By Ann Chen
Those of you who are applying for graduate schools in Taiwan will know that there are two ways to do it. First, you pay some money and take an entrance exam in April (the numbers of exams depend on how many programs you apply for), which most students do. But there’s another way to get into grad schools without taking the formal exam–the recommendation test. However, this does not apply to every program (e.g. the graduate program of our department). You can buy a brochure during October of each year from every school, and see if the programs you’re interested in have a recommendation test. The recommendation test is not as competitive as the one in April, because only a few people will be qualified to apply; however, it’s tough. Usually you take a paper-based test first, and if you’re lucky enough to pass, you move on to the next level, which is the most frightening and exciting part–the interview. Though people say that it is rather subjective and unfair, and that one can only pray to pass it, still, there are several techniques to help you get through an interview successfully. It’s true that people feel nervous about the unknown. You get panicked because you don’t know what the interviewers are going to ask, and you’re uncertain whether they will approve of what you say. However, you probably don’t want to be nervous throughout the interview; as a result, the best thing to do is to be fully prepared. For instance, you should know what the goals of the program are; you should do some research beforehand, and try to understand the program as much as you can. Most importantly, ask someone to give you a practice interview. Try to make up some plausible questions, practice answering them, and have someone correct the answers for you. Asking people for advice does help. Remember, the more you prepare up front, the more relaxed you will feel during the interview; the more relaxed you feel, the better you’re going to perform. The first five minutes of the interview are critical. The interviewers can quickly tell if you’re the person they’re looking for. They’ve read your transcript, autobiography, research proposal, and some of your personal records; they already have a sketch about who you are. However, how you behave and react during the interview determines your destiny. When you walk into the room, be polite and don’t forget to smile. Remember, first impressions are very important. Usually the first few questions are simple, such as introducing yourself in three minutes, why you’re applying for this program, what you plan to do with the degree, etc. The key to mastering these questions is to be prepared for them. The clothes you wear also create a strong impression. However, since this is not a real job interview, don’t forget you’re only a student at the moment, so don’t overdress. Simply pick something decent. When you speak, try to be confident. Teachers often judge students from their manner and temperament. Even if the teachers ask you a killer question which you have no idea how to answer, just chill out; tell them that you don’t know how to answer it. Remember, honesty is always the best policy, and don’t try to act as if you know everything; you’re just making fun of yourself. Always present yourself in the best possible light, and be who you are. Be determined and firm in your responses. To be a champion means you have to believe you’re the best. You should always have faith in what you say. Show your strongest motivation and enthusiasm for the program. Teachers are not looking only for students who are outstanding in academics; in most cases, they’re also looking for those who are highly motivated, enthusiastic, and bold in speaking their mind. Eye contact is also important. You have to make the interviewers feel that you’re a sincere person, but not aggressive. Don’t stare at the ceiling or look at the floor, and don’t just freeze your eyes on one of the interviewers. Move your eyes smoothly to each of them, and from time to time look around the room. It shows that you’re confident, and that you’re handling the interview with ease. You might want to use some gestures, but don’t exaggerate them. It’s true that interviews are subjective, and you never know if the interviewers favor you or not. And sometimes it’s hard to predict what the questions might be, or how you’re going to react to them. But the most important thing is, be prepared and have faith in yourself. Remember, you are a special person, and you should make others feel that too during an interview. #Volume 8 Issue 2#studentlife
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By Beth Sung
Once when passed by Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on my bike, something drew my attention away from the traffic. I stopped my bike right away and had a closer look. Then I realized that it was people practicing kung-fu. But somehow it looked different from the people doing Tai chi on campus every Tuesday afternoon. To satisfy my curiosity, then, I went up to ask a man who happened to be the coach. It was “Long fist” that they were practicing. Long fist (長拳), as the name suggests, has characteristics such as open, extended and large movements of the body along with jumping, kicking and spinning. Generally speaking, the Long fist family includes Cha fist (查拳), Hua fist (花拳) and Pao fist (砲拳). One popular and widely renowned Long fist style is Cha fist. Rumor has it that its presumed founder, Cha Mi-er (查密爾), was designated by the emperor to cast away alien tribes from the north and the west. Unfortunately, he came down with a disease on his expedition and was forced to stay in a village in Shandong until he got well. Because the villagers practiced kung-fu to keep in shape and to defend themselves, he taught them a certain kung-fu style in return for their kindness. What the villagers learned