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Updated Monday, June 13, 2011 11:50 pm TWN, By Lydia Lin,The China Post



	The international contestants of the 7th Mandarin Speech Contest for Foreign Nationals hold up the one character they each believe best represents Taiwan in a group picture at The Red House in the Ximen area of Taipei, yesterday. (Courtesy of Radio Taiwan International (RTI) ) Enlarge Photo

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US Fulbright scholar wins Mandarin speech competition

The China Post--The 7th Mandarin Speech Contest for Foreign Nationals came to an ebullient end yesterday, with a U.S. contestant winning the top prize after beating out 30 finalists from over 17 countries.

Hundreds of local and international guests came to see the annual contest at The Red House in the Ximen District yesterday. Co-hosted by the Radio Taiwan International (RTI) and the Hanguang Education Foundation, the event was at once humorous and intense, with linguistically gifted participants showing off their Mandarin in highly creative getups.

Amidst some tough competition, the top prize of NT$30,000 went to Dante Benson from the United States. Awarded for the content of his speech, his mastery of the Chinese language and overall oratorical skill, Benson beat out 30 finalists on the topic of “Taiwan in One Word,” which required participants to come up with one Chinese character that best represents Taiwan.

The winning U.S.-national said he centered his speech around his given surname, “Tan,” (譚) which has an alternative meaning of to talk, after he asked himself, “what's the one word nobody else would use?”

In his speech, Benson said “tan” perfectly depicted Taiwan's warm nature through the chatty friendliness of its denizens. Upon his win, the Fo Guan University student studying on a Fulbright Scholarship thanked his teacher and “my grandmother and all my friends that came to support me, I love you all!”

Don't think Benson's prize money is going to waste, either. “I have a lot of loans to pay off, so I'm not going to party,” he explained.

The second prize of NT$20,000 went to Shino Yasuda from Japan, whose word for Taiwan was “pot,” based on the variegated ingredients of aboriginals, foreigners and Taiwanese that make up the delicious “hot pot” of Taiwan.

Bonfils Damien from France won the NT$10,000 third prize with the word “coral” while contestants from Canada, Burkina Faso, Mexico and Vietnam swept home cash prizes between NT$2,000 to NT$6,000 for their creativity, outrageous outfits and online popularity.

Fan Hsiang-lin (樊祥麟), director of RTI, hailed the event a success. “We have been holding this contest for seven years, and it just keeps getting better,” he said.

The Taiwan-centered speeches were a heartwarming affirmation for Fan, who cited “the level of understanding, care and involvement these foreign nationals had for Taiwan” as rivaling that of the 23 million people who call Taiwan home.

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