Advice for prospective English Teacher seeking Taipei employment + other cities

[teggs]

@user86

Just speak English. People will look at you funny if you speak broken Mandarin, if you look Taiwanese.

I think that if you speak Chinese and explain that you grew up elsewhere, they will appreciate the effort.

[user86]

No, they won’t. They’ll probe you on why you didn’t learn proper Chinese from your parents at home.

And then if you attempt to answer that question logically, they will ask “then why do American kids who grew up here in Taiwan speak perfect English?”

[JiangxiaCraneTower]

Yeah I definitely can’t do anything about my American accent haha. Some of the native Mandarin speakers in my community say my Mandarin is above average for an ABC, but I still have some “Chinglish” structures and some Americanness mixed in with my Southern Chinese accent so. I can only be honest, really. People are going to be able to tell anyways when I open my mouth. The reason I want to go to Taiwan in particular is to get better at Mandarin, and I’m not afraid of being wrong- I make a good faith effort as a foreigner and I don’t have anything to be ashamed of.

[anon24369109]

Pray tell what does a Taiwanese look like?

[anon24369109]

Good thing other countries don’t have in state out state differences in tuition fees

[user86]

@anon24369109

what does a Taiwanese look like?

Why don’t you do a Google Image search. That should give you a general idea.

[anon24369109]

Google lol. The same company that eradicated white people from is AI program

[user86]

@anon24369109

Google lol. The same company that eradicated white people from is AI program

Then do a Bing or Yahoo search. Whatever floats your boat.

[nz]

@anon24369109

Good thing other countries don’t have in state out state differences in tuition fees

Because other counties just have decently cheap or just straight up free college

[anon24369109]

@nz

Because other counties just have decently cheap or just straight up free college

Free in Germany. UK around 9250 pounds a year.

My sons post grad JD Law AUD$40k a year tuition for three years. A bargain really.

[foc]

@Pendulum

One does not need to make $80 to $90k per month to afford what the city has to offer. You can easily make less and live comfortably. It all depends on where you place your priorities. Many foreigners come here and live the same lifestyles they lived back home which ends up costing them quite a bit since earnings are going to be less.

Hmm…after taxes and social security contribution you will net about 70k on an 80k salary. I don’t really see how rent, utilities, and transportation can be less than 30k in Taipei City if you want to live in an “clean apartment” in Taipei given the realities of rent and housing stock in the central city.

Surely you would spend another 10k on food each month.

It’s likely that if you live in the city you will spend another 10k on entertainment. Most people would need to allocate another 7.5k for biannual trips back home and inexpensive bi-monthly trips in Taiwan or perhaps one trip to a neighboring country each year.

By my reckoning, you now have about 12K left for clothing, saving, and the other expenses that come up from time to time in life. You would not be able to afford Chinese classes. which are now about 10k/month.

All of this assumes that you are not living ‘the same lifestyles they lived back home’ with the exception of the trips back home. Those seem to be pretty important to new arrivals.

Of course you can live on less even in Taipei City if you are OK with a shared apartment or (less common these days) a cheap roof shack.

It’s just a lot easier to live on less in places like Tainan or Yuanlin where you can still rent an apartment for 15k or even a little less if you are only making 50-60k.

Working full time and taking Chinese classes at the MTC is a good way to break people. If he has some Chinese to begin with and finds part time classes, he’ll be much better off.

Agree. That’s why a buxiban/cram school job was so great in the old days. You could work 15-20 hours a week, study Chinese, and still have plenty of free time and money to spend on other things. Sadly, that slacker lifestyle seems less economically viable in Taipei City these days.