from Cha Mi-er was organized later on as Cha fist. Long fist is said to be the best threshold for beginners to pick up Chinese kung-fu. It emphasizes the basics that enable beginners to use every part of their bodies to build a solid ground for future training. In contrast, other styles of kung-fu tend to emphasize a certain part of the body right from the beginning. For example, eagle claw and mantis fist both use lots of wrist and finger techniques while the Chuo jiao style uses lots of kicking techniques. Instead of limiting learners to one specific technique at an early stage, Long fist provides learners with comprehensive skills from which they can choose to specialize afterwards. Therefore, Long fist is often compared to the mother of northern Chinese martial arts. Long fist is more than just a physical activity. It also puts strong emphasis on the expansion of the mind. However, its mental training is not always obvious for learners at the beginning phase. They usually don’t realize it until teachers point out for them. Learning to focus plays an important part in mental training. Learners need to focus on the front, the side and the back of their bodies because Long fist requires both arms and legs to perform in various ways at the same time. Sometimes arms and legs are required to move at different speeds in order to reach a specific point respectively. Large movements as such easily distract attention. Nevertheless, it indeed leads learners to develop all-dimensional awareness of body movements, space and time. Long fist is a very good exercise. Not only will it keep you as fit as any other western sport, but it is also unique in enriching your life physically as well as mentally. Unlike western sports that only involve physical movements, Long fist is truly a combination of internal and external movements. #Volume 8 Issue 2#sportsandentertainment By Kikuyo Yamada
At the end of each year, all of Japan is glued to NHK TV for about 4 hours, watching the annual Kohaku Song Challenge extravaganza (紅白歌合戰). Although mass consensus seems to be that the lineup of stars is getting weaker and weaker every year, it is still widely watched because it has such a long tradition in Japan. Two famous NHK announcers are selected each year to captain the two (Red and White) teams, and a wide range of current popular singers, of all varieties, are selected to participate. To appear on the Kohaku Utagassen is considered a high watermark for a singer in Japan. Another important thing is that the two teams, Red and White, are always divided into women and men, but the reason for that is unclear. The judges for the event represent a smorgasbord of current cultural icons, usually including a sumo wrestler, a baseball player, a novelist, and a Nobel Prize winner. The stage sets for the event are always glitzy with lots of flashing lights, animated scenery, and lavish designs. The order of appearance is also another interesting event to observe. The last ones to sing are always the ones that have been in show business for the longest time, and the very first that appear are usually the ones who are popular among the younger generation – but not necessarily the most popular ones. Some people criticize NHK for putting too many of their own favorites in the lineup, since some of the older singers didn’t even appear in front of an audience during the past year. Older genres have faded away, but to maintain the traditions of the Kohaku Utagassen, putting unfamiliar Enka singers on the list is becoming inevitable. The program ends at 11:45 p.m. (10:45 p.m. Taiwan time) so that the last 15 minutes of the year can be spent viewing the throngs of people gathered at the gateways of various temples as they listen to the New Year’s temple bell-ringing. Even if you missed the show this year, don’t worry, you can always see reruns of the event on Chinese New Year’s eve. Don’t miss it. #Volume 8 Issue 2#culture By Frank Lee
Many people, myself included, had been suspecting that Prof. José Eugenio Borao, a Spaniard who teaches Spanish in our department, was a priest. It’s true that he was never caught praying or preaching in class. But somehow people constantly gossiped that he was a priest, for he seemed to be very involved in some sort of religious group. Or was it a secret society? No, José explained, “I am a member of Opus Dei, but don’t call me priest!” Opus Dei (the work of God, in Latin) is not a sect, order, or any sort of brotherhood. It is a Catholic institution different from all of these. And though people quite freely associate its members with priests or monks, they aren’t. Actually, they’re a group of laymen who according to José dedicate themselves to their work, and their work deals with God. José insisted on distinguishing between members of his group and common clergymen. He explained that, with the love of God as their foundation, they’re actually quite involved in secular affairs, which means they put great emphasis on their own professional careers as well as personal goals. And different from most priests and monks, they can get married. José related that Opus Dei members are divided into two groups: numeraries and supernumeraries. The latter can marry while the former cannot. Members are free to decide upon either group. José chose to become a numerario at the age of 20, while he was still a university student. When asked for the reason, he paused and said, “I felt then that God was asking me to do it. God is love to me, and I believe everybody puts their love into something: people, power, or money. Any of these is o.k., but you must put your love somewhere. You can’t live without love.” Opus Dei is also one of the reasons for him to come to Taiwan. In 1989, four years after a branch of Opus Dei was established here, José volunteered to come to help. Almost at the same time Navarra University