18th August
For my first offical day in Taipei I have had the idea of going through a night market,
(which some are also open during the day) to have some Interviews. As I am still
connecting with JingHao Chang (張景皓) who works at the 9CE skate shop about the
possibility of me working there, I don’t want to waste a day of possible interviews and
insights.
As for the language barrier I have prepared myself to run into more complications than
in Japan as I don’t speak any Chinese, and from my experience in Japan I don’t expect
that English will be widely spoken. So, for that I have always prepared some questions
which I have already translated into Chinese using Google Translate. Based on the first
few answers to the questions which I will translate through google translate, I want to try to ask one specific question which I form through the translated answers of my
interview partner. I know that this setting is not optimal, but I wanted to make use of
everything in my power to create an exchange even with the language barrier. Especially because for me it could be easier to form a few questions and translate them and then let my interview partners only answer those premade questions, but this is not the exchange I am seeking, and I doubt that this would grasp the culture beneath the iceberg.
That being said I will see what the first day brings.
The Night Market I visited was Raohe St. Night Market, I specifically chose this one as it
is the most touristic one. I chose to go outside of the peak hours and went there early
when only a few stores were opening up with the hope that some stand owners might
have a few minutes to spare for me. And can I tell you how surprised I was, while walking through and looking around many stand owners called out for me in both English and Japanese. I guess they saw that I wasn’t a local through my appearance, but I was still surprised that they were able to present their goods in different languages.
This made me more confident, and I quickly chose a middle-aged man with a Taiwanese
Sausage stand, reason being that Taiwanese sausage is one of the most “touristic”
dishes and he seemed to have some time to spare.
My five premade questions for the interviews with the stand owners include:
- Can you share an example of a personal or community event that reflects an
important cultural value in Taipei? - What are some traditional cultural values in your community that are important but
not always obvious to outsiders? - How do people in your Taipei typically interact with foreign visitors? Have these
practices changed over time? - What challenges do you think tourists might face when trying to understand your
culture, and how do locals usually help? - How does the presence of international tourists influence daily life or traditions in
your community?
Based on the answers I want to try to form a specific question for each Interview which
will then hopefully let me dive deeper on a specific topic I am interested in.
You can find the Interview with Cheng a Taiwanese Sausage stand owner below the same goes for Interview with Mei, a Bubble Tea Stand Owner.
Conclusion and Reflection the Interviews:
I was surprised by the fact that the people I’ve talked to were pretty similar when it
comes to their standpoint within the night market. They both saw themselves as a small
piece to complete the night market. In general, I got the impression that the people here where way more open compared to in Japan. The customer service felt “rawer” which somehow made it feel more genuine and familiar. But maybe this is also the case
because I usually prefer this style of customer service. For an example if I go to an
upper- class restaurant I don’t like being treated as if I am somewhat a better person
because I can afford it. It’s difficult to explain but I have had a few experiences where
the customer service still felt familiar even if the establishment was “higher class” the
best example was the Hotel Kronenhof in Pontresina which I have visited during my
Introduction week. Overall, I am very happy with the insights that I’ve gained and that I
pushed myself out of my comfort zone to try and speak with them.