Well, maybe we should just stop using logic and let nature take its course. I’m just telling you the trend these days in Asia. Since Taiwan is so concerned about it’s losing the competition with South Korea in being Asia’s little dragon, it should be aware that thousands of Koreans are coming each year to the Philippines to study English. There are many practical reasons for their choice. I need not enumerate them, but maybe one is to enjoy some sunshine. Should Taiwanese be pragmatic and stop being idealists? Depends on whether they would want to keep ahead of the competition. We’ll see in the end maybe. The end justifies the means.
I think you should enumerate as I have no idea what this thread is about…
You want more English tourism in Taiwan? Is this the trend in Asia?
jdstumped :s
It was sunny here this morning too. So yaaar boo sucks to you. :raspberry:
What I got from the OP was that Taiwanese might think of heading south to brush up on their English. Is that the point?
I did a trip to Singapore with one of my students awhile back on the notion that what he needed was to experience an English environment. Problem was of course most people speak Mandarin in Singapore and my student was “forced” to do squat. The same sort of trip, except to the Philipines, would work better except most Taiwanese would rather peel their nipples off with a rusty beer cap than speak English with anyone from SE asia. It is racism pure and simple.
Won’t stop me from promoting the idea though. I’d love to go to the Philipines again.
Well, I hate to be a language snob, but having visited The Philippines, I’m not really sure the English they use would be recognized outside of their country. I’m sure the educated ones and English teachers are better, but heck if I could understand what most of them were saying, and it is my first language.
Mmmm yes, I used to have one too, but it ran away ! 
They work better if you attach the little cord to the gnumphenstat rather than the other way round.
:roflmao: Now you tell me! 
Er, mister, ever wondered why Filipinos are preferred over other races to work as nurses in the US? If ever you would hire a Taiwanese nurse, and the doctor would order her to apply a tourniquet to a patient, the poor Taiwanese would just stare at the doctor and take out her digital translator and translate it into Chinese. The fact is, the new generation of Filipinos are good English speakers.
The OP mentioned English tourism and I assume he/she was talking about Taiwan.
IMHO, Taiwan is any non-Mandarin speaking tourist’s worst nightmare! Taiwan is not really ‘ready’ for tourism in the more conventional sense of the word. Go to most tourist attractions, and you’d have difficulty in finding anybody that could speak English. Ask any Taiwanese about tourism and most of them smile and talk about ShiMen night market and the delicious beef noodles and …
Ask about Taroko Gorge and NOBODY knows what the hell you’re talking about because they don’t know the name in English. Then, just imagine driving from Taipei to Hualien as a foreign tourist! The narrow roads, the gravel trucks … are enough to scare off even guys like me.
President Chen was all on about tourism a couple of years ago with his “Naruwan” (or something like that) slogan. Just a pity the message never filtered down to the people under him.
Taiwan has the potential, but not yet, not yet.