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James Y. Shih

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Podcast Episodes

Featured
Yin & Young Podcast EP 75: Eight Years in Review
May 27, 2025
Yin & Young Podcast EP 75: Eight Years in Review
May 27, 2025
May 27, 2025
Yin & Young Podcast EP 74: Gabriel Toya-Meléndez - Filmmaking, Identity, and Finding Your Tribe
Feb 11, 2025
Yin & Young Podcast EP 74: Gabriel Toya-Meléndez - Filmmaking, Identity, and Finding Your Tribe
Feb 11, 2025
Feb 11, 2025
Yin & Young Podcast EP 73: Paul Hoi #2 - Japan Stories, Skiing, Solo Traveling
Nov 24, 2024
Yin & Young Podcast EP 73: Paul Hoi #2 - Japan Stories, Skiing, Solo Traveling
Nov 24, 2024
Nov 24, 2024
Yin & Young Podcast EP 72 : William Gee Wong - Author of "Sons of Chinatown"
Jun 28, 2024
Yin & Young Podcast EP 72 : William Gee Wong - Author of "Sons of Chinatown"
Jun 28, 2024
Jun 28, 2024
Yin & Young Podcast EP 71  Aileen Cho - Intergenerational Trauma, Marriage, and Healing
Apr 18, 2024
Yin & Young Podcast EP 71 Aileen Cho - Intergenerational Trauma, Marriage, and Healing
Apr 18, 2024
Apr 18, 2024
Yin & Young Podcast EP 70 - Writer Peter Kageyama returns with MIDNIGHT CLIMAX
Feb 21, 2024
Yin & Young Podcast EP 70 - Writer Peter Kageyama returns with MIDNIGHT CLIMAX
Feb 21, 2024
Feb 21, 2024
Yin & Young Podcast EP 69 Daniel Tong - Editor: Finding your place in film and pursuing your passion
Feb 9, 2024
Yin & Young Podcast EP 69 Daniel Tong - Editor: Finding your place in film and pursuing your passion
Feb 9, 2024
Feb 9, 2024
Yin & Young Podcast EP 68 - Married Life, Cooking, Regret and Time
Aug 28, 2023
Yin & Young Podcast EP 68 - Married Life, Cooking, Regret and Time
Aug 28, 2023
Aug 28, 2023
Yin & Young Podcast Episode 67 - Kelly Hebestreit - Art, Identity, and Please Take Off Your Shoes
Apr 29, 2023
Yin & Young Podcast Episode 67 - Kelly Hebestreit - Art, Identity, and Please Take Off Your Shoes
Apr 29, 2023
Apr 29, 2023
Yin & Young Episode 66 - Peter Kageyama - Writer
Feb 2, 2023
Yin & Young Episode 66 - Peter Kageyama - Writer
Feb 2, 2023
Feb 2, 2023

Podcast disclaimer

Yin & Young EP050 - Emi Higashiyama - Taiwanese Language, History, Identity

September 23, 2020 in Asian American, Society & Culture, Travel

In this episode, James and Dan chat with Emi Higashiyama about the Taiwanese language and history of the Hokkien dialect family. Emi Higashiyama is a historic preservationist, specializing in Japanese colonial architecture in Taiwan and multicultural/multilingual aspects of Taiwanese heritage issues.

Highlights:

  • 2:48 Emi’s cultural background is a complex mix of Taiwanese, Japanese, and American influences.

  • 11:52 Language and identity often are closely tied to each other.

  • 28:00 Hokkien is present throughout Southeast Asia, with different forms and variances.

  • 33:23 Language, dialect, and accent are all different from each other.

  • 39:00 Discussed how different races and cultures become “trendy” and “popular” in certain countries, leading to idealization (e.g. U.S. and Japanese culture in Taiwan).

  • 44:57 Brief history of linguistics in Taiwan: indigenous languages, Hokkien, Hakka, Japanese, Mandarin.

  • 47:15 Taiwan is like a melting pot due to its history of back and forth migration and colonial rule by the Japanese and Chinese.

  • 51:55: Emi quizzes Dan to see if he can figure out the Japanese equivalent to Taiwanese words. Taiwanese and Japanese have common words because of the Japanese colonial era in Taiwan.

  • 1:13:00 Emi’s shares the etymology of the Japanese sounding, but uniquely Taiwanese phrase あたまコンクリ (atama konkuri).

  • 1:25:55 Discussed the suppression of the Taiwanese language under the KMT to today’s increasing interest in learning Taiwanese.

  • 1:30:20 Final thoughts: go learn languages! Don’t treat it as a “foreign” language.

 

Language Corner (1:41:31):

Japanese (日本語) -

  • ちんぷんかんぷん - “that’s Greek to me!” or “I can’t make heads or tails of this.” From the Chinese phrase: 聽不懂看不懂 (tīng bù dǒng kàn bù dǒng) meaning “I can’t understand what you’re saying or writing.”

  • ボンネット- bonnetto - car hood. From the word “bonnet."

  • クラクション - kurakushon - car horn. From the word “klaxon."

Hakka (客家話) -

  • ng3 ho4 (汝好) - 你好 - how are you?

  • an4 zii4 se (恁仔細) - 謝謝 - thank you!

  • siit bau4 mang (食飽吂)- 吃飽了嗎?- did you eat yet?

Links:

  • Emi’s links:

    • Photo documentation project of Japanese colonial era architecture in Taiwan: https://www.instagram.com/japanesecolonial/

    • Curated reading list on Taiwan’s history: https://medium.com/@emihigashiyama/how-to-become-an-expert-in-taiwan-history-94a89e225ea7

    • Newsletter (exclusive access to Emi’s work in Taiwan): https://japanesecolonial.substack.com/subscribe

  • Learn Taiwanese with Bite-size Taiwanese: https://bitesizetaiwanese.com/

  • Learn Japanese with Japanese by Chunking: www.youtube.com/c/japanesebychunking

[Notes prepared by Emi’s intern Esther, edited/added to by James.]

—

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Tags: yin young podcast, podcasts, taiwanese, hakka, indigenous, hokkien, history, japanese, chinese, mandarin
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