Dr. Karen Chung Shares Secrets of Language Learning and Challenges Taiwanese Students Face Learning English

4 min readFeb 16, 2023

Dr. Karen Chung shares her secrets of language learning and the challenges Taiwanese students face learning English.

She is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures of National Taiwan University. She talked about something called the echo method when she was previously interviewed for Talking Taiwan in 2012 and we’ve invited her back to give us an update.

In this interview she shared some additional tips on how to use the echo method and her thoughts on the challenges that Taiwanese students face in learning English. We also spoke about Taiwan’s Bilingual 2030 Plan.

[LISTEN to the Complete Episode HERE on APPLE PODCASTS or SPOTIFY]

Professor Chung has a TEDx talk with over 1.5 million views and an online Open Course Ware course in phonetics on the Taiwan University site which has received over 1.3 million views.

A lifelong learner herself, she talked about when she first started learning Chinese, and how to this day, she continues improving her Chinese.

This episode of Talking Taiwan has been sponsored by NATWA, the North America Taiwanese Women’s Association.

NATWA was founded in 1988, and its mission is:

to evoke a sense of self-esteem and enhance women’s dignity,
to oppose gender discrimination and promote gender equality,
to fully develop women’s potential and encourage their participation in public affairs,
to contribute to the advancement of human rights and democratic development in Taiwan,
to reach out and work with women’s organizations worldwide to promote peace for all.

To learn more about NATWA visit their website: www.natwa.com

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Where Professor Chung’s interest in language came from
How she started teaching German in the 11thgrade
How she got interested in learning Chinese
Her love of the Chinese language
Her resonance with Confucian values
What brought Professor Chung to Taiwan
How the Echo Method can be used to learn any language and can help to improve your native language
Where the Echo Method came from
What echoic memory is
How to use echoic memory to learn a language
Professor Chung’s tips for learning and practicing language
How listening and seeking feedback by reading the reactions of those you are speaking to can help you to improve your speaking abilities
Whether or not it is harder to learn a language the older people get
If it is necessary to be in an environment where you can be fully immersed in a language, in order to acquire a near native accent
How to most effectively use the echo method
Taiwan’s Bilingual 2030 Plan and increase English translation of signs, websites, government and banking documents
How the U.S.’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) has increased the burden of paper reporting for banks
Karen’s Facebook page, Karen on Ivy League Analytical English
Her collaboration with her former student Melissa on creating an English teaching app
Karen’s interview on I’m Learning Mandarin podcast and morning routine
What she enjoys about reading classical Chinese works

Dr. Karen Chung Shares Secrets of Language Learning and Challenges Taiwanese Students Face Learning English

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

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Written by Felicia Lin