Overview

This book is about the author’s life in Taiwan from 2015 to 2019 where she taught Korean language and culture at a university and the stories of her encounters with the people there. 

​It is more useful and close to life than a travel guidebook

Taiwan is Where I Lived, a book of essays is published. It is by Professor Jo Young-mi who has taught Korean language and culture for over twenty years at different universities in South Korea, the USA, Canada, and Taiwan. This book is about the author’s life in Taiwan from 2015 to 2019 where she taught Korean language and culture at a university and her encounters with the people who live there. 

The book consists of four chapters, and starts off with the introductions by Professor Song Hyang-geun of Busan University of Foreign Studies, and Hwang Weol-sun, director at Teacher’s College of National Taiwan University. Chapters One and Two present the beginning of the author’s life in Taiwan and her overall everyday life, in addition to her experience of the Taiwanese culture and tendencies. In Chapter Three, she recounts a number of episodes about teaching Korean. In Chapter Four, she tells vividly what kind of efforts she made in order to remain centered and thereby survive in a foreign country.

Taiwan and Taiwanese; Cheerful Introspection of an Alien Culture by the Author

Let’s trace the author’s time in Taiwan. Chapter One starts off with the day she arrives in a foreign country. She describes the culture of Taiwan she encounters for the first time in a lively yet understated writing—letting readers know how to make a payment at a store or restaurant, how the transportation works—providing all the useful information that is essential but difficult to obtain. How do the Korean instructors carry on their classes in a foreign country and what is a Korean language class really like? You can find out in the book, Taiwan is Where I lived. 

Furthermore, in an age of K-culture fervor when the interest in the Korean language has escalated, she explains, Taiwan is no different, citing many examples of how the Taiwanese people are developing their interest. The author also gives a glimpse of what roles her students of Korean language may take on in the future. It will be a bonus to discover how the Taiwanese feel toward South Korea. 

About author

The author has been teaching Korean for over twenty years at universities in Korea, the USA, Canada, and Taiwan. She wrote Full Focus in a Foreign Language (theory), It becomes a language when you go there (translation), Korean Verbs and Adjectives for Beginners, and other books.

At present, she lives in South Korea and teaches the foreign undergraduate and graduate students at Kookmin, Dongguk, and Hongik Universities as well as doing academic research on a grant from Korea Research Foundation, devoting her time to a study on education in Korean culture. In addition, she is a member of the Taiwan National Kaohsiung Normal University Korea Research Center and participates in the Korea-Taiwan Culture Education project.