eating out 088
6.2〈conversation〉Ordering food 092
6.3〈conversation〉Talking about food 096

Chapter 07
7.1〈conversation〉Hanging out 102
7.2〈conversation〉Bargaining 104
7.3〈activity〉Learning by singing 112

Chapter 08
〈conversation〉Holidays 118

Chapter 09
9.1〈knowledge〉Tone sandhi (1) 132
9.2〈knowledge〉Making a question 134
9.3〈knowledge〉Tone Sandhi (2) 140
9.4〈lexicon〉Colors 142

Chapter 10
10.1〈conversation〉Hobbies 148
10.2〈activity〉Learning by singing 154

Chapter 11
〈knowledge〉Pronouncing a sentence with the right tones- steps and tips 160

Chapter 12
12.1〈knowledge〉Taiwanese Input Method 168
12.2〈knowledge〉Some General rules for You to Make a Sentence in Taiwanese by yourself 170
12.3〈knowledge〉The object position - A small grammar note 174

Chapter 13
13.1〈conversation〉Asking for directions 178
13.2〈knowledge〉Tone sandhi (3) 186

Chapter 14
14.1〈conversation〉Occupations 192
14.2〈activity〉Learning by singing 198

Chapter 15
15.1〈lexicon〉Grammatical Aspect 204
15.2〈lexicon〉Using verbs expressively 212

Chapter 16
16.1〈lexicon〉Localizers and Location 216
16.2〈lexicon〉Some fixed expressions and colloquial terms 222
16.3〈activity〉Learning by singing 232
16.4〈activity〉Learning by singing 236

How to Use This Book 001
To the Reader 002

Chapter 01
1.1〈knowledge〉The Language and Its Speakers 010
1.2〈conversation〉Self-introduction(1) 014
1.3〈conversation〉Useful classroom expressions 016

Chapter 02
2.1〈knowledge〉Vowels 026
2.2〈lexicon〉Useful expressions 028
2.3〈lexicon〉Fruit and snacks 032
2.4〈conversation〉Greeting 034

Chapter 03
3.1〈conversation〉Self-introduction (2) 038
3.2〈conversation〉Borrowing things 042

Chapter 04
4.1〈knowledge〉C...