A Broad and Ample Road

A Broad and Ample Road

Share this post

A Broad and Ample Road
A Broad and Ample Road
Reading, or Something Like It: Guest Essay from Catherine Chou
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

Reading, or Something Like It: Guest Essay from Catherine Chou

How to learn Taiwanese and read Mandarin in a year, plus two useful tools for learning these languages. And The Brothers Karamazov book club details.

Broad and Ample Road's avatar
Broad and Ample Road
Jan 23, 2022
∙ Paid
47

Share this post

A Broad and Ample Road
A Broad and Ample Road
Reading, or Something Like It: Guest Essay from Catherine Chou
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
8
Share

Happy almost Lunar Year! (It’s Year of the Tiger!)

We’ve been so grateful to see so many new sign-ups lately! Thank you. We publish Chinese newsletters on Thursdays and English on Sundays; you can change the settings at “My Account.”

Today we are honored to share a guest essay from historian Catherine Chou. We’ve been delighted to spend time with her, and have been struck by her generosity, openness, and warmth. For the past year and half, Catherine has been deeply immersed in learning Mandarin and Taiwanese in Taiwan. This essay will inspire anybody who dares to embark on language study, but especially those seeking literacy in their parents’ native tongue. It is also an impassioned plea to revive the Taiwanese language. As Catherine puts it, Taiwanese is a “playful, complex, experimental” language that has adapted “in the face of decades of neglect and hostility from state and society.”

Other news: This week Michelle co-authored an essay with Father Peter Hung Ngueyn in The News Len…

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to A Broad and Ample Road to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Michelle Kuo and Albert Wu
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More