Job Discussion Forums

[creztor]

1. Chinese community

Yes.

2. Mandarin Speaking

Taiwanese is widely spoke outside of Taipei but it is very easy to slap them in the head with "please speak mandarin" and they get the idea. Most people will only speak mandarin if they see a "foreigner". However, some will insult you in Taiwanese assuming you don't understand. I've had this happen a lot recently.

3. Nice people, or at least nicer than in China, as far as rudeness goes to strangers

Have to agree here. While some of their habits drive me up the wall, most Taiwanese people are actually very friendly and helpful.

4. There needs to be some nature, whether its beaches, forests, mountains to hike (even small ones)
Definitely lots of that.

5. Good public transportation subway (China has a good one, but it closes at 10:30 PM!!!! that is way too early, what about Taiwan's?)

Outside of Taipei there is no such thing as good public transportation. You will need a scooter.

6. There needs to be more to do than bars, clubs, and eating. i feel like every city has that. At least taiwan has night markets

Lots of these around, what else is there to do besides work, sleep and eat?

7. interesting locals, i like the ones in china, but the nice ones i have met never go out past like 8 or 9, or very rarely, and they don't have many hobbies, just reading and watching tv. This is opposite of the foreigner chasing local girls who just like to sleep around and go to clubs every night....OY

Plenty of these girls around as well. My wife goes to university here and she has some friends which are only interested in getting their claws into a foreigner so they can leave the island.

[JZer]

[zipper]

[creztor]

You sure you got the idea yourself, zipper She was probably whispering in your ear while you slept at night

[nateliu99]

yeah man english is my native tongue

born and raised in texas and been in LA for many years

I don't actually speak any other languages fluently, but taken a couple of years of Spanish in college

Maybe i am not like most foreigners, i'm not looking for clubbing girls to hook up with, maybe it's weird, but just me

I actually really want to experience chinese culture not so affected by Western culture, i don't know how to explain that exactly, but Shanghai maybe was the opposite of what i was looking for, this place just seems to be an international hub, most of the people i've made friends with here are foreigners, which is cool, but i guess i wanted more locals to hang out with

[NorthofAmerica]

I've always been under the impression that Taiwan isn't too far off mainland Mandarin. Some words and sentence structures vary but overall you can study in Taiwan and be confident in Mandarin. Now I hear mention of areas where they may not speak Mandarin, I want to study and practice so I am wondering is this a problem?

I learned Japanese near Osaka and the differences are such that it was only when I got half decent and traveled to Tokyo that I thought, "OH, you talk like my textbook!" Other than that I was fine to study from books and practice with locals. Would Taiwan be similar?

[nateliu99]

Now Japan, that was a great time, i visited there last year, about 4 days in tokyo, a day in Kyoto, and a day in Hakone, i really loved it

are you teaching there? how is it?

[JZer]

[JZer]

You can read more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language

[JZer]

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Chiang_Kai-shek

Presidency in Taiwan

By 1950, Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist government had been driven from the mainland to the island of Taiwan (Formosa) and U.S. aid had been cut off. He was elected by the National Assembly to be the President of the Republic of China on March 1, 1950. In this position he continued to claim sovereignty over all of China and until his death in 1975, he ruled "Nationalist China," developing it into an Asian economic power.

In the context of the Cold War, most of the Western world recognized this position and the ROC represented China in the United Nations and other international organizations until the 1970s.

On Taiwan, Chiang took firm command and established a virtual dictatorship. Despite the democratic constitution, the government under Chiang was a politically repressive and authoritarian single-party state, consisting almost completely of non-Taiwanese mainlanders; the "Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion" greatly enhanced executive power and the goal of "retaking the mainland" allowed the KMT to maintain its monopoly on power and to outlaw opposition parties.

Chiang's government sought to impose Chinese nationalism and repressed the local culture, such as by forbidding the use of the Taiwanese language in mass media broadcasts or in schools. The government permitted free debate within the confines of the legislature, but jailed dissidents who were either labeled as supporters of the Chinese Communist Party or of Taiwan independence.

