What are your views about the Bilingual Nation Policy, and what suggestions do you have in terms of creating a friendlier environment for foreign professionals and investments?
EDIT: I think that Taiwan is trying very hard to attract foreign professionals and investments, however, foreign professionals who are already in Taiwan are also finding it hard to stay due to highly restrictive labor and immigration laws. I would love to hear what ya’ll think about this.
Stop looking down at SE Asians from countries like the Philippines. Their English proficiency is way higher and they could be a great resource for teaching Taiwanese how to speak English.
True, but if Taiwan’s message to foreigners interested in coming to Taiwan for for business and specialist work is “our English isn’t that good but we’ll help you learn Chinese!”, it’s going to continue losing out.
I agree, it seems that Taiwan is trying very hard to attract foreign talent, however, foreign talent who are already in Taiwan are also finding it hard to stay due to highly restrictive labor and immigration laws.
Dual citizenship
Complete overhaul of the banking system.
Better pay.
For residents:
Free full English kindergarten for every child (3 years)
All non-STEM classes taught fully in English through junior high. All classes taught fully in English in high school.
Well English is an official language of the Philippines and there are a good number of native English speakers there. Being a native English speaker means you learned and began speaking English in early childhood, not that you came from the US, Canada or a European country.
I think it’s unrealistic to expect large numbers of English speakers from Western countries who have good language teaching skills to come to Taiwan to teach English. The salaries and work environment might be acceptable if you’re a new grad and want to live abroad for a year or two, but it’s not an attractive career path for most people from the West.
On the other hand, I think Filipinos would be far more likely to see this as a good economic opportunity and career path.
I respect that you have experience in this business. I don’t. But I do have experience navigating Taiwan’s bureaucracy and conducting business here, and I can say that whatever they’ve been doing isn’t really working. I’ve also overheard a few English tutoring sessions in cafes and if they were anywhere near representative of the quality of instruction, a lot of money is being pissed away.
That’s an issue too. Career options for foreigners are also quite restricted (mainly by labor laws) even if the language barriers are removed entirely.
It’s very hard for young professionals to get a work permit for a non-teaching job even if they are qualified for the job.
I speak native-level Mandarin and Spanish. Several companies expressed interest in hiring me as their translator, however, I had to turn them down because this form of work couldn’t be legalized.