offered him a chance to teach as a visiting professor at Tamkang University for a year. José had been interested in the history of Spanish activities in Far East, and so he accepted the offer and flew to Taiwan. In the first year he taught Latin American Culture in the graduate institute of Latin American Studies at Tamkang. The following year he came to teach in our department, where he remains. José has had a quite painful experience learning Chinese. In the beginning he studied for about one year at the Mandarin Daily News (國語日報), which turned out to be a catastrophe. In the whole Chinese-speaking environment he felt pretty awkward compared with his classmates, who were Asians from Korea, Japan, and Indonesia, and who, he said, “knew something about Chinese, while I knew nothing at all.” Such torture lasted for a year till he finally dropped out and turned to study at Taiwan Normal University. This time he felt more at ease, for in the textbooks Chinese sentences were followed by English explanations. He was ecstatic. But just as he thought everything was going fine, he found that once again he was legging behind his classmates. The situation went from bad to worse. He was now rather helpless in a class he claimed “consisted mainly of overseas Chinese who were back to study Chinese and who actually knew Chinese, more or less, while I was like a zero and I had to work very hard.” All the same, through these frustrations and embarrassments José persisted. Now he feels a lot more comfortable with Chinese. Recently he even had an article published in a Chinese newspaper. “Passion is very important,” he said. “I did many things with passion, so I can concentrate on them and keep going, without caring too much about what other people might say.” When asked whether he would stay or leave after his retirement, José was a bit uncertain. “It’s a question that I never ask myself. But since things are always changing, it’s hard to say… . At least, I don’t have any plans for leaving.” After having lived more than ten years in Taiwan, José has liked it very much. He has traveled much around Taiwan, not only for his research, but also for the “beautiful natural as well as human landscapes.” Actually, he might be more familiar with Taiwan than any of us are! #people By Jean Lin
Every time I get off the bus I tell myself there’s no way I’m riding it again tomorrow. But day after day, month after month, year after year, I am still ascending and descending every morning and evening during rush hour. Buses have their share of charm and I guess they are somewhat addictive, because I can’t make up any more good excuses. The bus drivers have character. The old ladies have special seat-saving techniques. Me, I just sit back and watch the scene. Sometimes I wonder why certain bus drivers decide to become bus drivers. They might as well drive for Formula One or compete in those Monster Truck competitions. Once in a while I take the early morning bus when traffic is still light, and my bus driver races with a fellow rival from another bus company. They yell at each other from the windows, joking or swearing in Taiwanese. These are the fast drivers. There are others that tend to be slower on the road. Some drivers stop to buy breakfast, screaming out their orders for a sandwich and coffee from the window at the greasy breakfast vendor. They make me late for school. I forgive them because they are hungry and need to eat, but there are drivers who stop to buy betel nuts, and that is unforgivable. They waste my time talking to betel nut beauties and stink up the whole bus with their betel nut breath. Of course, not all bus drivers are bad. You can find nice and cheery ones that talk to you for the whole trip. They are really excellent conversationalists. That can be annoying when you’re not in the mood to chat, but I usually just give in and talk to them. There are always old people on the bus. Where do they go every day? I live by the mountains in Mucha, and the old people who take the bus from there tend to travel in packs. They prowl the bus and snatch any seat they can find, even if it means sitting in your lap. A little old lady sat in my lap once, because she assumed the seat was empty for some reason, even though I’m sure that I’m large enough to be seen. Some ladies use purse-throwing techniques which is a highly advanced move. They not only have to know how to throw with precision, but are also able to throw at great distances. They use their hawk-like arthritic eyes to scan for a seat. As soon as they find one, they throw their purses and bags at it. Be sure not to stand in the way of a flying bag. Other old people never take the bus without their ten bags of fruit and vegetables from the market half an hour away from where they live. I never understand why they don’t just go to a market nearby. When I see old people on the bus, I try to give them my seat, but sometimes it’s hard because my backpack tends to be weighty. But then, some of them stand and mutter under their breaths how disrespectful young people are, so sometimes I really don’t have a choice but to stand up. Buses normally stink. There are cockroaches. There is graffiti on the seats. Some buses are so old that the stuffing has come out of the seats, and some bus drivers play horrible music that reminds you of really low-budget KTV shows. But…buses are buses. You hate them yet you have to take them. I’ve really gotten used to just watching various people on the bus, wondering where they’re going, listening quietly to their conversations, sometimes learning from them, sometimes chuckling at the stupid things they say. I have a driver’s license, and I have a car. Yet, I cannot stop taking buses. Darn that addiction. #taiwan By Serena Lin
Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity. I say, let your trash be two or three and not a hundred or a thousand. Yet think about the amount of trash we produce, from chopstick wrappers to the old PC you just threw out. Or visit a landfill and see how “productive” your city is. Then you will understand what a complicated life we are living in. According to statistics released by the Environmental Protection Association (EPA), we consume 105,000 tons of plastic bags in Taiwan annually, and among them plastic shopping bags add up to 65,000 tons. That is about 20 billion pieces in total, or an average of 2.5 pieces per capita per day. As to disposable tableware, the approximate 17,700,000 persons who eat out every day consume 59,000 tons of tableware, including 43,000 tons of disposable plastic tableware. Plastic shopping bags and tableware have become an inseparable part of modern life, and we consumers enjoy the convenience. Yet, wait a minute, is it really pure pleasure? In the process of incineration, the major type of waste treatment in Taiwan, a lot of plastic waste – for instance, PVC and PS – will produce dioxins. Plastic materials that are spread into the environment often block sewers, which leads to flooding. Plastic bags and tableware float in rivers and streams and accumulate on riversides and seacoasts, destroying the ecosystem. Plastic tableware is also not easily recycled, and even if it is recycled, its post-recycling products are not of high economic value for reuse. To tackle these problems, the EPA has launched a series of new policies. From July 1, 2002, all government-run stores were banned from providing free plastic shopping bags to customers, as well as disposable tableware. And from January 1, 2003, the use of plastic shopping bags and plastic tableware is restricted everywhere – supermarkets, department stores, convenience stores, retailers, and the fast food industry. These sectors are no longer allowed to use plastic bags containing PE, PP, PS, and PVC, or to offer customers disposable plastic tableware, including that which is made of Styrofoam. The main idea of this policy is a concept called “zero waste.” It addresses waste management from the source rather than a traditional end-of-the-pipe control. Rather than producing a huge amount of waste and recycling it or dumping it into the landfill or incinerator, it is better to reduce the amount of waste production from the source and effectively implement resource reuse. Although recycling is now a growing habit, it alone will not end our dependency on landfills and incinerators, nor reverse the rapid depletion of our natural resources. Only by maximizing recycling and minimizing waste can we ensure that products are made to be reused, repaired or recycled back into nature or the marketplace. Through the concept of zero waste, we can establish a novel way of looking at our waste stream. Instead of seeing used materials as garbage in need of disposal, discards are seen as valuable resources. A pile of trash represents jobs, financial opportunity, and raw material for new products. Humans once innocently believed that by dumping waste into landfills and incinerators, they could have a clean environment. We hardly knew that we were still polluting the earth – including air, water, and soil pollution. Yet the earth is a finite place. Whether it is one hundred years or one thousand years from now, we will eventually run out of space to dump waste. Since we aren’t able to find a planet in outer space where we can ship all our waste, we had better trash our “take, make, and waste” mentality instead, and start from zero waste. #Volume 8 Issue 2#culture By Alice Lu
Congratulations to our seniors who have applied for graduate programs abroad! They have finally taken TOEFL, GRE, GRE subject tests, or GMAT exams, written a statement of purpose, and asked professors for recommendation letters. But from time to time, we hear horrifying stories of how professors do not agree to write recommendation letters. We see seniors wail and beg on their knees vainly. Some even missed their admission deadlines because of “one little letter.” Don’t blame our professors yet. They have their reasons, and they hope students learn the proper way to ask for a recommendation letter. Professors may refuse to write recommendation letters under certain circumstances. My friend Jenny is a top student in the department and had performed diligently in Prof. X’s huge literature class. (Both names have been altered.) Last year when she asked Prof. X to write a recommendation letter for an exchange program, she was rejected. Prof. X’s reason was that he didn’t know her work well enough. All he knew about Jenny was that she wrote an excellent term paper for him. This catastrophe brought tears and despair into Jenny’s eyes. She has never been rejected by anyone in her life. But Prof. X meant no harm. It really meant, “I’d love to write for you, but I believe other teachers who know you better can write an even better recommendation.” Other professors may not consent to write when students ask for an urgent letter. Many students leave recommendation requests until the last minute, when the deadline is only two weeks away. But just imagine, most universities’ admission deadlines occur during the holiday season, and if five students ask the same professor, and each of the students applies to ten universities, how much time would the professor need to spend? Definitely more than two weeks. A proper request for recommendation letters is very simple. First, look for the right professor four to six weeks before the deadline. It’s more important to find a teacher who knows you well than someone famous. So ask a teacher from a small class first rather than a teacher of a huge lecture class. After the professor has consented, provide the professor with a list of specific information. The information should answer the following questions: What was the