Spoken Taiwanese Mandarin/Colloquial language in Taiwan

[gao_bo_han]

Does anybody know of any good resources for learning Spoken Mandarin as it is used in Taiwan? I am not trying to start a debate about what is or should be "standard", simply looking for resources to learn Taiwan Guoyu. How many times have I heard, "That expression is used only in North China...we don't used that word in Taiwan...that sounds very Beijingish.", etc. Ai ya!

It would be really great to get something with tapes/cds. I own around 30 tapes/cds for learning Mandarin, and I listen to them constantly. Almost everyone on the tapes uses the erhuayin extensively. Truly Taiwan Guoyu has several distinct differences in pronunciation and in the colloquialisms used by the locals. Even words that are exactly the same are pronounced so differently that I often will not understand a sentence spoken by a Taiwanese person that I would spoken by a Beijinger. Anyways, anyone got any suggestions for a book/set?

[Claw]

I don't know of any resources in particular, but generally speaking, if you look for resources that use traditional characters instead of simplified, you are more than likely to get something that is suited for the Taiwan flavor of Mandarin.

[Disenchant]

You could always just watch Taiwan TV drama like "Meteor Garden" or something...if you're willing to sacrifice a dozen or two of your IQ points.

[gao_bo_han]

I do watch Meteor Garden. It has definitely been helpful...although, yeah a little stupid. A book on Taiwan Mandarin colloquialisms/expressions would still be useful though.

[benotnobody]

you probably already know this, but taiwanese (or the taiwanese friends i have) pronounce zh/ch/sh differently. eg: 什么时候? would be pronounced kind of like "sen me si hou?" you hear this a lot in taiwanese pop music.

As far as colloquial expressions go, i don't really know any, cos in my chinese class, even the native speakers are expected to use only "standard" mandarin. pah.