I have been learning English for a long time. If I am not wrong, it was before I went to kindergarten. It has been an important foreign language ever because it is still an international language until today. Although English is not widely spoken in Indonesia, a large number of English words can be found in products, games, or advertisements.
Besides, many Indonesians know English, and the similarities between English and the Indonesian language even help much in the learning process. There is no specific kind of English, no matter American English or British English, which I have learned at school. In fact, I learned both. I learned to distinguish which one belongs to British English and which one belongs to American English. English teachers are mainly from the USA, UK, or Australia.
I also learned Mandarin at the same time. However, much encountered with English has made me interested in English more than Mandarin. Probably this is one reason why my Mandarin skills did not improve well before I came to Taiwan. I always keep in mind that in Mandarin, English is called 英文 (ying1wen2) or 英語 (ying1yu3).
Different English?
Everything went well until the day I came to Taiwan and I began to realize something odd. Teaching English in Taiwan seems to have a big market. That can be seen in many advertisements on the road and on TV. In addition, there are many foreigners living in Taiwan, especially Taipei who work full-time or part-time as an English teacher.
I have noticed that English is also called 美語 (mei3yu3) with 美 is derived from 美國 (mei3guo2) or America plus 語 (yu3) which means "language". So, the English language (英文/ 英語) is surprisingly also called the American language (美語) in Taiwan. This fact is really surprising for me because through learning Mandarin experience, since I was a kid, I have never known about 美語 or the "American language".
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