course you’ve taken with the professor and what was your grade? What was your academic achievement in the class? Did you write any paper in the class, on what topic? In additional to these questions, add anything you would like the professor to mention in the letter, such as your personality, extracurricular activities, or part time jobs that are related to your future study. When this is done, give the professor a copy of your statement of purpose, transcript (highlight the course and grade you had with the professor), and a list of schools to which you are applying. Don’t forget to attach an envelope with stamps if the professor needs to mail the letter directly to the university. And last of all; wait patiently for the letter. Most professors will be willing to write recommendation letters if students ask them. So don’t be afraid to ask. But to play it safe, ask the professors as early as possible. And to be decent and considerate, provide information for the professors to write about. After all, our professors can’t remember every detail, and they do spend a lot of time writing good recommendation letters. So the least we can do is make their job easier to show our appreciation. #studentlife By Allison Peng
Christmas is the most important festival in Germany. Four weeks before Christmas Eve, that is, near the end of November, a joyful and bustling atmosphere can be felt throughout the country, and it lasts until January 6. Generally speaking, German families set off to a yearly Christmas market that starts during the first week, usually on Saturday. These markets sell everything related to Christmas: foods, drinks, ornaments, souvenirs; the most famous one is in Nürnberg. Then the following Sunday is time to light the first candle of hope on a green wreath that stands for permanent life. There are three other candles waiting to be lit for each of the next three weeks. When the forth one is lit, Christmas is just around the corner! Christmastime means a lot to kids, since they can expect Santa Claus to visit them twice – on December 6 and December 24. The former date is Santa Claus’ birthday; children prepare a short boot or a plate in the doorway the night before, together with a list of some big presents they would like to receive on Christmas Day. If they have behaved well through the past year, lots of sweets would be found in the doorway the next morning. On the 24th, the presents they requested will be there, too. But if you weren’t so good this year, you had better be ready for Santa Claus’ partner, a man in black holding a stick and a black book, inside which is the record of what bad things you did. This is really frightening and educating to children. Parents may even hire a stranger to play this role! So honesty is the best policy when you are asked, “have you been a good kid?” Also, children receive a beautifully patterned Advent Calendar with 24 small doors on it; behind which are chocolates, poems, or little gifts. From December 1 to 24 they open a door each day and get what is inside. But some naughty children full of curiosity probably can’t wait and open all of them on the first day! Making Christmas food together is also important in German families. Children design their own cookies. The savory smell mixes with that of gingerbread, overflowing out of every kitchen. Furthermore, a kind of heavy tart called Stollen is indispensable for this occasion, which consists of dried fruit, raisins, almonds, and rum. Its surface is often coated with thick sugar icing, and they are very large. All family members cooperate to complete it. They have to start six weeks before Christmas Day so that the finished product can be served on schedule. By the way, this cake is hard, but it is really worth chewing – and chewing again. It’s well known that Germans love alcohol, and a particular drink is popular at Christmas – Glühwein, made by heating red wine and then adding spice, cinnamon, and sugar. During this period, having a cup of hot wine with your family and friends really brings much warmth. Putting up a Christmas tree! In addition to the decorations of candles, stars, ribbons, and colored glass balls, Germans usually place a manger scene with Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, and some farm animals. When visiting your neighbors or friends on Christmas Day, it’s important to praise their Christmas trees. After entering the house, the first thing you have to notice is their tree and…say something about it! Also, remember that when giving Christmas gifts to Germans, what matters is their usefulness and familiarity. Handmade gifts are a good idea, and don’t forget to say while presenting it – Frohe Weihnachten (Merry Christmas)!!! #travel By Eleanore Lin
What is the best buy during department store anniversary sales? Makeup, if you ask me. It’s the only time of the year you can buy cosmetics at a discount price. Almost all department stores that have anniversary sales offer special makeup sets at a cheaper prize. You can also get free gifts and coupons if you spend enough money. So what are you waiting for? Who can blame you for running to the store and grabbing things like crazy? The first step is to read the sale brochures. Rushing for cosmetics is not unusual, but rushing for these brochures is also important and difficult. All experienced shoppers know one should make plans before purchasing anything, so do some homework first. Go to the department store to get a brochure a few days before the sale begins. However, getting one is not always easy. I know people who went twice to the Mitsukoshi department store before their sale but couldn’t get one. The reason given was that the brochures are only distributed at certain times and they are snapped up as soon as they begin to distribute them. Even during the sale itself you have to ask the ladies at the information