Taipei Language Institute
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The Taipei Language Institute (TLI; ) was founded in 1956 by a group of missionaries who wished to provide training in
Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...
for Taiwan-bound missionaries. Originally named Missionary Language Institute, the founder Dr. Marvin Ho created the institute as a means of educating these foreigners in Mandarin and
Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...
.


History

As the demand for language instruction of foreigners increased, the institute soon found that it could no longer limit itself to training missionaries. In 1958, the school expanded its enterprise and took the name of Taipei Language Institute. It opened its doors to any foreigners aspiring to study Chinese and Chinese heritage in Taiwan. From the humble beginnings of the first TLI Institute which started with 30 students in Taipei, TLI has grown exponentially over the years to 16 centers across the globe - in Taiwan, China, Japan, the United States, and Canada. TLI has trained tens of thousands of students worldwide, and has instructed clients from a wide range of professions: diplomatic personnel, international businesspeople, engineers, journalists, missionaries, professors, authors, college students, and
overseas Chinese Overseas Chinese () refers to people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese. Terminology () or ''Hoan-kheh'' () in Hokkien, refe ...
. TLI has prepared hundreds of variations of textbooks and materials covering dozens of different subject matter ranging in difficult level. Courses at TLI are mostly small-group classes of 2-6 students or private tutorials and rigorous audiolingual methods are employed. TLI has compiled many of its own materials, but beginning with the high-intermediate level, students are given the freedom to design their own curriculum based on current or anticipated job needs. It is also possible to study mainland Chinese material which uses
simplified characters Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters used in mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore, as prescribed by the ''Table of General Standard Chinese Characters''. Along with traditional Chinese characters, they are one o ...
. The Taipei Language Institute also works in close partnership with the
American Institute in Taiwan The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT; ) is the ''de facto'' Embassy of the United States of America in Taiwan. The AIT institution is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the federal government of the United States in Taiwan with Congressional oversi ...
at their Chinese language school in
Yangmingshan Yangmingshan National Park is one of the nine national parks in Taiwan, located in both Taipei and New Taipei City. The districts that are partially in the park include Taipei's Beitou and Shilin Districts; and New Taipei's Wanli, Jinshan, ...
to provide full-time, advanced training in speaking and reading Mandarin Chinese for diplomatic personnel and employees who need to attain professional proficiency.


Timeline

1959: TLI signed a contract with the
U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
to train American diplomats in Taiwan, including the personnel of the American Embassy,
Military Assistance Advisory Group Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) is a designation for United States military advisors sent to other countries to assist in the training of conventional armed forces and facilitate military aid. Although numerous MAAGs operated around ...
and Mutual Defense Headquarters. This relationship lasted 20 years, only ending when diplomatic relations between the Republic of China and the U.S. broke off in 1979. 1967: Dr. Marvin Ho, president of TLI, established the Department of Chinese Studies at the
University of Delhi Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...
in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and designed its curriculum. A large number of Indian students enrolled and later became Chinese translators and interpreters in all levels of Indian Government. 1971: By invitation of the
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
Christian Association, TLI established a Chinese Language Institute in
Kowloon Kowloon () is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of in 2006, it is the most populous area in Hong Kong, compared with Hong Kong Island and t ...
, which consisted of the Mandarin Language Department and
Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
Language Department, for the training of foreign religious groups, businesspeople, diplomats, and locals. 1996: TLI expanded into
mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
and
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. 2000: TLI established an American campus in
San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...
2009: TLI and
Beijing Language and Culture University } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...
(BLCU) signed an agreement on 28 April that grants TLI the exclusive right to conduct
Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi The ''Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi'' (HSK; ), translated as the Chinese Proficiency Test, is the standardized test of Standard Chinese (a type of Mandarin Chinese) language proficiency of Mainland China for non-native speakers such as foreign stude ...
examinations in the Taiwan area.


Notable alumni

*
J. Stapleton Roy James Stapleton Roy (; born June 16, 1935) is a former senior United States diplomat specializing in Asian affairs. A fluent Chinese speaker, Roy spent much of his career in East Asia, where his assignments included Bangkok Bangkok, official ...
- American diplomat specializing in Asian affairs *
John K. Fairbank John King Fairbank (May 24, 1907 – September 14, 1991) was an American historian of China and United States–China relations. He taught at Harvard University from 1936 until his retirement in 1977. He is credited with building the field of Ch ...
- American academic and founder of the Center for Asian Research at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
. *
Charles W. Freeman, Jr. Charles "Chas" W. Freeman Jr. (, born March 2, 1943) is an American retired diplomat and writer. He served in the United States Foreign Service, the State and Defense Departments in many different capacities over the course of thirty years. Mos ...
- American Diplomat and Chair in China Studies at
Center for Strategic and International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. CSIS was founded as the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Georgetown University in 1962. The center conducts polic ...
*
Ma Ying-Jeou Ma Ying-jeou ( zh, 馬英九, born 13 July 1950) is a Hong Kong-born Taiwanese politician who served as president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. Previously, he served as justice minister from 1993 to 1996 and mayor of Taipei from ...
-
President of the Republic of China The president of the Republic of China, now often referred to as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (ROC), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The position once had aut ...
(Taiwanese Language Study) *
Nicholas D. Kristof Nicholas Donabet Kristof (born April 27, 1959) is an American journalist and political commentator. A winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, he is a regular CNN contributor and an op-ed columnist for ''The New York Times''. Born in Chicago, Kristof was ...
- American journalist, author, op-ed columnist, and a winner of two Pulitzer Prizes * Eunice S. Reddick - American diplomat *
C. Martin Wilbur Clarence Martin Wilbur (1908 – June 18, 1997) was the George Sansom Professor of Chinese History at Columbia University from 1947 to 1976. Biography Born in Dayton, Ohio, Wilbur went at an early age with his parents to China, where they worke ...
- Professor of Chinese History at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
*
Christopher Doyle Christopher Doyle, also known as Dù Kěfēng (Mandarin) or Dou Ho-Fung (Cantonese) () (born 2 May 1952) is an Australian-Hong Kong cinematographer. He has worked on over fifty Chinese-language films, being best known for his collaborations ...
- Award-winning
Cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...
* Afaa M. Weaver - American Poet


See also

*
List of Chinese language schools in Taiwan Taiwan has long been a destination for foreign learners of Mandarin and is home to many Mandarin language schools. Several schools also offer courses in Minnan, or less commonly Hakka and Cantonese. Below is a list of Mandarin language schools ...


References


External links


Official website
{{Authority control 1956 establishments in Taiwan Academic language institutions Language schools in Taiwan Organizations based in Taipei Educational institutions established in 1956 Schools of Chinese as a second or foreign language