Hello All on Tai-gu-bang, I am a third-year graduate student in Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. My research is toward the development of a power system that will make electricity from sunlight without using silicon. Outside of school, I have been taking Taiji class on campus, like to play jazz saxophone, and study things about Taiwan. My mother sent me to Taiwan for the summer of 2001 to study Mandarin at National Taiwan Normal University. I did not know any Taiwanese or Mandarin at the time, so I did not venture to interact much outside of class or my host's home. Since that summer was my first-hand introduction to anything related to Taiwan, I did not know of all the issues contributing to the rise of Mandarin language on Taiwan. Through my readings, I now have a better idea of the island's history and also what proper Mandarin sounds like. I realized that I don't like the harsh Beijing consonants and simplified pronunciation, and that Taiwanese Hoklo sounds more comforting and has pronunciation with roots way back to before Tang dynasty. I also know about the political factors that forced Mandarin upon Taiwanese people. At least for my own enjoyment, I am going to start learning Taiwanese Hoklo. People say Hoklo has no writing and the Romanization is for illiterates. I think Romanization is a convenient way of conveying the pronunciation of a language. I hope to be able to communicate with this group after I learn some Hoklo.

I have a question: Does the group really have 97 members, as shown at
<http://tw.groups.yahoo.com/group/taigubang/> ?

Sincerely,
Konrad


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* Li chu-chheh e e-mail khau-cho si: Konrad Hsu Aschenbach .
* Beh kia phoe ho' tak-ke tioh iong chit-e khau-cho chiah kia-e-kau.
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