desk because the brochures are kept in a secret place beneath the counter. After you’ve read the leaflets and decided what to buy, you had better go to the counters in person before the sale begins to find out if you can order what you want in advance. This is important because if the counters take advance orders everything can be sold out before the sale even begins. So what would be the point of lining up before the store opens and trying to be the first one to get in? However, you still have to line up to get the “best buy for the day.” Sometimes, however, it’s not a good idea to buy things too early since new products or even better free gifts are offered once the sale has begun. As everyone knows, huge crowds of people throng department stores during their anniversaries. In large department stores such as Sogo, there are about twenty sales ladies at each cosmetics counter during this time. They usually form a circle in front of their counter, and if you stand near any counter for more than a second you will be accosted. The situation can become awkward if you are forced to stand too long because of a big crowd; sales ladies would imagine you are terribly interested in their products even if you’re not. Still, shopping for cosmetics during these sales is very exciting – and so satisfying! I love it. See you there. #culture By Abel Lei
Not long ago in The Foreign Exchange we became acquainted with two new careers in field of cognitive science, audiology and speech-language pathology. However, we only got a general idea that an audiologist takes care of our ears and a speech-language pathologist deals with language. It is not hard to comprehend what trouble our ears may have and the problems an audiologist must cope with. But what about the language part? A speech-language pathologist (SLP) covers a wider range of language-related issues far beyond our imagination. Human beings are the only living creatures that use languages. The process involved in mastering a language is so complicated that we have to be intelligent and equipped with appropriate anatomical structures. Utilizing a language is not just uttering sounds. In brief, the whole process consists of perception, comprehension, and production. Any mistake that happens at any stage will cause a serious failure in speech. An SLP is able to detect the failures that occur in these process and to solve the problems. Therefore, as the name speech-language suggests, an SLP’s job can be divided into two parts, language comprehension and speech production. Problems related to language comprehension include children’s and adult’s language disorders. Since language acquisition is accomplished through one’s intellectual development, children’s language disorders are different from those of an adult. Children’s language disorders usually result from language development delay, a slower language development compared to normal children. The reasons for development delay includes autism and cerebral palsy, both concerning the dysfunction of brain that affects’ children’s ability to produce oral language. Adult language disorders occur under similar circumstances. Aphasia, loss of language ability owing to brain injury, is the main cause of adult language disorders. Sometimes people who suffer from dementia, loss of mental ability, also have a problem in their language ability. Because language disorders usually result from brain damage, an SLP has to be familiar with the structure and function of the brain, just like neurologists and psychologists. For most of us, to utter a word is a piece of cake. Yet in order to speak a word, our brains have to command a number of different parts of our bodies to cooperate perfectly, including respiration, phonation, articulation, and resonance. An SLP copes with speech disorders stemming from problems in this mechanism, and the problems can be categorized into four groups. The first one is voice disorder, which is due to the impairment of the phonation system or sometimes to inappropriate breathing. Secondly, an SLP might encounter phonological disorders. The factors which may affect normal sounds or tones are numerous, but the problems result from incorrect articulation or abnormal oral structure. Motor speech disorder is the third type that vexes SLPs the most. It is easy to infer that people who suffer from motor speech disorders have great difficulty in the motion of speech. The best illustration is dysarthria, a kind of motor speech disorder due to the disharmony between the nerve and muscle systems. However, this is different from stuttering, which is always caused by psychological factors. The last one is dysphagia, a kind of disorder resulting from difficulty in swallowing, the physiological structure of which overlaps that of speech. No matter what kind of language or speech disorder, the problems SLPs have to solve are not as simple as replacing a broken wheel. In many cases, SLPs take charge of the job of rehabilitation. They teach patients with aphasia how to speak after cerebral surgery, correct patients’ articulation after the operation of a cleft lip, and help autistic kids communicate with therapists. Therefore, teamwork with other professionals is necessary for SLPs to achieve successful therapy. A team consists of SLPs, audiologists, neurologists, psychologists, oto-rhino-laryngologists, and even teachers with a special education background. In America, such teamwork has become a trend in various fields. However, the development of speech-language therapy is just in its infancy. We don’t even have an official license for an SLP, let alone a team of professionals. I hope this will be rectified soon. #Volume 8 Issue 2#people |
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The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
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