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rbos
Joined: 22 May 2010
Posts: 69
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 Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 9:16 pm Post subject: Want to teach in Taiwan, but don't know Mandarin - How hard? |
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I'm considering the possibility of teaching ESL in Taiwan, but am concerned that I don't have any experience yet with Mandarin.
As I want to make friends once there who I can actually communicate with, I wonder - how many Taiwanese (percentage-wise) actually speak some form of English that it would be possible to carry on conversations with?
I realize it probably varies, but how long might it take me to pick up conversational Mandari, before I would actually be able to talk with Taiwanese people and make sense? |
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heidihcb
Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 10
Location: CA
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| Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 10:50 pm Post subject: |
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This entirely depends on you. You won't need to know any Mandarin to actually teach but I assume you're referring to the cultural aspects of living in Taiwan.
It depends on you entirely. Are you going to study Mandarin actively and use it whenever you can? Then you should start to pick up fairly quickly. You should be able to communicate within a few months if you study and practice a lot. You won't be fluent but you'll be able to express basic wants and needs and to have a short conversation with a Taiwanese person.
However, lots of people never really learn Mandarin and still enjoy their time in Taiwan. I personally think everyone should learn basic Mandarin as it makes your time more enjoyable and you can better understand the needs of your students in their learning. |
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Rooster_2006
Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 984
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 3:50 am Post subject: Re: Want to teach in Taiwan, but don't know Mandarin - How h |
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| rbos wrote: |
I'm considering the possibility of teaching ESL in Taiwan, but am concerned that I don't have any experience yet with Mandarin.
As I want to make friends once there who I can actually communicate with, I wonder - how many Taiwanese (percentage-wise) actually speak some form of English that it would be possible to carry on conversations with?
I realize it probably varies, but how long might it take me to pick up conversational Mandari, before I would actually be able to talk with Taiwanese people and make sense? |
I speak Mandarin, but poorly. I can explain grammar to my students, order things at restaurants, have conversations about limited topics, and read about 1,000 characters, but I am not nearly skilled enough at this language to carry on a meaningful social life in Chinese.
This is what I have to say.
Knowing Mandarin usually isn't a requirement for getting a job, but I simply cannot imagine getting through some of my classes with first and second graders without knowing some. There is no other way to get through to them unless you're lucky enough to have a Taiwanese co-teacher in the room helping you (most of us don't these days). The young students might know "hello" and a very rough version of the ABCs, but that's about it. Classroom words like "quiet" and "your listening homework is ____" and "Chinese prohibited" are useful. Unless you speak Chinese, first graders and second graders will completely tune you out. Of course, this whole problem could be solved simply by having a Taiwanese co-teacher in the room, but few cram schools are willing to spend that money, even when the class grows large.
As for daily life, well, outside of Taipei, most people speak Mandarin or Taiwanese and there will be many situations in which there are no English speakers. Before my Chinese improved markedly, here were some of my strategies:
1. Carry around a pen and paper and be ready to draw pictures.
2. Point to things, and, if you can, say the Chinese phrase for "please give me this." Act things out. Put your arms in your arm pits, jump up and down, and go "CLUCK CLUCK CLUCK!" if you want chicken, for example.
3. If you know another Asian language, you'll find that quite often, you can simply write the word for what you need in characters and they can read it, no problem. Please note that I am NOT advocating speaking that language (that will only lead to more confusion), but writing it. In my case, I came directly from Korea having learned Korean to an advanced level including 1,000 hanja (Sino-Korean characters) and found that many, many times I was able to "pass notes" with various store owners whereas verbal communication would have failed. This is also possible with Japanese kanji -- the spoken languages are completely different, but the characters are almost identical from one language to the next.
As for social life, well, that's a tough one. It really is. There are Taiwanese people who will want to be your friend and can speak English, but often they're just getting a huge ego boost out of it. They'll parade you around to their friends, practically hold your hand and lead you everywhere, etc. but quite frankly I find this annoying because I've lived in Asia for between nine and ten years and don't need to have my hand held. In order to find Taiwanese friends who aren't deriving joy from the "elite bilingual interpreter role" you'll probably need to speak Chinese... I guess "elite bilingual interpreter role" friends bother me more than they do most other westerners.
Westerners aren't any better as friends. Whenever you hang out with a group of fellow foreigners, it's likely to be the same "So have you tried stinky tofu yet? Oh man, I don't think I'm that brave." conversation WEEK AFTER WEEK AFTER WEEK. It is incredibly repetitive and a waste of my time.
Typical conversation between western English teachers:
"Hey, have you tried stinky tofu yet?"
"Oh man, I don't think I'm that brave."
"Hey, let's go to the Taipei 101 and mill around in a big, clumsy group!"
"Oh boy oh boy oh boy! I'm up for that!"
"Man, everything here is so cheap! I got a meal for two US dollars!"
"I love my job. The kids are so cute."
"Hey, have you been to Kenting yet?"
"No, let's go there in a big, clumsy group!"
(more moronic drivel snipped) |
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creztor
Joined: 30 Dec 2009
Posts: 476
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 7:13 am Post subject: |
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Glad to see you are keeping that positive attitude, Rooster  |
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adogadie
Joined: 18 Sep 2010
Posts: 82
Location: Taiwan
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 12:12 pm Post subject: |
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Pick up a book, tape or CD on basic Mandarin and fire away. Go at it.
You'd be surprised to learn that a lot of Taiwanese possess stronger English listening than speaking skills; even stronger English writing skills. Usually for the first 5 minutes they have trouble understanding your accent, but after a few minutes or so they begin to pick up on it, and many can understand more than you could imagine. It was easier for me to understand Beijing Mandarin than DouLiou Taiwan Mandarin, because hardly anyone speaks Mandarin in this city. Go figure. |
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