Three Days in a Reform School

師大生的悲痛：不管到哪一所大學院校參觀校園，一定目瞪口呆，「哇~~~比我們師大校園漂亮多了！」

大學院校就罷了。這幾天到桃園少年輔育院當義工輔導員，參加為期三天的成長營，主題是：禮義廉恥。進了鐵門，校園走一段，就目瞪口呆，「哇~~~比我們師大校園漂亮多了！」寬敞、齊整、到處都是老樹，房舍雖舊但是維護很好，還有大籠子裏養的孔雀、雉雞。多數警員年輕，有書卷味。

沒看過那麼樣多刺青的少年。平頭、白汗衫、天藍色短褲、黑襪、黑布鞋。戶外活動很多，所以每一個曬的黝黑，看不到臺北街頭越來越越常見的肥胖慵懶身材。晚上九點睡，五點半起。規矩森嚴：跟老師說話要蹲著、敬禮，老師說「坐下來」回「謝坐」，說「站起來」回「謝站。」這麼多衝動小鬼集在一處，不嚴不行。

聽說其中單親、家暴的孩子很多。不用說，單親家庭或家暴受害者後來有燦爛的成就，大有人在，可是難免認為這群孩子輸在起跑點上。

卓老師、涂老師設計一系列精彩的演講、活動，讓他們了解禮義廉恥的意義與重要。一班學生分十小隊，我們這一隊五個學生。不只是活動，廚務組還提供三天健康、可口的素食午餐、點心，孩子最愛。

一個活動叫他們計算他們平常(在外面)的開銷，讓他們看看錢怎麼花。我們小隊裏一位平常不太發表意見的同學一開始計算，儼然一副天生會計師的架勢展現。我問他喜歡數學嗎？他說喜歡，可是只會加減乘，除法還沒學過。

另外一位觀察敏銳、深刻，成熟穩重，可是幾乎沒有能力寫國字。跟筆掙扎一番，勉強寫下一兩句，像鬼畫符。

另外一位體能極佳，彈力、柔軟度異常，又聰明靈俐；沒讓他去念體育學院，是讓臺灣少一個國手級的運動員。

跟這班五十個受刑人相處三天，我的感受是，真是浪費人才！裏面很多極聰明的孩子、有各方面專長與興趣的小孩，不讓他們發揮潛力，實在太可惜。

少輔院給他們規律的生活，但是這樣不夠，因為這群小受刑人問題的確很多。他們的問題能不能解決？我覺得，把他們關起來的前提是他們確實可以造就；假使不能造就，全部鎗斃就解決了，也幫國庫省了一大筆錢。

但是他們的情形特殊，需要進一步的心理輔導、建設。卓老師帶進去的團體四五十個人，全部義工；其它班的同學也希望能為他們辦類似的活動，但是卓老師、涂老師時間、精力有限，只能針對這一班。

我認為，應該安排治療師一對一給這群孩子輔導，讓他們改邪歸正、成為有貢獻的國民、發揮他們的潛力。可是沒那麼多輔導師、治療師，因為沒有經費。

沒有經費？國家沒錢嗎？幾年前，烏來鄉公所花了幾億做一條棧道，因為設計不好，沒人走，過了幾年又花了幾千萬把它拆除。做很多沒有用、反而有害的工程，國家就大把大把將錢扎下去。可是花小錢讓一群可造就的人成長、進步、學習，國家沒錢。

This week Sabiy and I spent three days in a reform school. We volunteered to act as counselors for a workshop on four vital concepts: 禮義廉恥, which translates roughly as manners, doing the right thing, honesty, and shame. The workshop included lectures and activities designed not only to wear them out but also to teach them about these concepts. Fifty teenage boys attended.

I had never seen so many tattoos on teenagers; tattoos being a sign of gang membership. They all have crew cuts, and wear white tee shirts, sky blue shorts, black socks, and black tennies. They spend a lot of time outdoors working and playing sports, so they are all very well tanned. Discipline is necessarily strict. They squat when talking to a teacher, and salute.

The police, or wardens, are mostly young, and seem well educated. They are definitely not a bunch of thugs. The campus is actually very nice, certainly much nicer than my alma mater, National Taiwan Normal University. It is located on a slight slope, with plenty of space, and lots of large trees and carefully arranged greenery. The buildings are old but well maintained. They even have a large cage with peacocks and pheasants!

