Clueless about everything taiwan... want to live there

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
1

i’m currently 22, a student in the US, and i’m on my way to a BA in art history, but i want to travel to taiwan badly–partially cause i’m sick of school right now and everything here.

i was born in taipei, taiwan, but my parents moved to the US when i was one.
1. do i have taiwan citizenship since i was born there? i wanted to work as an english teacher until it was brought to my attention that one needs a degree in order to teach. i keep reading about these visas and going about acquiring one, do i need that if i’m a citizen?
2. what other work is available in taipei or kao-hsiung? i’m interested in art, design, writing, etc. what is the market like? i have experience working at an art museum, art gallery, teacher, camp counselor, design influence/artist/editor for a college magazine.
all i want to do is go to taiwan live in taipei or kao-hsiung for about one year and then return to the states. can anyone give me any suggestions?

i have asked my parents and friends, but no one really knows anything and they’ve left this completely to me, and i have no idea how to go about any of this stuff. plus i haven’t been back to taiwan since i was about 8 years old.

thanks.
-ch
www.pbase.com/carolhu

p.s. don’t be pretentious & condescending in your replies i know i’m clueless about taiwan even though i’m from there. i’ve read your comments in other threads and i know you bite. :slight_smile:

2

nogareaux,

No we don’t bite, heck we won’t even give you a lick on the ear.

It is pretty difficult, from what I see, for folks with a 4 year degree to find work here. You might want to plan on just being a full-time sub. If you go that route, then it is either feast or famine.

You might want to check out art galleries before deciding about working at one. They may not be as stimulating as art galleries found in other places. “Here is a picture of a mountain, a waterfall, and trees. Our next offering is a picture of trees, a mountain, and a waterfall. This last piece is quite unique in that the artist has painted a waterfall, trees, and a mountain.” :smiley:

Honestly, I think the lack of a 4-year degree might keep you from doing anything other than teaching. I could be wrong though.

Best of luck.

DB

3

Yes we do, but only if the bitee is an idiot. I might lick your ear though.

Check out the legal fora for info on citizenship. I don’t have a clue.

I have a friend who has spent the last four-five months searching for something to do other than teaching. Opportunities are not kicking her door in yet, so you might have to be prepared to swallow your pride and join the rest of us.

As an inexperienced person, an ABC, and probably a foreigner without work rights, you might struggle a bit at first. But it is possible to at least support yourself.

And on the bright side, your post was pretty well written. The people who get bitten here tend to be the ones asking stupid questions, being unable to differentiate between ‘two’ and ‘too’, or sounding off about things they don’t know anything about. (This category may include me.)

I say pack your things and get here in time for the summer. You’ll do fine and dandy. Perhaps you should try finding someone in a similar situation to share the pain as you get started. There have been one or two suitable candidates posting here recently.

Have fun!

I like your art, btw.

4

[1. do I have taiwan citizenship since I was born there? I wanted to work as an English teacher until it was brought to my attention that one needs a degree in order to teach.

Nogareaux,
If I read your post correctly, you are working toward your B.A. but you plan to come here without a degree. Is that right? In that case, I would say stay home until you get the degree, especially if you plan to teach.
As for your being able to do other types of work here, what language do you speak. You have lived in the states since age 8 so I wonder if you are able to still speak Mandarin very well? If yes, that will make things easier for you to get a job doing something other than teaching. If no, then your road is going to be much more difficult, I believe.

5

Fortunately, my parents forced me through 10 years of Chinese School Hell. As a result I am fluent in Mandarin and as a bonus I can even read and write a little! I can definitely speak it well enough, but I don’t know a lot of vocab and I’ve found myself struggling to find words when speaking to a non-english speaker. I can however make crappy conversation and get my meaning across.

I want to go to Taiwan now cause I want the experience badly.

strag basher: thanks for your positive comments =) alright, I’m so ready to pack my bags… the question is are my parents willing to let me? They’ll let me if I can definitely do something and support myself.

I’ve found available housing at my friend’s place in Kao-hsiung. I have family in Taipei, but I doubt I can live there. What do you mean I can definitely support myself?? I’m thinking of the worst possible scenario. Oh yeah what the hell is a work right? Do they do anything like the US?

Thanks for all the help so far!

