佇2002年春天, 位台灣移民到加拿大，這段期間，我所有的精神攏囥佇英文世界。其實早期佇台灣的時，就誠拍拼來加强英文的功力矣。不而過，對一个使用華語佮講台語超過半世紀的人，欲用英文創作，眞正是一項大代誌。

續落來，閣想欲用台文寫作，對一个完全受華語教育，雖然會曉講台語，但是習慣使用超過三十幾冬華語書寫的作者，這敢毋是閣一項大挑戰矣！所以欲用英文参台文來寫作，會使按呢講，我親像一欉釘根佇地球的樹仔，拼勢躡跤尾跟，好玄探測天頂遐，懸懸的奇妙佮秘密。 雖罔講，這款工課是無界快活，但是寫作到這个坎站，加減有寡使命感：一來，用英文書寫，想講予世界較濟族群的人了解我的故鄉台灣；二來，用我的母語「台語」創作，我親像會當位心肝窟仔，揣著故鄉的親切。

先講英文部份：雖然人類有仝款的器官，來感覺生活的種種，比論目睭為着欲「看」、耳空為着欲「聽」、鼻空為着欲「鼻」，皮膚為着欲「感覺」、嘴為着欲「啖糝」。但是人類閣有「悟性」的世界，大部份攏决定佇咱所講的語言，甚至有一寡專家發現咱無可能覺察著家己無號名的代誌。每一種語言是「看會著」的世界所使用的一个特別的對鏡片。所以無仝所在的人所看著、所講的，相對嘛會無仝。比如以「雪」這字來講「語言」佮「悟性」的關係。位「英語人」來講，形容「雪」有可能單那一種爾爾。但位「因紐特人」(加拿大北部、格陵蘭、阿拉斯加地區的族群)來講「雪」可能有三十外種無仝的詞。

閣來看覓，「語言障礙」佮「文化差異」的看法。有關詞性，咱會當按呢來分別：英語是動詞的語言（Verb language），華語是名詞的語言（Noun language）；另外閣有思考方式的差別：英文是直線式的思考，華文是捲螺仔式的思考。這款思考方式的差別致使文化差異，相隨來就有「低的連結」（Low-context）佮「高的連結」（High-context）的分別。

做一个比論來講，西方或者較新的國家，像加拿大、美國、紐西蘭、澳大利亞…就屬於「低的連結」（Low-context）；東方或者較古老的國家，像埃及、印度、中國，台灣…就屬於「高的連結」（High-context）。

進一步來解釋，「低的連結」的民族性講究的是個人、改變、少年、靠俗、效率…；但是「高的連結」的民族性講究的是集體、傳統、長老、拘束、唯心…。一个位「高的連結」的台灣，來到「低的連結」的加拿大，我家己做一个比較，按呢對自身的位置就有淡薄仔了解，也才予我這个蹛佇加拿大的外國人(台灣人) 減少一寡文化的衝擊(culture shock)。佇溫哥華學院讀英文的時，老師就講欲予英語是第二語言(ESL)的學生，慢慢仔位High-context導向Low-context，按呢學英文才有寡基本功夫。

有這个思考方式的無仝，所以事後我無論翻台灣詩人、抑是家己的作品，有時仔我袂照字面「直譯」，我是用「意譯」代替，來符合「低的連結」民族的習性。如果若想欲做好勢，翻譯毋是一項輕鬆的工課。

我是無愛永遠關佇水族館，是一个欲泅向大海的人。向望不止會當用華語創作，嘛會當用英文寫作。所以無管天有偌懸、海有偌深、困難有偌重、我猶原會顧著鍊金術士(The Alchemist) 所講 “When you want something, the entire universe conspires to help you to achieve it” 的精神勇敢向前、射迵天界彼爿，來做一个眞正的實行者！當然其中，無一定會完成所欲愛的目標，但是盡力去做，這就是生命。生命親像旅程，咱的氣力無需要單那囥佇「目的」，但是重點囥佇「過程」，而且會當品味過程中的苦佮甜，這敢毋是生活的一種態度呢？

想著讀VCC的期間，點滴佇心肝頭。彼段日子，每日親像佇魔鬼訓練營咧受訓，連破病嘛毋敢哀。有一擺，會記得為著準備40分鐘的英文演講比賽，行佇Broadway路上，毋知是傷浸佇欲講的主題“The Alchemist”的情節，我竟然重重跋一倒，疼到跁(peh)袂起來，提著十幾斤的冊包，我誠困難徛起來，瞬間頭殼閃出一个念頭：「閻羅王！請毋通即馬來揣我，我的英文猶未好勢，世間的知識嘛猶未捌透……」。跋這倒，講實在規身軀誠無爽快，但是功課照常做到半暝，袂記得家己受傷過。看著分轉來的考卷血跡滿四界，我才意悟著手盤肉的傷疼；暗時上眠床的時，才感覺跤頭窩骨的存在。