I understand that a very high proportion come from single parent homes, or have suffered from domestic violence. This does not excuse them, but it does explain a lot.

I was impressed by how intelligent and talented so many of these students are. I couldn’t help but wonder, isn't this a massive waste of talent? Couldn't these students be achieving more? But they also have more problems than your average student, so they need counseling and therapy. But certainly that would be a wise investment. Remember the old saying "A stitch in time saves nine"? A dollar spent on counseling now would save nine dollars on prisons and trials ten years down the line.

What I have said here applies to the United States, which has the world's highest proportion of its citizenship behind bars. The United States today incarcerates a higher proportion of its citizens than Stalin did. Isn't that something to be proud of? But then, I recall reading that Barbara Bush has invested heavily in building and operating prisons, and hey, its mostly Hispanics and African-Americans who get locked up, so what's your gripe?

Sure, some are monsters and should be shot. But I can't help wondering how much talent is being wasted, how many lives are being drained of any meaning, how much better lives those people could be living.

Something I wrote last Friday may need some clarification. I said that as far as I have been able to find out, Tayal does not express the term lonely. This is not to infer that the Tayal were anti-social and never felt the need for human company. Far from it. The tribe is so closely knit that even if a Tayal was far away from friends and relatives, community ties held him close. Solitary behavior was the exception. Usually kith and kin were always nearby, so loneliness was not a factor.

As to the lack of words for 'be careful' or 'danger,' suffice it to say that Tayal are brave to the point that they literally do not know the meaning of the word 'danger.'

A continuation on the preceding post, concerning the continuity of languages and ways of thinking. I do not know how pedantically we have to define 'language influences behavior,' or 'language influences perception,' but I do think behavior and perception are shaped, at least in part, by language.

Translators quake at the mere thought of translating Confucianism and Buddhism into English, because the vocabulary just isn't there. Even if you do manage to contrive rough English equivalents, they are not commonly used in English speech, because people do not think along those terms. And if they do not think along those terms, their actions are bound to be different, as are the ways they view life and its meaning.

孝 is often translated filial piety, but first, filial piety is hardly a common term in English speech. Second, the idea of a child's duty to his parents is quite different; of course the concept of 孝 is not entirely static in Chinese, and different eras, different families have different standards. In the early 1970s, when I went hiking all over the mountains of Taiwan, something I heard quite often from young people was that they would not go deep into the mountains because it would not be 孝. Even though times have changed, the concept has much greater weight, and much greater consequence than Western ideas, such as they may be, about a child's duty to elders and home.

君子 and 仁 vital ideas in Confucianism. The 君子 is a thoroughly alive person who understands his own actions and motives, and lives with tolerance, acceptance, dignity, calm, and elegance. 仁 is how a psychologically healthy person lives as part of a community. Now, Mr Chomsky, please give me the English vocabulary that has the same influence and emotional import.

We won't even go into 禮義廉恥…. 禮, ahh, ritual, sort of, manners, etiquette, humility, or a gift, a present; 義 doing the most appropriate act in ever-changing conditions; 廉, honesty, integrity, sort of, and 恥 is usually translated shame, but there has been precious little evidence of that in modern society.

And that's a sampling of common Confucian terms. Buddhism carries a double whammy, because so many of the words were translated into Chinese from Sanskrit. It took me some years to realize that where in English they say, "When you are ready, your teacher will be there," where they say "when you are ready," they are making a valiant attempt to render 緣 into English. Good luck. 緣 literally means a decorated hem, but is often translated as a predestined relationship. Predestined relationship is a clunky translation that is not at all common in English speech, but 緣 is an everyday term in Chinese, even among Chinese Christians. I once translated 緣 as links, but nobody paid me the least attention. 緣 is also translated as 'affinity,' but that is like playing Handel's Fireworks Music on a harmonica. Even if the tune may be reminiscent, it looses the original's oomph. Now tell me how to say佛渡有緣人in English…. yes? Ah, the Buddha ferries people with decorated hems?

Of course I do not have a PhD in Linguistics (thank heavens) and I am not a professor at either Harvard or MIT (thank heavens), but I do have the temerity to suggest that Pinker and Chomsky are straining fact through the very fine mesh of their theory, and have lost touch with the way languages actually live and function.