6

let me tell you this. i’ve got a masters in east asian art history with excellent grades, am caucasian, but more or less fluent in chinese. even with pretty good guanxi (i know the vice director of the palace museum and the curator of a private art museum) i couldn’t find an art related job here. nobody would even think of hiring a foreigner unless you have more than 10 years experience and are a well know expert in your field like the above mentioned curator. and even if they were willing to hire you fresh from the uni, there is no legal way you could get a work permit as there are tons of locals who are as much or even more qualified to do the job…

so i’ve stopped dreaming about working in a museum, gallery or auction house and have just found myself an other job…=)

7

actually since age one =) i went back to taiwan when i was 8 for my grandfather’s funeral.

8

nogareaux,

Teaching english is probably the easiest job with descent pay, with what skill sets you have described so far online. If you serious about staying a whole year. I don’t see why Buxiban won’t hire you.

I use to lie through my teeth about how long I was planning to stay in Taiwan and found descent jobs teaching English and private tutoring during the summer.

Gaoxiong…better brush on on that Minnanyu.

What do you mean by support yourself? Or what kind of lifestyle are we talking about?

I wouldn’t expect to save much money based on a typical English Teacher salary and ABC lifestyle. But of course if you eat instant noodles 3 times a day with 1 egg… :wink:

9

okay what? i have to eat instant noodles with an egg? 3x a day? i thought this country had an abundance of food that costs US$1! If I’m starving here I eat instant noodles! I thought if I was starving there I’d be able to at least eat some real solid food.

by support myself, I mean be able to eat and not starve and be able to depend on myself w/o calling home to mommy & daddy asking for money. i mean comfortable not luxury. obviously i’m not a twit and i know that i’m not going to be living an american lifestyle. so, now that you know – can i support myself?

also, what constitutes “decent” job? i’m not a princess, but i have limitations. also how can i teach english if i don’t have a B.A.? i’m so confused by the varying comments. Plus i doubt i’d want to take the risk of illegally teaching. Buxiban – doesn’t that fall into the same category as teaching anywhere else?

10

Hi,
Don’t take this as a “bite” (or even the famous ear-lick!) but:

  1. Don’t come until you have a BA or BS, unless you are prepared to work illegally. Full stop. That is, unless you will be entering on a Taiwanese passport, applying for household residence here, and so on (which I doubt you want to go through). And decent Taiwanese jobs will require a BA/BS anyway, so there goes that idea.

  2. Even if you enter on a Taiwanese passport, your imperfect Mandarin (sorry, but 10 years of Chinese school in your description has made you able to converse and get your point across with difficult, but not to read and write fluently – this means you won’t be able to compete with the locals on a level playing field) you won’t be able to get “normal” jobs because you are not literate and don’t speak Chinese like a native. In Kaohsiung, as someone has commented, the lack of Minnan (Taiwanese dialect) is going to be a real problem as well. (If you don’t speak it – you didn’t say, but I have the impression you don’t). So that puts out things like 7-11 (if you even wanted to work in 7-11 for like NT$60 an hour in the first place, which I also doubt! :laughing: )

In a nutshell - in the words of Lee Teng-hui: “go slow, be patient.” Wait a year or two, get the degree, and then you can have a dignified (well, as dignified as possible!) experience with realistic hopes of getting a job with a living wage. Otherwise you will be clawing your way trying to slip between the cracks of legality and picking up on the crumbs of other people’s sub work and private students. Not a nice way to spend a year, unless you have another very compelling reason NOT to be in the States just now…)

Just my opinions but I don’t see how a year of scratching and lawbreaking is going to give you the Taiwan experience you seek.

Oh – just thought of this one – enrolling in a language school for your visa, then picking up some private students MIGHT be an option – you could learn to read and write (good) or learn Minnan dialect (also useful, I suppose). No BA needed for language programs, just a high-school diploma. That might be a better option for someone who wants to just see the place and make enough money to have a decent meal or two every day.

11

nogareaux,

Okay as one ABC to another. I will assume you are girl and not a guy. Since guys like us suppose to be drafted if we goto Taiwan for too long. If you’re a guy have enough money to buy a round trip ticket back to Taiwan every 4 months. I thing HK is the cheapest destination and back.

You cannot work legal in Taiwan as a foriegner without an ARC. You maybe able to get around this by entering on you Oversea’s ROC passport. I have no idea about this. Since I would be drafted and never done this.

Let’s say you cannot enter for a year on your oversea’s ROC passport. Then you back in the same boat while entering on your USA visa. You need enough money to leave the country every 4 months and re-enter like every other foreigner on a vistor visa.