我是一个得獎的台灣作者，嘛是以作家的身份移民來加拿大，所以誠自然，我就愛以創作來做我生活的工課。感謝台灣孕育我對寫作的趣味，感謝加拿大看好我的作品，予我有機會來到這个世界上適合人蹛的所在，來開拓我的眼界。

目前(2010)我出版十本冊，大部份攏用華語創作，內面包括散文、小說、童詩佮英文翻譯。位2007年開始陸續選「親情」方面、感覺袂歹的作品翻作英文。2009年受著台文戰線文友的影響，認真拍拼開始台文的書寫。

首先，我將「台英雙語童詩集」出版。宋澤萊先生的評論講：「李秀這些台語詩，我們不能單純地將它當成北京語詩的翻譯，應該說是一種還原，以台語來恢復其本來面目罷了；換句話說她的這些台語童詩，在語言上恢復到了母語的本真世界去了。」伊認為台灣人寫詩，無論用任何語言書寫，加減受制伊的母語，佇字佮行之間攏會發出母語的味來。

那按呢講來，我這个台灣人投入台文，一路行來感受著「行台語路走揣故鄉」的激動，閣將「華英散文集」，誠緊就來翻作台文，嘛是眞自然的天性。有關改寫台文，因為時間参環境有所改變，內容加減有無仝，會使講有的是重寫。雖然寫到無暝無日，但一點仔都袂感覺疲勞。因為用台語寫出來的作品，不但感動家已，讀者嘛感覺讀我的台語作品，真正有貼肉黏骨的感情，特別予台語詩人立信兄透過麥庫(micro)唸出來的澎湖腔口的作品。現此時，伊的聲音當咧佇台灣、北美地區走徙，因為我的朋友誠好玄啥物是台文。

有一寡仔是佇台灣書寫的作品，比如親情方面，我是按怎來數念父母佮對囝兒的向望，比如「外垵，我的母親」、「我是毋是閣做毋對代誌？」「佇落雨天走失落的老父」、「欲去叨位走揣失落的情歌」…；另外有一寡仔是來温哥華以後所寫的篇章，親像「地球後面彼扇門」、「尾站嘛是起站」、「行！咱來English Bay 扭琴」、「撥出去的水」…時常家已按呢思考，我是按怎來拍開地球後面彼扇門，續落來，閣發現猶原有袂少的門咧等候拍開。我這款的努力經營，啥物款的獎勵，會當來回報一粒好玄永遠袂疲勞的心矣！

即馬我欲交出這張「台英雙語散文集」的成績單。當然一个美好的完成，除了家己的綿爛以外，背後也有一寡仔勢力，比如台文文友、我的活字典柯柏榮…等等的幫贊。這本冊的產生，毋是欲教人按怎精進参出脫。它是一个普通女子，透過日常生活的風景，寫出伊的想法佮反映。親像一欉佇塵土中的小花蕊，咧走揣蝴蝶的路草，向望將伊移徒的旅途佮經驗分享予逐家。

A Woman Seeking the Path of the Butterfly

              Foreword

Why I want to write in both Taiwanese and Engish  by Lee Hsiu

I moved to Canada from Taiwan in January of 2002. During this time my spirit totally bonded with the English world. Even though I have taken many courses to improve my English skills, it is a big job for a person who is used to both thinking and writing in Chinese for over half a century to now think and write in English.

Furthermore, I want to write in another language now – Taiwanese, which is my mother tongue. It is also a huge challenge for me, because I have been writing in Chinese for over thirty years, and I was educated in Chinese, even though I can speak Taiwanese very well. Thus I feel like a tree longing for the earth and standing on tiptoe to peek at the heavens.

Even though it is hard work and a big responsibility for me because I’ve been writing in Chinese for such a long time, I want to write in both English and Taiwanese because I have two purposes. One of them is that I want more people to understand my home country Taiwan; and the other is that for me, writing in Taiwanese takes me back to my home country that I miss so much.

I want to discuss further why I feel compelled to write in English. Although we all have the same physical organs for sensing life, such as eyes for seeing, ears for hearing, noses for smelling, skin for feeling and mouths for tasting, our perception of the world depends, to a large extent, on the language we speak. Some experts have discovered that we cannot perceive things that we have not named. Each language is like a pair of eyeglasses through which we “see” the world in a particular way. A classic example of the relationship between language and perception is the word “snow”. In the English language, there is only that one word to describe all of the possible kinds of snow. In the Inuit language, however, there are as many as thirty different words for snow. 

Moreover, let’s look at another view of both language barriers and cultural barriers. Looking at parts of speech, Chinese is a noun language, while English is a verb language. The Chinese language results in “spiral” thinking – an indirect way to express thinking, while English is a straight type of language, which creates a more direct way of seeing the world. Another cultural difference contrasts “Low-context” and “High-context”.