Now tell me if you think P and C give a tinker's dam.

Steven Pinker, the author of How the Mind Works and other books, says that all or at least most of our thinking is a process of language

It would seem to me that since the process of thinking is language, then language would affect thinking. This would brings us back to Sapir and Whorf, which would certainly irk Pinker or Noam Chomsky.

I don't have the exact quote at my fingertips, but Noam Chomsky said something to the effect that anything in any language can be expressed in any other language. Therefore, all languages are equal, and to claim that language affects thinking is heresy, and not permitted within a five mile radius of MIT and Harvard.

Full disclosure: Holier-than-Thou Chomsky sets my teeth on edge. But I am trying to be fair and 就事論事… now how do you say that in English?

Apparently Chomsky speaks Yiddish and English, but I am not sure if he speaks others (I have known linguists who take great pride in being monolingual). I can't help but wonder if Chomsky would have said that if he was at home in a language outside the Judeo-Christian culture.

Compare these two English sentences:

If you ask, I'll tell you.

If you asked, I'd tell you.

Can you tell the difference? Then how about:

If you had asked, I would have told you.

Or these two.

He finished the book at lunch.

He is finished with the book.

I trust you will agree that these sentences are all conversational English, and that they are different, in English. However, to express the differences in Chinese takes detailed explanation. So yes, technically, I could express the differences in Chinese, but it would take a while. It would certainly not be conversational.

Consider another simple English sentence.

Where are you going?

In Tayal, that would be

Musa su inu?

In Tsou,

Teko uhnenu?

So yes, you can express the same thing in other languages, but you are expressing totally different ideas. In English, I would ask someone, Where are you going? only if that person stood up suddenly to leave, or appeared with packed bags. In Tayal and Tsou, it is polite to begin a conversation by asking, Musa sui nu? or Teko uhnenu? But doing so implies a certain familiarity. Tayal has adopted a rough equivalent to the English "How are you?" but native speakers are apt to ask "How are you?" halfway through a conversation, or on leaving.

Where are you going? is not used so often in Chinese as greeting, but if it were, it would be far less intrusive than the English. Okay, now how do you say it in Mandarin? Well, you could say, 你去哪裏？ but you could also say 你去哪？ or去哪裏？ or去哪？ with gradations between them I would be hard put to explain in English.

But then, in English, you can say, Where are you going? Where did you go? Where have you been? Where are you? Where were you? but Chinese does not make distinctions between any of these, as Chinese has no tenses.

Tayal has no native word for "lonely," at least as far as I can find out. Nowadays a Japanese loan word is used. For that matter, how do you say "be careful" in Tayal? Apparently there is no way to say that in Tayal, just as they have no way to say "danger" (at least, I have been asking tribal elders for a decade, and nobody knows a Tayal equivalent. Keep tuned. If I ever find one, I'll post it on this blog.) This should tell you something about the Tayal tribe.

In recent decades, Chinese has adopted the terms 隱私 and 隱私權, but thirty years ago, it was impossible to explain the English word "privacy" effectively in Chinese. Anyone who thinks that the English "privacy" translates perfectly into the Chinese 隱私權 has never lived with a Chinese roommate. A 鞋櫃 is a shoe case in English, but if an American home has one, it probably plays quite a different role from a 鞋櫃 in Taiwan, which retains the ancient Chinese custom of taking off your shoes when you enter a home. "Make your bed" implies quite different activity to an American and to a Chinese.

So although it may be possible to explain a term in Language A in any other language, I would hardly take that to indicate that all languages are equal and translatable. Different lifestyles require different means of expression, and those are mirrored in their language. Viva la difference!

I want one!!
Originally uploaded by Yugan Dali

The moment I saw this gentleman's crash helmet, I was overwhelmed with envy. If I could find a crash helmet like that, I would consider buying a motorcycle, just so I could wear the crash helmet.

You may wish to click on the image to admire it in more detail. The watermelon even has a stem on it.

