This paper calls attention to the tight interconnection between language and culture. It discuses Taiwan's English learning zest and its complex relationship with globalization and localization. It takes Edward Said's negative comment on the lack of ”expressive and aesthetic characteristics” as well as the want of “critical or self-conscious dimension” in the English learning praxis at a Middle Eastern national university as a point of departure to reflect on Taiwan's status quo. The paper reviews Taiwan's current English curriculum and examination policies, and it highlights variations of English as natural products of a living language. The paper attempts to rediscover some critical and self-conscious dimensions, which might be helpful in Taiwan's English classrooms