Tingchun Chen 陳亭君
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tchen.bsky.social
Tingchun Chen 陳亭君
@tchen.bsky.social
🏳️‍🌈🐳🏝⛰🧋🍁.Linguist in industry.Former asst prof of linguistics.Fieldworker (Formosan, esp. Amis).Language revitalization.Hiking.Lifting💪.Queer fantasy📚.Indie/alt/post-🪨.Vancouver/Taiwan
Extra large Kuai Kuai for extra large luck.

#OnlyInTaiwan
January 20, 2025 at 10:28 AM
My eyeballs have been working so hard today reading all those posts hyping about 小紅書 (Xiaohongshu, Red Note). The screenshots sum up so well the gap between those who actually read Mandarin and those Westerners just discovering this new land and already feeling like they have everything figured out.
January 15, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Are American zoomers actually using 小紅書 (Red Note)? Do they even know that just the name of the app so obviously hints at its CCP connections? There’s this ⬇️ 小紅書 (Little Red Book) that PRC Chinese used to have to read.
January 14, 2025 at 5:56 AM
This area used to be where the local Atayal people trained and tested their youth. A 15-year-old boy had to prove that he could survive in the area on his own to be considered an adult. 2/3
January 12, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Ptlaman Trail
(北德拉曼, Beidelaman)

The trail’s Atayal name “Ptlaman” says a lot about what this place used to be. The word means “where one makes someone try”.

⬇️ This is how the word comes about.

p-talam-an
causative-try-where.one.does.sth
(talam > tlam is a result of vowel reduction)

1/3
January 12, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Started Octavia Butler’s «Parable of the Sower» at the end of last year mostly because the story starts in 2024 and I thought, “Wouldn’t it be fun to synchronize my reading with the real life? “

Fun.
January 10, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Customer service in Taiwan

This person bought one of those popular railway bentos, got on a train, and realized that the bento didn’t come with chopsticks. She messaged the railway’s online customer service, told them her train and car number and …
January 4, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Mt. Youluo (油羅山). Last hike of 2024.
December 31, 2024 at 9:11 AM
Syakaro Historic Trail (霞喀羅古道) in Hsinchu. Originally built by the Japanese so they could keep closer tabs on the Atayal people in the area who had fought against colonial rule for years, the trail is nowadays a popular one/two-day hike especially during the Fall foliage season.
December 26, 2024 at 6:02 AM
I did 外鳥嘴山 (Mt Wainiaozui), starting from 馬武督 (Mautu). It was fun. And this restaurant is right on my way home.
December 22, 2024 at 8:16 AM
Me yesterday: Just two more reps. I can do this.

Me today: Legs should be alienable nouns, too. I don’t feel like I own them now.
December 14, 2024 at 4:05 AM
Wuliaojian (五寮尖) in New Taipei is such a fun hike. Lots of climbing up and down, including a descent down a cliff.
December 3, 2024 at 9:07 AM