Just got here, no one I know can speak english, and I barely speak chinese. Anyone know any good ways to deal with this kind of shock?
Be patient with others and with yourself.
Be open minded. You’re in a different world now, and there is no reason why it should be like the world you came from.
Be grateful for the opportunity to improve your Chinese quickly. Getting fluent in Mandarin early in your stay in Taiwan will change your life, here and abroad.
The quality of the experience you have here will be almost entirely of your own choosing. If you get depressed, work out, go for a walk, look at things and people, listen to music, etc.
You’ll be fine.
Were you expecting something else?
Definitely good advice from Tomas there. Too many expats come here, form their little foreigner cliques and become very cynical very quickly about Taiwan. Any specifics you might need to know, just PM me. I’ve been here almost 8 years and am married to a local lady.
Were you expecting something else?[/quote]
I’m staying with my tutor’s family. She told me that they spoke english very well 
Buy a Besta electronic dictionary that does whole sentence translation. My Besta has saved my okole many times in the 'wan, esp. in the south.
Tomas gives good advice. I would emphasize two things. What makes it most difficult is not having friends and not speaking the language, so put a lot of energy into resolving both of those from the outset. Reach out to people to make friends, at work, at volunteer groups like AnimalsTaiwan or church groups or joint activities like the hiking or photography groups here on Forumosa, come to Happy Hour and meet people, and so on. At the same time, rather than only surrounding yourself with native English speakers, get started on learning Chinese through classes, a tutor, or language exchange, and immediately set out to use every little bit you learn on a daily basis on the streets. Chat with the vendors at the night markets and wet markets and local neighborhood shops every chance you get, no matter how limited that might be at first.
If you start feeling lonely or down, keep yourself busy, and keep your chin up. It can be a bit of a shock for everyone at first, but soon you’ll start getting used to the place and acquiring more social and linguistic resources to smooth the way.
Feel free to chat with us more here on Forumosa about your experiences, let us know what part of town you’re in, and get together with people here. Despite the rough “banter” online here at times, we’re a friendly group! 
[quote=“Dragonbones”]
Feel free to chat with us more here on Forumosa about your experiences, let us know what part of town you’re in, and get together with people here. Despite the rough “banter” online here at times, we’re a friendly group! [/quote]
It appears you’re assuming the OP is in Taipei and he or she doesn’t mention their whereabouts.
[quote=“Dragonbones”]Tomas gives good advice. I would emphasize two things. What makes it most difficult is not having friends and not speaking the language, so put a lot of energy into resolving both of those from the outset. Reach out to people to make friends, at work, at volunteer groups like AnimalsTaiwan or church groups or joint activities like the hiking or photography groups here on Forumosa, come to Happy Hour and meet people, and so on. At the same time, rather than only surrounding yourself with native English speakers, get started on learning Chinese through classes, a tutor, or language exchange, and immediately set out to use every little bit you learn on a daily basis on the streets. Chat with the vendors at the night markets and wet markets and local neighborhood shops every chance you get, no matter how limited that might be at first.
If you start feeling lonely or down, keep yourself busy, and keep your chin up. It can be a bit of a shock for everyone at first, but soon you’ll start getting used to the place and acquiring more social and linguistic resources to smooth the way.
Feel free to chat with us more here on Forumosa about your experiences, let us know what part of town you’re in, and get together with people here. Despite the rough “banter” online here at times, we’re a friendly group! [/quote]
Do you have any advice on how to get people to talk to you? I’m living in Banqiao (sp?) and it seems that every time I try and start a conversation with someone they give me a really dirty look and then look the other way.
It’s basically as with handling dogs or other animals, observe (body language), listen to the noises they make and adapt yours, try to enter their world … slowly … in the end they will accept you as one of their own … 
Do you look Chinese? What is your approximate age? How and where you would try to expand your social circle in TW kind of depends on those two factors.
In response to your first post, I would say mix a shot of whiskey into a glass of squeezed orange juice. Works wonders.
I’m white as the driven snow, about 21, male. That’s about it haha
If you tried to speak to them in English you shouldn’t be surprised you got dirty looks. Most of the populace (blue collar at least) know nary an English word, never mind a phrase, or suffer the thought, a sentence! Look or a language exchange as soon as possible and get talking the lingo. It’s actually a very good place when you can converse even basically.
Nope, I start the conversation with a good old fashioned 你好
Sorry, I guess I should clarify when I said I speak no chinese. I do speak a little, enough to kind of talk to people, and I can somewhat understand what they say back, but no one will talk to me. Lol. Well, the older lady in the house will talk with me, but she tries to speak taiwanese to me and I have no idea what she’s saying.
Try finding interest groups near universities, particularly larger ones. Uni students tend to be (not always the case) more fluent in English and happy to speak to foreigners.
Just curious but what will your day to day activities in TW be? Teaching English? Working in commercial sector?
It isn’t you. Many Taiwanese people have no experience dealing with foreigners, and they just don’t know what to do with one who talks to them. They may also be quite awkward with Taiwanese people they don’t know. You’re also dealing with social dynamics that aren’t like they were back home, e.g. You don’t just walk up to people and say “Ni hao.” Most people would feel nervous if you did that.
But don’t worry. As you get accustomed to your environs, you’ll get to know people who will speak with you without fear. Just be patient, let things happen naturally. Rome was not built in a day.
You should come out and meet some of us old farts at a Forumosa gathering. Talk to Uncle Chief, Uncle Maoman, Uncle Tigerman, Uncle Sandman, etc (Stay away from Uncle Almas John–he will only get you roaring drunk). They’ll put you at ease, help you out.
Try finding interest groups near universities, particularly larger ones. Uni students tend to be (not always the case) more fluent in English and happy to speak to foreigners.
Just curious but what will your day to day activities in TW be? Teaching English? Working in commercial sector?[/quote]
Studying at Shi-Da. Semester doesn’t start for a bit though. Also, when is the next Forumosa gathering?
At your age, you’ll probably be able to suck up Chinese like a sponge, so you should be close to fluent in no time at all. And if you’ve got the balls to walk up to strangers and try to start conversations with them (as your posts suggest you’ve been doing), you will surely start to gather plenty of local friends and acquaintances before very long, and will likely have several lovely local lasses (or lads, if that’s your thing) eager to keep you company and more.
Just dont go to luxy too often or you will become heavily involved with some TW girl, life will come at you fast 
On the other hand, jump right in. Waters warm.
Theres also a lot of other young people (furriner) like yourself living in the ShiTa area that you can bond with and get warmed up to Taiwan together.
Tommy’s right. Be careful what you ask for. You’ll soon be trying to figure out how you got such a busy social calendar!