He reorganized his military forces with the help of U.S. aid, which had resumed with the start of the Korean war, and then instituted limited democratic political reforms. He continually promised reconquest of the mainland and periodically landed Nationalist guerrillas on the China coast, embarrassing the United States in doing so. Though he was one of the few leaders to send forces to Vietnam to support the U.S. war effort, he was never able to accomplish reunification in his own homeland. His international position was weakened considerably in 1971, when the United Nations expelled his regime and accepted the Communists as the sole legitimate government of China.

Since new elections could not be held in their Communist-occupied constituencies, the members of the KMT-dominated National Assembly held their posts indefinitely. It was under the Temporary Provisions that Chiang was able to bypass term limits to remain as president. He was reelected, unopposed, by the National Assembly as president four times in 1954, 1960, 1966, and 1972.

Defeated by the Communists, Chiang purged members of the KMT previously accused of corruption, and major figures in the previous mainland government such as H.H. Kung and T.V. Soong (1894-1971) exiled themselves to the United States. Though the government was politically authoritarian and controlled key industries, it encouraged economic development, especially in the export sector. A sweeping Land Reform Act, as well as American foreign aid during the 1950's laid the foundation for Taiwan's economic success, becoming one of the "East Asian Tigers."

In 1971, the United Nations passed Resolution 2758 which restored the rights of the People's Republic of China and recognized it as the only lawful representative of China to the United Nations. With Mainland China's entry into the UN, Taiwan lost its seat and representation. Since that time, Taiwan has sought, to no avail, a permanent seat, citing the UN's founding on the principles of universality and self-determination.[1]

[zipper]

[Rooster_2006]

Personally, I think the whole distinction between "native" and "fluent" is kind of pointless.

Why should languages be ranked on the order learned, with the first language sequentially always being the "native" language? So often, the native language is worse than the "merely fluent" language -- look at ANY Asian-American kid in the US. Their "native" languages are usually Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese -- but since they stopped speaking said languages outside of the home after age four, their English is FAR better. Seriously, go ask your local Korean-American under the age of 25 "What is your native language?" No doubt he'll say "Korean." Then ask him how to say "insert the transistor into the holes on the printed circuit board and solder it in place" in Korean. He won't know. Trust me.

Taiwanese people are "native" Minnan speakers and just speak Chinese as a "fluent" second language -- but what does that mean? It means they learned Minnan at home and only use it to talk about basic, domestic things. The average Taiwanese person is far more expressive in Mandarin than in Taiwanese. There are so many things Taiwanese can't even express without reverting to Mandarin. Minnan doesn't even really have a written form!

Since I lived in Korea from the ages of one to three, and our housekeeper taught me some Korean, I guess I could technically claim to be "native" in Korean since I was learning some Korean at the same time I was learning English. However, the term "native" is completely arbitrary. My Korean vocabulary can't be more than 7,000 words (I got KLPT Level 5 which means at least 6,000, but less than 10,000).

I'd say learning Mandarin in Taiwan is like learning English from completely fluent, well-educated Dutch people who have lived and worked in America for the last ten years.

[zipper]

I find that there are some subtle differences between fluent and native speakers; especially regarding collocations, idioms, and lexis. We could attribute these difference to various contextual and regional experiences. Interestingly, native speakers will identify collocations immediately and always use the correct form-Just goes to show how innate some elements of language are.

[JZer]

[nateliu99]

Hey let's try to focus back on the main subject here. . . ME

Just kidding

but i am having a hell of a time finding any good legitimate connections to this little island

Should i try to sign up for an agency like asianconsultants? Would that help at all?

Should i try to just visit every website of every international school in Taiwan?

Disheartening experience, I emailed one of the ads for korea, and said, "I am an American born chinese, does this hurt my chances? Please let me know if i should not bother applying"

I got a response back: "Unfortunately it does hurt your chances..sorry"

wow