Advantages of being an ABC in taiwan

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
41

[quote=“ztephen”]I know not a lot of ABCs on the forum, but what have you seen as social, economical, ect. advantages of being an ABC in Taiwan?

Disadvantages of ABC vs being white or real taiwanese[/quote]

ABC, you look Asian yet you apply more logic to everyday situations. This makes you valuable with foreign companies, but makes you less valuable with local ones (unless they are export based) because you don’t comprehend all the little idiosyncrasies that go with 5000 years of judging each other.

42

I’m starting to understand why ABCs don’t return if they have to. The foreign companies operating in Taiwan still require bilingual abilities and most ABCs have sub-par Chinese abilities.

1 Like
43

and ABCers appear to have a lot of trouble finding condoms that fit them

4 Likes
44

not worried about the condoms part…

45

just as many have sub-par English abilities. I handle a lot of applications from ABCs/TBAs etc. for translation work and they often get scored down for deficiencies in both languages. Non-count nouns almost universally are not properly learnt (stuffs, equipments etc.). On the Chinese side they often fail (understandably) to keep up-to-date on new usages (樂活 translated as “happy life” for example).

2 Likes
46

You could always hire a tutor or take some classes to get your language skills up to snuff. It’s not hard if you already have a good base of Mandarin to start with.

47

I for some reason have not met or run into these ABCs with subpar Chinese abilities. I’m not particularly looking for them, but in my experience, they are the minority.

I always meet those that I can’t tell if they are an ABC or not bc they don’t have any accents.

48

Well I wouldn’t say sub par but some may struggle to read and write Chinese, I known a few who don’t even speak it.

49

Bicultural and biliterate or even multicultural and multiliterate are now valued higher in the 21st century.

50

In my many years in Hk, I experienced discrimination from Hkers purely because of self-interest and protection of turf.

51

Experiential language learning has helped me to immensely advance my Chinese standard to a high level with my appreciation and gratitude.

52

I’m able to communicate in Chinese, but I’m not able to write essays in Chinese. I can fill out application forms entirely in Chinese. In any case, I’m still marked as “not fluent”.

53

I think if you’re able to speak fluently, but have a bit of trouble writing, I would label it as fluent in speaking and intermediate it writing.

54

Right, but there’s no space for that in the application. My “bio” is still quite simple in terms of Chinese level.

55

What are you concerned about?

If you are unable to read/write fluently in mandarin, do not apply for those jobs. Make sure that when you are applying or during your interview you figure out how the company operates. If it’s a foreign company, it’s likely that documentation has to be done in English, so when/if foreign higher ups need to jump in to make the exec decision, they aren’t relying on a translator.

If you are so concerned that your mandarin capabilities are up to par, I would consider taking some classes at NTU or NTNU. I have had friends that spoke and understood zero and within a year could hold a conversation with a local and order at restaurants on their own. If you devote all your time for half a year to those programs, I do not see you not being fluent.

2 Likes
56

There’s a huge difference between a foreigner who can conversate in Chinese and a ABC/ABT who can conversate in Chinese but unable to write.

Foreigners are never expected to hand in reports or essays in Chinese, but even ABT working in companies are expected to do that. Taiwanese did it their whole lives so they don’t find it unreasonable but to a ABT/ABC it’s a tall order.

How many of you guys think you can start writing essays in Chinese after half a year at NTU?

1 Like
57

if the job demands Chinese writing fluency, don’t expect to get hired if you can’t.
a hospital won’t hire an RN to do a heart surgeon’s work

1 Like
58

if ABTs are expected to write Chinese, and foreigners are not, ABTs have an option not to use the ABT card. They can apply for foreigners positions in many cases.

4 Likes
59

Exactly. There’s no shortage of those positions out there in Taipei or even in Taiwan. It’s just a matter of where you look and how good your networking is.

I know for a fact that a large number of start ups operate using English because some of the CEOs are ABT/ABCs and they like to hire their country men/woman.

60

104 is not necessarily the best place to look however but if you’re an ABT/ABC you won’t have a whole lot of network outside of 104. And 104 often have horrible jobs.

1 Like