Welcome to Tairadical

Tairadical (台份子) is not your typical Taiwan food, travel, or "cultural experience" blog. Learn about what goes on behind the scenes in Taiwan's ongoing two-decade struggle for democratization and how it is experienced by the locals in life and politics; how the younger generation's web culture has gone from a counter-culture to the 6 o'clock headline news; and how perhaps you can even join me as I explore a new language. Welcome to Formosa, the beautiful island!

Since I haven't written anything substantial on here yet, I just want to give you an idea of what you can expect to see:

• Translations of breaking or important Chinese-language news and articles that haven't yet found their way into the English papers
• In-depth background, history, and current developments of local politics that might be common knowledge for an educated Taiwanese, but hard to come by without being able to read Chinese
• Developments in immigration policy or other topics relevant for foreigners. I hope this can be an authoritative source for this type of thing as most other forum posts and websites (looking at you, Tealit) can't ever seem to keep up
• Exploration of the Taiwanese web culture, especially memes, trends, and other viral hits
• Taiwanese language lessons and practice materials
• Shameless plugs for my own translation/interpreting and English tutoring/training services

If there's any other type of content you'd like to see, just drop a note below or shoot me a message. Enjoy!