臺北小市民生活歷史綴筆，通篇

發現很多三十歲以下在臺北長大的人不曉得何謂三條、四條通。

好了，陶伯伯講給小朋友聽：日據時代，從臺北火車站往北算，第一條街叫做一條通、第二條街叫做二條通、三條通、四條、一直到十條通。

一條通就在臺北車站、華山車站旁邊：現在鐵路在地下，地上是市民大道。華山車站是臺北鐵路貨運中心，所以林森北路由地下道過。三條通是今天的長安東路。三十年前，六條通惡名昭彰，沿街都是為日本「觀光」客專設的酒吧、旅社：很多女性在那兒為國掙外匯：點到為止。十條通，是現在的南京東路。光復時，臺北市差不多這樣。

哪樣？老友阿光四十年代在南京東路長大，位置在現在天津街一帶。他小時侯的回意，是在家周圍的稻田裏玩，看青蛙、抓泥鰍。阿光記得，南京東路上，如果兩輛公共汽車會車，一輛要閃一邊讓路，勉強過而已。當時，南京東路沒有鋪柏油；彷彿記得聽過老臺北人說，臺北第一條柏油路是羅斯福路，民國四十二年，美國副總統Nixon來訪時特地鋪的，車隊從松山國際機場迎接，過羅斯福路到總統府。

很難想像吧。阿莊那時住忠孝東路、紹興南街的眷村，就在成功高中後面。她說，民國四十幾年，青島東路那一帶很繁華：青島東路、紹興南街口不只有好幾家商店，並且有三輪車站，而且，每個星期有好幾輛汽車路過！甚至有時候特別熱鬧的話，早上一輛汽車，下午還會看到一輛汽車揚塵而過！好不熱鬧！

overheard in the jungle

她：他們的心態太駱駝。

他：駱駝？

她：是啊，駱駝不是會逃避現實，把頭埋在沙子裏嗎？

他：鴕鳥。

She: Their attitude is too camel.

He: Camel?

She: Sure, don't camels hide their head in the sand when they are afraid to face something?

He: Ostrich.

8

899.8.8.11:11, post #1900

拳法自然門宗師杜心武（1869年－1953年），身材瘦削，稱為俠骨。唐模聽其師鄭曼卿說，杜關節不同于一般人，可以鬆開，任人將手指插入。鄭老師說杜有一招，將兩個碗放地上，左腳踩右碗，右腳踩左碗：與眾不同之處，杜腳多繞一圈(意即：右腳到左碗、再從右膝後到原位再轉過去踩左碗)；騰空一跳，腳解又轉上，落下時猶左腳踩右碗，右腳踩左碗，轉的方向與前者相反。

鄭老師說，杜能梟首，斯非戮身梟首，指杜可轉頭一百八十度：身向前不動，頭一百八十度往後轉。杜在上海食堂吃麵，找不到辣椒：湖南人不可無辣椒，杜無心將頭一百八十度往後轉問後桌客人，「先生，你那兒有辣椒嗎？」後桌客人不答，只管尖叫，全堂轟然，尖叫「鬼！」往外跑；事後幾十年，鄭老師談此，還哈哈大笑。

Tam Gibbs told me several stories about the great martial artist Tu Hsinwu / Du Xinwu (1869 – 1953) that he heard from his teacher, Cheng Manching. Tu could loosen his joints so much that you could stick a finger into them. He would stand on two bowls, left foot on the right bowl, right foot on the left bowl, with his legs twisted around the knees 360 degrees; then jump up and reverse the twist so that he came back down with left foot on right bowl, et cetera, but with his legs twisted around the other way.

Tu could turn his head around 180 degrees without moving his torso or shoulders. Once he was eating noodles in an eatery in Shanghai but couldn't find the hot sauce. Without thinking, he turned his head straight backwards and asked the gentleman at the table behind him, "Sir, do you have any hot sauce there?" Rather than answering, the gentleman shrieked, and everybody ran out of the eatery, yelling "GHOST!" Cheng always laughed heartily every time he told this story.

Tlahuy dreams he is leading a dance class: Okay everybody, arms right, kick left, ONE two, ONE two, ONE two!

Overheard in Huntington Beach

He: "So there was a tree frog in my shorts."

WHAT THE STEWARDESS WAS SUPPOSED TO SAY:

Please remember to take your belongings when you leave.

WHAT THE STEWARDESS ACTUALLY SAID:

Please remember to take your blongs when you live.

WHAT THE SIGN SAID:

We hope you have a pleasant trip.

