Its’ been almost a year and still unable to land a stable gig besides teaching English meh. I am totally bombed …tried networking, build connects, etc…and the main drawback is my 2nd grade elementary school level mandarin which substantially blocks me off from getting hired by local or international companies since I am at a disadvantage of an ABC.
Contemplated on taking up Mandarin but on the long shot it feels like it would just be a waste of time and money mainly due to the effort/value ratio is more over the other. Since most local jobs pays money to piss on, I will not be making much far off from teaching English once my mandarin substantially improves. In addition, with Taipei’s "fake"polite bland culture and mostly characterless locals, it seems that it may not be worth going though spending years of buttering up my Mandarin.
As much as convenience and semi low cost of living w good QOL that Taiwan offers , I don’t see much of anything else so I am thinking of a farewell to my Taiwanese gf and make it an official close chapter once I leave and head back to the states for better job opportunities.
Good paying opportunities are lacking for everyone in Taiwan. Don’t take it personal. Better Mandarin generally isn’t going to make it noticeably better.
It would only be worthwhile if you are able to speak, read and write/type at a level that allows you to conduct business. It takes a lot of time and effort. But even then, not a guarantee you’ll find a better job. But I would say the chances are higher for sure.
You ranted on and on but didnt say what other skills you have or what kind of job you are looking for. I think you just want someone to tell you its the right choice to leave.
If your priority is living in Taiwan and earning a stable income by Taiwanese standards (if you want a stable income by international standards, look elsewhere) then you’d be better off teaching yourself some solid IT skills in the evenings and weekends over learning Mandarin. Many (most?) IT companies in Taiwan require English over Mandarin, and that situation is only going to improve when this “English as an official language” scheme hits.
If you have excellent written English, you could work as a technical writer in an IT company while you study in the evenings. There are loads of technical writing gigs in Taiwan, but forget about it if your written English isn’t excellent. Technical writing jobs typically pay worse than English teaching if you don’t have experience. But you should think about it as a way of getting your foot in the door of the IT industry while you study rather than a way of making money (that’s exactly what I did).
Aside from IT, writing/editing and teaching, there isn’t really anything else you could do in Taiwan without good Mandarin.
That said, anybody who plans on living in Taiwan for more than one year really should learn Mandarin.
I’ve met many who lived for years in Taipei that can’t get pass neihao. But they have really great social skills they put to use and get help from local friends who translation needs.
Another business is small businesses in food and beverage. The want to “authentic” foreign food is ever growing. My uncle used to be in charge of KFC/Pizza hut/Taco bell in Asia. He burnt out because the nature of the job is basically 80 hour weeks. Yes shocking rich people don’t sip scotch and hang out at yachts all day, they actually work. He opened a Korean restaurant in kaoshiung and is doing great with a family.
I actually think kaoshiung is not a bad place for someone to open a small business. Cost of operations is much lower than Taipei like renting a place for the business. And housing is still doable with comforts of a modern city. Not quite Taipei but it’s no shit hole. The environment for small businesses from what I heard is good, there a community of people with small businesses and they support each other.
Oh, I know there are plenty of foreigners living in Taiwan who get by fine without a word of Mandarin. It’s really just my subjective opinion that if you’re going to live in another country for an extended period of time, you really should learn the language, even if you don’t necessarily have to. I don’t like it when people move to England, where I’m from, and don’t bother to learn the language, so I don’t think people should do that when they move to other countries either. But each to their own…
No I completely agree. Wasn’t disagreeing with you. Just saying it’s remarkable some of them, one girl has been in Taiwan for 7 years and never bothered past nihao. I don’t even know how that’s possible after living in Taiwan for so long, you’d think she would’ve picked up more. But she was very good at her job and good looking with charm. She could work guys into helping her find an apartment and co-signing as a guarantee lol.
I also don’t like people who decided to move permanently and don’t bother learning the language. Unless they are old I find it a bit offensive they don’t bother assimilating into my country.
Ah, fair enough! Yeah, I can’t argue with any of that. I know people who have lived in Taiwan for even longer than that and can’t speak a word of Mandarin. Really weird…
But, to bring the discussion back to the original point of the thread, you certainly don’t need Mandarin to work in many IT jobs, so if the priority is finding work with “good” pay, sacrificing two years of your evenings and weekends to learn IT skills is more beneficial than studying Mandarin in that time.