Howdy.
I’ve come to decide to return to Taiwan and learn some more Mandarin. I’ll apply for the Huayu scholarship so I’ll need to chose a place to learn soon.
I’m interested in recommendations and personal experiences to help me make a decision!
I went to a school in Taichung last time. I liked the school there enough but I’d prefer trying somewhere new (and I’ll be honest the location sucked ass)
I’m not too keen on Taipei - it’s a cool place to visit but felt too busy for me (although the areas around Tamsui and 象山 seemed nice enough).
Places I’m thinking of and my reasoning include:
-the schools in Hsinchu, as I’ve heard they’re quite good - but does that translate to their chinese centres, and whats it like living there? More interested in Tsing Hua.
-National Sun Yat Sen university in Kaohsiung - I walked through there and liked the area a lot, and I like the city itself enough too.
-One of the schools in Hualian - for the location more than anything
-Chung Yuan Christian University in Taoyuan - This one stood out to me for some reason (can’t remember though). Also got a friend who lives pretty close by.
So if anyone’s been to one of those in particular, or has any other input I’d be glad to hear about it!
I would suspect taoyuan would be like Taichung or worst. Hualian is beautiful but not much to do as well. Why not try taipei or Kaohsiung and give the busy city life a chance.
I attended the Chinese Language program at Tzu Chi University in Hualian 2013-2014. Here’s what I wrote about accommodations. I’ll try to write about the program itself when I have some time this weekend.
Below is something I wrote about Tzu Chi’s CLC. To be honest, I planned to study for a year, but only made it six months. Eventually it became, " Hmm, today should I go to class, or ride my scooter down the coast highway?" I spent the second six months soaking in the beauty of the East Coast (and don’t regret it at all).
Cheers your info is very insightful. No meat though at that university is almost a deal breaker for me haha. But I wasn’t strongly considering Hualien before, more just fancying the idea but from what you’ve written and the other replies in those threads they seem like a solid choice.
And you’re probably right about Taoyuan Andrew. My complaint was more about the location of the school in Taichung than Taichung itself, although I didn’t find there was a lot to do in Taichung anyway.
I’m still keen to hear about the other places I mentioned! It seems like a tough choice, since to me all these locations have something going for them. But I’ve never been much of a decision maker.
I would choose SYT. If you liked Taichung, Kaohsiung has a similar vibe. The university area is not that crowded/busy, yet it is close enough to nature -either hills or beach- so you can enjoy the best of both worlds.
Moreover, I have a very positive impression of the staff there, having spoken to some of them at their international office and some acquaintances who studied there. Feedback is that they are on the ball.
Sun Yat Sen is looking my most likely choice at the moment although I’m still considering Tsinghua and Tzu Chi.
Despite my reservations about Taipei mentioned above I had a look at the options. It seems most of them are located in the southern part of the city or CBD (or whatever you call it in Taiwan) which I’m not too excited about honestly.
There were a couple that caught my attention though namely Chinese Culture University and Fu Jen.
Well Fu Jen’s location seems appealing to me not just for the nature but because family friends live close by. BUT I looked closer and it seems their Chinese centre is located around the CBD with all the other universities
What’s people’s opinions on those two?
And is it true the CCU doesn’t do their Mandarin classes in their main campus?