American student tops Mandarin-speaking contest in Taipei

Taipei, Nov. 20 (CNA) American Caleb William Locke Foust has taken home first prize at the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall's annual Mandarin-speaking competition for foreign students in Taiwan.

Foust, a former engineer working in Silicon Valley, won the NT$20,000 (US$616.02) top prize Tuesday night with his speech on "perseverance and abandonment," in which he talked about his ambition of becoming a diplomat, the Hall said in a news release.

Foust said that he applied for the post seven times in the United States, all to no avail. However, he believes that he will realize his dream if he persists.

He told CNA that he aspired to be a diplomat since he was young, and has been applying for the post since he was 19 years old.

"I will keep working until I become a diplomat," he said.

Foust also revealed that his former girlfriend was from Beijing, which started his contact with Mandarin.

He visited Taiwan a few years ago and decided to come to learn Mandarin here after being impressed with the people and the food.

Americans John David Kaltenbach and Camille Kathleen Byrne won second and third prizes, as well as NT$16,000 and NT$12,000 cash prizes respectively, followed by Peter Geert Albert Oortmann from the Netherlands, who won the NT$8,000 fourth prize.

Superior prizes were also given to six contestants: Fathiya Adiba from Indonesia; Emily Eleanor Darlene, John Edward Kaulakis, and Ethan Reiter from the U.S.; Manowang Warunee from Thailand; and Arisa Yabuta from Japan. They each received cash awards of NT$6,000.

The contestants chose from one of five topics -- "Perseverance and abandonment," "How to make good use of social media," "My biggest worry in Taiwan," "My viewpoint on Taiwan's taboo," and "What age is the best in the life?" -- to give a five-minute talk on in Mandarin.

Peng Ni-se (彭妮絲), the head of the jury and a professor teaching at the Department of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language of Chung Yuan Christian University, was quoted in the statement saying that the speeches were excellent.

She commented that the contestants' speaking cadences matched the contents of their speeches, their pronunciations of the Mandarin intonations were well done, and their postures added to the natural flow of the speeches.

Wang Lan-sheng (王蘭生), director-general of the Hall, was quoted in the statement saying that the contest aims to fulfill Dr. Sun Yat-sen's ideal of fraternity, help foreign nationals understand Taiwanese culture, and share their own cultures.

The Hall will also discuss the possibility of adding a Taiwanese Hokkien category to increase the diversity of the contest, Wang said.

A total of 60 contestants from 17 countries and studying in 17 Taiwan's universities participated in the contest this year, according to the release.