Most people of the West regard Chinese as one of the most difficult languages in the world. They think of written Chinese as especially difficult to master because the characters are not related to their pronunciation. This is true to a certain extent. From the visual viewpoint, however, the Chinese ideogram is more suggestive of meaning than an alphabetical language and is easy to remember. For example, "mouth" is written as 口 and "door" as 門, both indicating the shape of the object. When the two are combined as one character in 問—a man opening his mouth at somebody's door—it produces the new meaning of "ask".
Characters can be fun, even for those who have no intention of studying the language. Tourists can find their way around Taiwan once they have learned to recognize some of the characters to be found on signboards, street markers, and building and institutional designations. This article sets forth the characters that are most likely to be encountered. The reader who does not plan to visit the Far East may be interested merely to find out that those squiggles really mean something. The Romanization is that of the Wade-Giles system.
When a stranger arrives in a new place, he may first want to orient himself to the direction of the compass. In Chinese these are 東 (tung, east), 西 (hsi, west), 南 (nan, south), and 北 (pei, north). In the Chinese arrangement of latitude, the north is always preceded by the south. This sequence was fixed thousands of years ago, presumably because the south was preferred for warmth and easier living. In Taiwan, the names of many localities are suffixed by directional denominations. For example, the capital city of Taipei (台北) literally means the "north of Taiwan". Tainan (台南) means the "south of Taiwan" and Taitung (台東) the "east of Taiwan".
For postal administration, Taipei is demarcated into some 200 路 (lu, roads) and 街 (chieh, streets). More than two-thirds of them bear geographical names from the Chinese mainland, such as 北平 (Peiping), 南京 (Nanking), 上海 (Shanghai), and 廣東 (Canton). The rest have the names of important personages, moral virtues, and so on.
Which Direction
Lengthy roads and streets are divided into east-west or south-north sectors. Conspicuous examples are 南京東路 (Nan-ching tung-lu, Nanking East Road) and 南京西路 (Nan-ching hsi-lu, Nanking West Road) as well as 重慶南路 (Ch'ung-ch'ing nan-lu, Chungking South Road) and 重慶北路 (Ch'ung-ch'ing pei-lu, Chungking North Road). Conventionally, 南京 and 重慶 have been Romanized as Nanking and Chungking. However, most Chinese pronounce them as Nan-ching and Ch'ung-ch'ing.
Roads named for important personages include 中山南路 (Chung-shan nan-lu, Chungshan South Road) and 中山北路 (Chung-shan pei-lu, Chungshan North Road), 中正路 (Chung-cheng lu, Chungcheng Road), and 羅斯福路 (Lo-sze-fu lu, Roosevelt Road). Chung-shan is the scholarly name of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Founding Father of the Republic, and Chung-cheng is that of President Chiang Kai-shek. Lo-szu-fu is the Chinese transliteration of (Franklin D.) Roosevelt.
Roads that bear the names of moral virtues include 忠孝 (Chung-hsiao, loyalty and filial piety), 仁愛 (Jen-ai, benevolence and love), 信義 (Hsin-yi, faith and righteousness), and 和平 (Ho-ping, harmony and peace).
To keep numbers small, roads and streets are divided into from two to five 段 (tuan, sections). A section has a certain number of 巷 (hsiang, lanes). Lanes mayor may not have 弄 (lung, sub-lanes) depending on the density of dwellings.
The sequence of a Chinese address is arranged in the reverse order of a Western address. For instance, the Western-style address of
4 Sub-lane 3, Lane 2, Section 1 Chungshan North Road Taipei
begins with the house number and ends with the city. In Chinese, however, it is reversed to:
Written Chinese
台北
中山北路
1段 2巷3弄4號
Spoken Chinese
T'ai-pei
Chung-shan pei-lu
Yi-tuan erh-hsiang san-lung szu-hao
All road and street signs, including section numbers, are written horizontally in Chinese. They are read from the right to the left. Section numbers from 1 to 5 in Chinese are 一, 二, 三, 四, 五, (yi, erh, san, szu, wu). But the numbers of lanes, sub-lanes, and houses are expressed in Arabic numerals.
Government Terms
Post offices are called 郵局 (yu-chu) and cable offices 電信局 (tien-hsin-chu). Usually, post and cable offices are found in the same building.
