Speech Contest

About a month ago the head of the language school where I study Taiwanese approached me just as I stepped off the elevator one morning. "How would you like to enter a speech contest?", she asked. "Uh, sure. Okay," I replied.

I got the basic particulars from her; time, place, $200 NT ($7.00 CDN) registration fee. It was a "story telling" contest. Speeches were to be a minimum of 4 minutes, but not more than 5 mins. (or they would start deducting points). I didn't really have time to prepare my own story so I picked a "folk tale" from one of the books I was studying. Now I don't remember clearly if I asked our school principal if this contest was just for foreigners or not. I thought I did, and I thought she said yes, but maybe I just assumed it.

Well, come the day (May 3, which also happens to be our wedding anniversary), Eileen and I went down to the school where the contest was being held. We were a bit late and one of the contestants was already at the front giving his speech. As I entered the room, all eyes turned to me and Eileen. We were the only Caucasian faces in the room. Well, these other contestants must be from other Asian countries, like Japan, Thailand, or mainland China. However, I thought to myself, the guy currently giving his speech is speaking pretty good Taiwanese!

The next contestant, a young woman, gets up and starts her speech. Thirty seconds in to her speech, Eileen leans over to me and whispers, "Are you sure she's not native Taiwanese?"

"Sure sounds like one", I reply.

There were 16 contestants. I was #16. I got up and delivered my speech, just shy of 4 minutes. Everyone clapped as I sat down. One of the judges got up and said that they never expected a foreigner to join the contest. "What does he mean by that?", I wondered. Everyone was dismissed for a break. I asked one of the contestants what country he was from. "I'm Taiwanese", he replied. Turns out everyone in the contest, excluding me, was native Taiwanese.

We had a good laugh. Of course I didn't even place (the guy who took First was a professional Taiwanese radio DJ), but they did give me a plaque, and special recognition for my efforts. They commented on how good my tones were and that I didn't have any "foreign accent".

Would I do it again? Maybe. It was a good experience, and I was glad I could represent the language school and join in the efforts of the Taiwanese culture association of Taichung to help promote the use of Taiwanese in Taiwan.

After the contest, and everyone had taken more than enough pictures, Eileen and I went out for our anniversary supper. It was a fun day, and I was thankful for the special memories that were made.