WHAT I THOUGHT IT SAID:

We hope you have a peasant trio.

My mother was born in 1918, when Woodrow Wilson was President. She survived the Influenza Epidemic, the Depression, the Dust Bowl, she studied painting under Grant Wood (American Gothic), drew maps for the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff during WWII, drafted for CalTech Geology when the moonrocks were brought back by Apollo 11, managed a pizza company in Saigon during the Viet Nam War and then worked in a concrete boat company, managed a Taekwondo studio in Hawaii, and for many years edited at Nguoi Viet. She was a woman who held firmly to morality, and right and wrong.

She died peacefully in her sleep sometime during the morning of July 8.

I won't be posting on this blog for a week or two.

Valor is required to attempt to learn numbers in the Tsou language. Okay, let's start, 1 is coni, right? Yes, unless you're saying 1 person, then it's cihi; one (piece) is cini, one (year) is nso, one (time) is nusu, and one (night) I think is ki, but I could very well be wrong. On all of this. You get the idea, though. Let's not even talk about the numbers for a person's age.

Here is the basic set, as taught to me by Ba'i, and validated by others, with wry smiles on their faces: 1 coni, 2 yuso, 3 tuyu, 4 suptu, 5 eimo, 6 namu, 7 pitu, 8 voju, 9 sio, 10 masku.

Tsou, Tayal, and Saisiat (all Taiwan aborigine languages) are the earliest Austronesian languages, and some of the most ancient languages on earth. Here is how we count in Tayal, in the Squliq dialect of Wulai.

1 qutux, 2 sazing, 3 ciwan (or cuqan), 4 bayat, 5 magan, 6 tzyu, 7 pitu, 8 spat, 9 qeru, 10 mbu. You can see that they are totally different.

Totally different? Notice that 7. Tsou pitu is pronounced sort of like the English words BE-do, and Tayal pitu is pronounced be-DO, but you can see the resemblance.

Now the plot thickens (dramatic music, please). I was reading about another Austronesian language, Kapampangan, spoken by a couple million people in the Philippines. Here are their numbers: 1 metung (isa), 2 adua, 3 atlu, 4 apat, 5 lima, 6 anam, 7 pitu, 8 walu, 9 siyam, 10 apulu.

Does something stand out? Look at that 7. Pitu. How about that!

What is it with Austronesian languages and 7? I have no idea, yet. However, time will prove that it was the result of transmission by ancient Egyptians flying on spaceships from Sirius. Mark my words.

Teacher to class: The Iliad tells the story of how the Greeks attacked toy. I mean, how the geeks attract Troy. I mean, how the Greeks attract toy… can I just skip it?

Overheard on 開封街

二十歲出頭的上班族男：我每次要講英文，甚麼都忘記。

Twenty something office worker: Every time I have to speak English, I just forget everything.

How do you keep your shoes dry when you ride your motorcycle on a rainy day? Why, pack them in a plastic bag, as did this young man I photographed in Tainan a couple months ago.

從前，一對泰雅夫妻喝醉了，在卓蘭街上吵架，大家來看熱鬧。夫必須顧尊嚴，所以舉起拳頭對婦吼，「我這個手打下去，有二十萬眼睛在看！」威勢赳赳，婦畏縮，夫手放下，很親切地問，「老婆，妳好嗎？」

Tayal society places great importance on a person's position, be it high or low, and that person's dignity.

Some years ago, a Tayal husband and wife got drunk and were quarreling on a street in Takulan (Chuolan, Miaoli). A crowd gathered. The husband had to assert his dignity, so he raised his fist and roared at his wife, "If this hand of mine strikes, 200,000 eyes are watching!" His wife cowered. The husband lowered his fist and said to her very gently, "Dear, are you all right?"

Lately we watched A Man for All Seasons in which the hero Thomas More is undone by the villain Thomas Cromwell, and just the other day I finished Wolf Hall in which the villain Thomas More is undone by the hero Thomas Cromwell.

Be that as it may, while pondering the vagaries of history, it is worth contemplating that had Katherine of Aragon provided Henry VIII with a healthy male heir, England might to this day be a Roman Catholic country. Implicit: the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand would be too. Lutherans and Calvinists might be a small sect in parts of Europe.