For example, the national characteristic of “Low-context” thinking emphasizes individualism, change, youth, informality, efficiency and so on. These kinds of nations are mainly Western or newer countries, such as Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and so on. However, the national characteristic of “High-context” thinking marks collectivism, tradition, elders, formality, spiritualism and so on. These varieties of style are nearly always found in Eastern or more ancient nations, such as Egypt, India, Taiwan, China and so on. Comparing Taiwanese and English in this way enables me to understand why I struggle to learn English language and culture.

Learning a foreign language is so complicated that the teacher first tries to change the high-context thinking of ESL students to low-context. As a result, we have to grasp this key point before we can begin studying this tricky English language. Because of this different thinking pattern, when I translate either my work or other Taiwanese works, sometimes I will translate for meaning instead of a “the literal translation” to suit “low-context” people’s way of thinking. Actually, the work of translation is a difficult job, if you want to do it well. 

I am an ambitious woman; not only do I want to write in Chinese, but I also want to write exciting works in English. I don’t just want to swim in the aquarium; I want to swim in the sea. For this purpose, I don’t care whether the sky is high and remote or the ocean is very deep and unmeasured. I will keep going forward to my destination. This is similar to the disposition of The Alchemist who says “When you want something, the entire universe conspires to help you to achieve it”. Perhaps the process of pursuit will bring me both surprises and achievements. Surely life is like a journey during which we should not only focus on the destination.

I can remember studying English when I was at Vancouver Community College. I felt I was training in a boot camp for learning English. Once I prepared a forty-minute presentation about the book, The Alchemist, for the class. I was so immersed in the plot of the book as I walked to VCC that I slipped and fell heavily. I had difficultly standing up because of the heavy book bag and acute pain throughout my body. In my mind, I cried out, “Lord in Heaven, please don’t take me out now, since my English is not yet complete, and I don’t have a deep knowledge of life as well…” Even though I suffered a serious fall and felt sick, I still did homework late at midnight. Actually, I didn’t care about any pain while I focused on studying. However, when I saw the bloodstain on my returned test paper, I realized that my hand was badly scratched. Heading to bed to rest, I noticed that my knee was still hurting a lot. So, I have truly suffered blood, sweat and tears in my quest to learn English.   

I am an award-winning Taiwanese author, so I declared myself as a writer to Immigrate authorities when I arrived in Canada. Thus it makes sense that I need to write to continue my career. So now, I do not only appreciate Taiwan where I was cultivated as a writer, but I also thanks Canada which provided me with the most comfortable place in the world to develop my vision.

I have published ten books in Chinese that including prose, novel, children’s poems and English translation. Since 2007, I chose only the best of my writing about my family to translate into English. In 2009, some friends at Taiwanese Literature Battlefront Magazine strongly urged me to write articles in the Taiwanese language. So then I become more involved in the field of Taiwanese writing.

First, I published a collection of children’s poems in both Taiwanese and English. A famous Taiwanese writer, Tik-Lai Song, said, “We couldn’t say that these children’s poems of Lee Hsiu are merely translated from Chinese. We should say they have been returned to the true colors and vision of the Taiwanese language.” But he also believes that even if the Taiwanese people write articles in different languages they will still send out their mother tongue.

As Tik-Lai Song said, writing in Taiwanese is a natural instinct. Thus, it is little wonder that I am embroiled in writing in Taiwanese day and night, but I never feel tired. In the past, I have translated my work from Chinese to Taiwanese, but as time has passed I feel a strong need to change. Thus these pieces actually are rewrites. Moreover, I am writing from the heart in Taiwanese, so my readers are touched very much by my works in Taiwanese, especially when my writing is read aloud by a Taiwanese poet, Wang Li Cheng, who has a Penghu accent. And now his voice is heard all over Taiwan and North America, because my friends are full of curiosity about Taiwanese articles.

And so this book was born bilingually in Taiwanese and English. Of course, this birth required my great patience throughout the process, but I also benefited from the support and encouragement of my friends, one of whom, Ke Bo Rong, is a walking dictionary.

In my early years in Taiwan, I wrote about the inner turmoil that arises within the context of family love, and how much I miss my parents and the great hopes I have for my children. These stories include “Waian, Penghu, My Mother”, “Have I Done Something Wrong Again?”, “Lost in the Rain”, “Where I Can Find My Lost Love”. In addition, after I arrived in Vancouver, I wrote “Foreign Door”, “The End as Well as the Beginning”, “Let’s go and play music by English Bay”, “An Equal Deal for Women”---all are stories about my many struggles in Canada. As I move from door to door in my Canadian journey of self-discovery there are still many unknown doors. As I knock at a series of unfamiliar doors, what kind of reward is there for a heart that never stops being curious and never tires of work? 

This is not a how to book of spiritual advancement or a book of easy answers to hard questions. It is the thoughts and reflections of an ordinary woman as she walks through the ordinary landscape of everyday life in search of a path, like the little flower lying in the dust that seeks the path of the butterfly. I hope all of you who travel with me will find it a journey worth taking.