Ep. F: Formosa 福爾摩沙
(想聽2021年3月12日的廣播節目可以點開上面音符圖案的檔案 If you'd like to listen to the original 3/12/2021 radio episode, please click on the above music note to play the file)
As someone who grew up in the US, lots of people in Taiwan ask me if foreigners really do confuse Taiwan with Thailand because of their relatively close distance and their similar-sounding names. I'm only one person, so I can't speak for all 320+ million people from the US, let alone all foreigners! But I will say this: the most memorable experience I have talking about Taiwan with someone in the US was one time when I went traveling to the Oregon coast and an older American man struck up a conversation with me about where we were from. I told him that I was from Washington State originally, but now live in Taiwan, and he replied with a big grin, "Oh, Formosa!" It was the first time I'd heard someone say that word outside of Taiwan, and it made me happy to hear it, especially because he was so happy to talk about it. He had been a soldier in Vietnam in the 1970s and had traveled to Formosa several times during his "R & R" (rest and recuperation) times from fighting. His memories of the island were of beautiful scenery and friendly people. And he also said he'd really like to visit again one day. I guess Taiwan has that effect on people regardless of culture: no matter if it's 500 years ago or 50 years ago or today, it's a beautiful place with beautiful people that a lot of us enjoy. (Remember to look at the bottom of the post for the song chords!)
做為一個在美國長大的人，台灣有很多人問我，外國人是不是真的會因為台灣與泰國相距較近且名字相近而把台灣和泰國搞混？我只不過是一個人而已，所以我無法代表全美國3億多人，更不用說所有外國人哈！但是我可以跟你們分享一個故事：我在美國跟當地人討論台灣的最難忘經驗是我有一次去奧勒岡州海岸旅行．我遇到了一個位男性長者，他跟我聊起彼此的家鄉．我告訴他我本來住華盛頓州但現在住台灣了．他大笑著說：「啊，福爾摩沙！」那是我第一次在台灣以外的地方聽到有人說這個詞．我很開心聽到，尤其是因為他很高興能談到福爾摩沙！原來他在1970年代曾在越南戰爭時當過美軍，好幾次放休整假（休息與修養）時他就前往福爾摩沙．他對島上的回憶充滿了美麗的風景和有好的人民．他還說他真的很想在次去．我想台灣會對人產生這種影響，不管甚麼文化背景都是：就是無論時500年前、50年前還是今天，對很多人來說，我們很喜歡這個美麗的地方還有這裡美麗的人．（記得看網頁最下面的地方就可以找到歌曲的和絃囉！）
Formosa Song Lyrics歌詞
There is an island in the sea, in the sea! 在海上有個島嶼，在海上！
Where many cultures have liked to be, liked to be. 曾經有一些文明喜歡待在那裡，喜歡待在那裡
The Spanish, Dutch, Japanese and Qing Dynasty 西班牙人、荷蘭人、日本人還有清代人
But one of the first were the Portuguese 不過其中最早來的是葡萄牙人
Who called it: 他們叫它
Formosa (that means beautiful) 福爾摩沙（是美麗的意思）
Formosa, nice and warm 福爾摩沙，又好又溫暖
Formosa, not too big 福爾摩沙，不會太大
And not too small, not too small 也不會太小，不會太小
Of course before all of these 當然的，在這些文化來之前
The earliest people were the aborigines 最早來的人是原住民
One tribe's name was Tayouan* 其中一個部落的名字是大員*
And that is why we now call it Taiwan 二因此我們至今叫它台灣
But we also say: 但我們也會說
Formosa beautiful 福爾摩沙美麗
Formosa, nice and warm 福爾摩沙，又好又溫暖
Formosa, not too big 福爾摩沙，不會太大
And not too small, not too small 也不會太小，不會太小
Besides Taiwan's main island (main island) 除了台灣的主島之外，主島之外
We have many other small islands (small islands) 我們還有很多其他小島，小島
Like Orchid, Green, Xiao Liuqiu, Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu 例如：蘭嶼、綠島、小琉球、金門、馬祖還有澎湖
Big and small we love them all (love them all) 大或小我們全部都愛，全部都愛
Formosa beautiful 福爾摩沙美麗
Formosa, nice and warm 福爾摩沙，又好又溫暖
Formosa, not too big 福爾摩沙，不會太大
And not too small, not too small 也不會太小，不會太小
All our islands beautiful 我們所有島嶼美麗
All our islands, nice and warm 我們所有島嶼，又好又溫暖
All our islands 我們所有島嶼
We love them all 我們全部都愛
We love them all! 我們全部都愛
*One thing about the name Taiwan. I'm a performer and not a linguist or historian, so I'm sure a linguist or a historian could do a better explanation of the name Taiwan and the aborigines that it was named for. My information comes from the book How to Forget Your Mother Tongue and Remember Your National Language by Victor H. Mair. According to Mair, the pronunciation of Tayouan was, like Koxinga's name (from episode 3), one of many Dutch spelling transcriptions of the local pronunciation of an aborigine tribe name. So the spelling, and pronunciation, could be very different from their correct versions. Taiwanese speakers then took the Dutch name and wrote it with Chinese characters with a variety of different meanings and pronunciations as well. So in the song, when you see Tayouan in English, just know that it could be incorrect, and the Chinese translation, 大員, could be different as well.
*關於「台灣」這個名稱．因為我的專業時表演而不是語言學或者歷史學，所以我相信語言學家或歷史學家可以對台灣和原住民的名字作出更好的解釋．我這方面的資訊來自梅維恆（Victor H. Mair）的《How
to Forget Your Mother Tongue and Remember Your National Language》（如何忘記母語，學習國語）．根據Mair的說法，Tayouan的發音就很像本節目的第三集Koxinga這個名字的來源，是荷蘭人把當地人稱附近其中一個原住民部落的發音給拼寫出來的．因此，拼法和發音有可能跟正確版本有大不同．然後，講台語的人取了荷蘭人的發音，並用帶有各種不同含意和發音寫這個名字．所以在這首歌中，當你看到英文的Taoyouan時，及的發音有可能不是正確的，而且中文份的翻譯，「大員」，也可能有所不同．