Transportation facilities include 火車 (huo-che, trains), 汽車 (ch'i-che, buses), 計程車 (chi-ch'eng-che, taxis), and 三輪車 (san-lun-che, pedicabs). A "station" is called 站 (chan) and that word may be suffixed to both "train" and "bus". An "airplane" is 飛機 (fei-chi) and an "airport" 飛機場 (fei-chi ch'ang) .
The English term "government" in Chinese is 政府 (cheng-fu), meaning the political office. These two Chinese characters can be used as a suffix to all levels of government. Hence the Taiwan Provincial Government is 台灣省政府 (T'ai-wan sheng cheng-fu) and the Taipei Municipal Government is 台北市政府 (T'ai-pei shih cheng-fu).
The Central Government of the Republic of China consists of the following five 院 (Yuan):
The police are called 警察 (ching-ch'a) and the police bureau is 警察局 (ching-ch'a chu)
Title Are Easy
Generally speaking, the titles of Chinese officials are less complicated than those of their Western counterparts. With a few exceptions, the heads of organizations at all levels may be addressed with the suffix 長 (chang). For example, "city mayor" in Chinese is 市長 (shih-chang), "county magistrate" 縣長 (hsien-chang), "town chief" 鎮長 (Cheng-chang), and "village chief" 村長 (ts'un-chang). Title of other officials that may be suffixed by chang include:
Honorable Clerks
When addressing people, the Chinese prefer to suffix the person's official title to his surname. Thus Minister Lin in English is reversed to Lin Pu-chang in Chinese. In many countries, the addressing of people by titles is limited to those of higher positions. In China, titles are used on all levels. A clerk surnamed Wang may be called 王科員 (Wang K'o-yuan, literally Wang, the Section Member).
There are more than 30 foreign embassies and consulates in Taipei. In Chinese, an embassy is called 大使館 (ta-shih kuan) and the consulate 領事館 (ling-shih kuan). As in English, the embassy or consulate is prefixed by the name of the country. The American Embassy in Chinese is 美國大使館 (Mei-kuo ta-shih kuan) and the British Consulate is英國領事館 (Ying-kuo ling-shih kuan). Countries that have diplomatic or consular missions in Taipei are as follows:
Types of Stores
Except for the Lunar New Year holidays, stores in Taiwan are open every day in the year. Business hours are from 8 or 9 in the morning until 10 or 11 at night. Many large stores display their names in both Chinese and English. These are the principal classifications of retail establishments:
Most hotels, restaurants, theaters, banks, insurance companies, and trading firms in Taiwan show their names in both Chinese and English. The Chinese terms for theaters, banks and insurance companies are unique. However, those for other categories include synonyms. These are examples:
The general term for "school" is 學校 (hsueh-hsiao). These two characters may be used as a suffix to form all levels of education institutions. Thus a "university" is 大學校 (ta hsueh-hsiao, large school), a "high school" 中學校 (chung hsueh-hsiao, middle school), and a "primary school" 小學校 (hsiao hsueh-hsiao, small school). For simplicity and euphony, the last character 校 (hsiao) is omitted in daily use. Hence these three levels of schools are usually written as 大學 (ta hsueh),中學 (chung hsueh), and 小學 (hsiao hsueh). But officially, a "primary school" has been called 國民學校 (kuo-min hsueh-hsiao, citizens' school) since 1947, because the Constitution which came into force in that year stipulated that "All citizens shall have equal opportunity to receive an education".
A four-year "college" is 學院 (hsueh-yuan, academy) and a two or three-year "junior college" is 專科學院 (chuan-k'o hsueh-hsiao, specialized branch school).
Vocational schools include the following categories: 農業 (nung-yeh, agriculture), 工業 (kung-yeh, industry), 商業 (shang-yeh, commerce), 水產 (shui-ch'an, fisheries), 家事 (chia-shih, home economics), and 護理 (hu-li, nursing). At all levels, "teachers" are respectfully called 老師 (lao-shih, the old or venerable master). The title of "professor" in Chinese is 教授 (chiao-shou) .
Taiwan has more than 23,000 medical personnel. The 500 medical institutions include 醫院 (yi-yuan, hospital) and 診所 (chen-suo, clinic). The Chinese terms for medical personnel are 醫生 (yi-sheng, doctor), 護士 (hu-shih, nurse), 助產士 (chu-ch'an-shih, midwife), and 藥劑士 (yao-chi-shih, pharmacist).
Signboards are written vertically or horizontally. The vertical ones are read from top to the bottom, the horizontal ones from the right to left. A lot of Chinese can be learned by looking at them closely and then looking inside to see what goods are being sold or services offered.