博物之島 MUSEUMS

Author: Kao, Yu-hsuan (Project Assistant, Digital Innovation Center, National Museum of Taiwan History)

Translator: Hsieh, Chia Chun (Executive Editor, Museum Island by the Ministry of Culture)

Located in the Nanying Green Metropolitan Park, Xinying Cultural Center comes alive on Sundays with the joyful sounds of children playing, elderly people listening to pocket radios, and cheerful greetings exchanged between neighbors. Listen closely, and you’ll hear Taiwanese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and Indonesian echoing through the lush greenery of southern Taiwan. Inside the center, the Beyond Words Immigrant Language Learning Journey Exhibition uses language as a theme to connect the fragments of daily life scenes, presenting a vibrant picture of multicultural exchange.

^{Located in the Nanying Green Metropolitan Park, Xinying Cultural Center is a gathering place for local residents. The Beyond Words Immigrant Language Learning Journey Exhibition captures the daily encounters of languages in the community. (Photo by Kao, Yu-hsuan)}

Through a series of workshops, the exhibition invites both immigrants and local residents to explore experiences of language learning and migration through artistic expression. Their stories and reflections are transformed into exhibition content, revealing the everyday moments where language and culture intertwine.

A key example is the “Homestyle Dishes on the Table”（ 「餐桌上的家常菜」） printmaking workshop, where participants carved images of familiar home-cooked meals. These diverse dishes were brought together on one table in the exhibition space, where visitors were invited to sit down, exchange recipes, and share the flavors of their hometowns. The workshops foster exchange on two levels—through creation, participants explored their own cultural identities, while their works, whether displayed as prints or transformed into installation pieces, became dialogue mediums between creators and viewers, transforming the exhibition into an interactive storytelling space.

^{What’s on the table today? The Beyond Words Immigrant Language Learning Journey Exhibition hosted the Homestyle Dishes on the Table printmaking workshop, where participants explored the tastes of home while discovering ingredients and flavors from different cultures. (Photo by Kao, Yu-hsuan)}

Beyond the dining table, the ground-floor exhibition space also recreates the everyday scenes, such as kitchens, shops, classrooms, and gardens. These scenes allow visitors to experience how different languages are spoken and exchanged in daily life, fostering cultural connections. The classroom and living room installations focus on how residents from diverse backgrounds navigate and adapt to life across multiple languages. The exhibition also includes interviews with second-generation youth, who reflected on their childhoods spent on moving between two cultures, and the unique ways language blending shaped their experiences and identities.

^{Each potted plant grows herbs used in cooking, with every herb carrying a unique name in different languages, reflecting the rich and diverse culinary cultures. (Photo by Kao, Yu-hsuan)}

On the second floor, the exhibition shifts focus from language learning to the relationship between language and cultural adaptation, as expressed through works from the “My Life Path” (「我的生活軌跡」) video workshop and the “City Impressions”（ 「城市印象」） colour workshop. At the centre of the space, rows of school desks and chairs invite visitors to take on the role of language learners. By scanning QR codes on the desks, they can listen to immigrant participants sharing how they navigate daily conversations by switching between languages, highlighting language as a bridge for social connection.

^{In the interview video on the second floor, immigrant participants who have made Taiwan their home share how language serves not only as a means of communication with the next generation, but also as a vital vessel for cultural transmission. (Photo by Kao, Yu-hsuan)}

At the end of the exhibition, visitors are prompted to reflect on two questions: “Where are you from?” and “If you moved to a new place, what would you like to learn about it?” By mapping their hometowns and imagining life in a new environment, vistors trace the paths of migration and express hopes for life in Taiwan. In this “language classroom,” listening is not only the beginning of learning, it’s also a bridge to understanding. Every conversation becomes an echo of a cultural encounter.

^{In a contemporary world where movement is part of daily life, a new home carries both hopes for the future and a lingering sense of cultural longing. (Photo by Kao, Yu-hsuan)}

❚ English Editor: Cheung, Billy Chi-Yiu （M.A., Graduate Institute of Museum Studies, TNUA）

❚ Executive Editor: Hsieh, Chia-Chun