In this episode, we’ve learned some useful phrases for asking and giving directions, as well as essential vocabulary of Taiwanese addresses.
(These show notes use tables and rich formatting. Please visit the episode webpage for an optimal viewing experience.)
| TAIWANESE | ENGLISH |
| tsia̍t-ūn | MRT (Mass Rapid Transit), subway |
| mn̄g lōo | to ask for directions (literally: ask-road) |
| pò lōo | to give directions (literally: inform-road) |
| su-ki | driver |
| ùn-tsiàng | driver
Culture note: the “ùn” part comes from the Japanese word “運転手” (un-ten-shu), which means “driver”, and “tsiàng” comes from “ちゃん” (-chan), which is a Japanese diminutive attached to a person's name or job title to make it a bit more friendly. It’s like a casual version of “sir” or “miss”. |
| ti̍t-ti̍t khì / ti̍t-ti̍t kiânn | go straight ahead |
| uat tsiànn-tshiú-pîng / tsiànn-uat | turn right |
| uat tò-tshiú-pîng / tò-uat | turn left |
| kiânn kàu tshenn-âng-ting | go until you reach the traffic light |
| lōo-kháu | intersection |
| it-ti̍t kiânn | keep going |
| kuè piān-lī-siong-tiàm | pass by/after the convenient store |
| Tī ha̍k-hāu thâu-tsîng, tò-tshiú-pîng koh uat--ji̍p-khì. | In front of the school, turn left again. |
| Tsiànn-tshiú-pîng ê tuā-lâu tō sī--ah. | It’s the building on the right-hand side. |
| Tiàm tsia thîng tō hó. | Stopping right here is fine. |
| Pháinn-sè, tsioh-mn̄g--tsi̍t-ē, Tâi-pak-tshia-thâu án-tsuánn kiânn? | Excuse me, can I bother you for a second? How do I get to Taipei Main Station? |
| __ án-tsuánn kiânn/khì? | How do I get to…? |
*Syllables requiring tone changes have been greyed out.
To learn more about asking and giving directions in Taiwanese, check out our workbook. It also gives you some additional vocabulary, culture and grammar explanations, and great exercises to reinforce what you’ve learned in this episode.
TAIWANESE ADDRESSES
If you jump into a taxi, sometimes it can be faster to just give the address of where you are going. If the driver is familiar with the roads, there may not be a need to enter it into a GPS. Let’s take a look at some common words used in the Taiwanese address system.
| TAIWANESE | ENGLISH |
| tē-tsí | address |
| tshī | city |
| kuān | county |
| khu | district |
| lōo | road (greater than 15 m, or 50 feet in width) |
| ke | street (8-15 m, or 20-50 feet in width) |
| tang | East |
| se | West |
| lâm | South |
| pak | North |
| tang-sai-lâm-pak | the four cardinal directions
Culture note: Whenever we say the 4 cardinal directions in English, it’s typically North, South, East, West. But in Taiwanese, it’s usually East, West, South, North. |
| tuānn | section (longer roads or streets are often divided into sections called “tuānn”) |
| hāng | lane |
| lōng | alley |
| hō | number |
ONE BITE CHALLENGE: EAST AND WEST, THIS AND THAT
In this episode, we’ve talked a lot about directions so our One Bite Challenge this week is about a special usage of East “tang” and West “sai”. Notice here, that we use a different form of West, “sai” instead of “se”.
The sentence pattern goes like this:
verb - tang - verb - sai
Here East and West just means “this and that” or “all sorts of things”. It often suggests that you think those things are random or trivial.
Let’s look at some examples:
“mn̄g” (to ask) → “mn̄g-tang-mn̄g-sai”
This means to ask all sorts of questions. It can be used to describe someone who is nosy and keeps asking all these details about random things.
“siūnn” (to think) → “siūnn-tang-siūnn-sai”
This means to keep thinking about all kinds of random stuff (often not focusing on actually doing things), to imagine things, or even to be paranoid.
There are quite a few common verbs that fit into this sentence pattern. If you don’t see one that you’ve heard before, leave us a message and we’ll add it to the list below for everyone to see!
| TAIWANESE | ENGLISH |
| kóng-tang-kóng-sai | to keep talking about all sorts of things, to gossip |
| hiâm-tang-hiâm-sai | to complain about all sorts of things, to be fault-finding and difficult to please |
| kiann-tang-kiann-sai | to be afraid of all sorts of things, to be spineless or overcautious |
| tshòng-tang-tshòng-sai | to do/make various unspecified things, to be busy with several things |
| bú-tang-bú-sai | to do/make various unspecified things, to be busy with several things |
| pìnn-tang-pìnn-sai | to do/play with various unspecified things, to be busy with several things |
Music Credit: TeknoAXE