Research Process- Bits and Pieces
I decided to convert my mini-language lesson podcast idea into something more narrow. My podcast series will deal with “Customs that you need to know if you’re traveling to Taiwan”. The title is subject to change and a lot of cutting, but the content is final.
Why Taiwan?
I’ve never been there. So I won’t have any preconceived notions of what’s the right thing to do. I’ll be depending on actual research to find content. So far, I’ve found this good website which has helped me search. This gave me a cursory overview of existing customs. I still need to find credible sources from the library that deals with the topic.
I also have a Taiwanese friend, who I can ask for personal opinions and for any Taiwanese voice clips.
Why customs and not language?
The customs reflect certain ideals that you need to follow so that you don’t insult anyone during your trip.
Plus introducing a custom for certain situations is definitely easier and makes more sense.
There’ll still be bits of language in there- mainly just to give an authentic feel when I introduce the situation where the custom must be used.
Possible format
I listened to The Lowdown Podcast. While it’s not exactly a great example and a bit long, it did give me some ideas of what I need to talk about/use in my own podcast.
1. A huge chunk of my podcast will be an acted out scenario that demonstrates the do’s and don’t for a certain custom. If I use an authentic Taiwanese speaker, the change in voice will keep it from being too monotonous
2. I’ll add in other tidbits of information like
- How did this custom come about? A brief look at the history.
- Why is it so important? Is there some sort of religious significance?
- What do you do if you have done a mistake? This will include what phrases to use to apologize.
3. Interview – question people to see what they would do in the situation? What would people want to know?
Breakdown of podcast series
1- Gift giving customs
2- Business customs
3- Dining customs
Tools/ Resources
I came across www.archive.org that allows you to download different kinds of audio for free. You can search for sound effects here, in the Open source Audio section. My favourite part of the site has to be the 78 RPMs & Cylinder Recordings- even if it has nothing to do with my topic.