Let’s look at income. What’s the going rate for rate for ABC tutors and English teachers in Taiwan. I don’t know it’s been almost 8 years since the last time I did this and I’m 7 years older than you. But in the papers I see ranges of 300 NT to 1000 NT an hour from a quick glance at the help wanted section. I have no clue what people in Gaoxiong are going to pay.

Don’t forget to factor in reverse descrimination for being asian. Taiwan native have no clue what you’re english skills are. You take a test and then they look at you. If your chinese is crappy maybe they’re buy the story you’re an ABC.

There are two routes for English Teachers. Get one steady gig at a Buxiban under contract, which is like 15,000 - 30,000 NT a month. Or try to freelance it with many as 2-3 buxiban and 2-3 private tutoring.

Then there is rent. You mentioned a friend. How long can you stay for free. A whole year? That’s great.

If you live on your own and you live Japanese style or in a Student Dormitory area (Bei Shu) you might be able to get away with as little as 7,000 NT I hear. But don’t expect much. I’m talking tiny by USA standards. If you get your own bathroom that would be great too.

Food is cheap as dirt here. Night markt stuff. Or “Chi dao Bao” will be your favorite signs on local eateries. The cheaper it is the less questions you want to ask.

When I got really desperate one month I broke it down to 11 NT for instant noodle with their own bowls. 8 NT for instant noodle with no bowl. 1 NT for an egg. Hot water free - stole it from the school.

The nearest Chi Dao Bao noodle shop was 80 NT for a bowl of shredded meat noodle soup. Eat as much noodles and drink as much soup for 80 NT in one sitting. I once saw a big hapa Chinese guy eat like 13 bowls of noodles on a mere 80 NT . :notworthy:

I think if you live a very humble lifestyle you can make it on your own without family wiring money to you every month. No Air conditioner, no motorscooter, no KTV, no MTV, and not too much partying in the city.

If you think of Teaching English in Taiwan as a burger flipping job stateside, and moderate your lifestyle to what a burger flipper would live like stateside by themselves. That’s basically it.

Is it fun? Very fun. Should you do it now? Definitely, since you’re young its the best time to do whacky stuff like this. Then you become an old foogie like me and have a bunch of kookie stories to tell. :wink:

12

‘Work rights’=‘the right to work legally’. If you can go legal, do so. Simple, but you can’t.

So you’re going to be here as a student. Really you don’t have any other option. Embrace the opportunity to improve your mandarin, as Ironlady suggested. I wish I had done that. Look at the ‘learning chinese’ forum for info on schools and prices.

If you want to work it’s going to be illegal. In Taipei at least that’s not going to raise any eyebrows and the chances of getting caught are not high. You will probably be discriminated against as an ABC, but you may not be. Look at tealit for jobs and salaries.

You have family in Taipei that you can live with. That makes life cheaper, but potentially a lot less fun. I would rather be doing my own thing. When I first moved to Taipei I paid NT$5500 a month for a room in an apartment. I have a friend who lived in a love hotel for NT$10,000 a month, and I believe that one of the hostels offers ‘bedsit’ type accomodation for NT$8000.

You need to eat, and I don’t recommend trying to live on instant noodles for long. You can feed yourself pretty well for less than NT$100, and if you have to starve yourself there’s no point being here. And set aside some ‘fun money’ or you’ll go crazy. Budget at least NT$3000 a week for living expenses, and in Taipei it’s probably worth adding something for public transport - I spend NT$1000 a month.

I would say you need to earn at least NT$30,000 a month to cover all your costs. Even at NT$500 an hour that’s only 60 hours a month. 15 hours a week. 3 hours a day Monday to Friday. Plenty of illegal jobs out there like that, and you could still take your chinese classes and keep your weekends free.

Personally I prefer to have at least two jobs, so that you always have freedom to move from one without losing all your income. It’s not too hard to make NT$50-60,000 a month in this city without any qualifications or experience, but be prepared to struggle for the first few months.

The golden rule: make sure you always have an emergency source of cash and a ticket home.

13

maybe i’ll just stick to the good ol’ US till i get my B.A. and just suck it up like everyone else. :s i’m definitely going to go to taiwan next year then! here I come scam island!

thanks for the help, the bites, and the ear licks (wherever that came from).

14

Why don’t you do a summer thing to see if you like the island at all. 3-4 months. Do the Love Boat thing the government of ROC subsidizes it.

If you want your parents to pay for it enroll in a Chinese language class for college credits and apply it towards your BA.