This year, I’ll apply for the Huayu Scholarship to go to Taiwan for six months. Before leaving, I’ll already have the HSK 3 level (still very basic).
I’m unsure about which city to choose from all the options available, and after reading around, I’ve narrowed it down to these two (if anyone recommends another city and their reasons, great! I’m still open to more options).
The problem is that the scholarship offers NT$ 25,000 per month. I’m aware that I’ll have to dip into my savings, but I wouldn’t like to end the experience in the red either. I mention this because it’s one of the things making me hesitate about choosing Taipei, but maybe the surrounding areas aren’t as expensive. I’m feeling a bit lost
I think that’s your answer. Taipei doesn’t have any special culture that the rest of Taiwan doesn’t - it’s just another faceless Asian megapolis. It does have the National Palace Museum - you can take the high speed rail and visit it some weekend. Tainan is the cultural heart of Taiwan, actually, if you’re into history and Taiwanese culture, and it’s an hour away from K-Town. Rents in Taipei are twice as high as in south, so this is a no brainer for a student on a budget. Both places have mountains but Taipei ain’t got no beach. You’ll get more typhoons in Cowtown.
One other thing to keep in mind as a student learning Chinese is that you’ll hear a lot more Taiwanese in the south, and even the Mandarin you hear will be slurred with a heavy Taiwanese accent by most locals. Taipei is heavily populated by waishengren so Mandarin is almost always used and the accent is much clearer, closer to standard pronunciation. Some people in the south still say xie-xie as shay-shay!
What I would say is, its a tiny island and easy to get around, your only here for 6months, find someplace cheap as chips and use your budget for travel and adventure.
Does this scholarship include housing in the university dorms, or do you need to find a place to rent on your own? I know that some students prefer to rent off-campus and share the cost with roommates, but typically, these rental contracts are for a year
Actually, that’s not too bad for a student in Taipei. It really depends on your daily expenses. If you keep costs low by eating local food and using public transportation, you can enjoy almost everything the capital has to offer
I’ve lived in both Kaohsiung and Taipei, and both cities have their pros and cons. However, since you’ll be staying in Taiwan for only 6 months, Taipei is probably the most logical choice—you can always visit other cities on weekends.
One downside to Kaohsiung, though, is that public transportation is more limited compared to Taipei. But if your focus is on learning Chinese, Kaohsiung offers more opportunities to practice and improve your skills
try the outskirts of taipei city itself like panchiao or tamshui. easy commute into taipei city proper
ultimately taipei has more to offer
but ktown has gotten to be very nice nowadays from 20 years ago
Thanks!! I’ve been checking out Tamsui, and it looks like a really good option. Do you know if there are a lot of foreigners there? Since I’ll only be there for six months, I want the experience to be as immersive as possible, and I’m concerned that Taipei and nearby areas might push me to use English more than I would in southern parts of Taiwan.
Noo, the scholarship doesnt include housing, you have to look it up yourself. Maybe the university I choose will tell me about those kinds of facilities. Do you think it will be hard to find a six-month contract?
That’s the point that interests me the most about this experience: a full immersion that will help me improve my Chinese. I’ve been studying for three years, and I feel like this could be the push I need to level up all my skills. So I think this is the main reason why I’m not entirely sold on Taipei, where I might end up using English more than I’d like. Or maybe I’m overestimating how much English is used in Taipei, and it’s not as common in areas like New Taipei, Banqiao, Tamsui…?
Btw, thank you so much for your response, it’s really helpful to me.
Younger people, there is no difference. It’s older generation that is that. Here in Kao City and Tainan it’s younger, Taipei has lots of elders, more old blokes than other cities.
I would love to earn a bit of money with something like that but my English isnt great, especially spoken. I’m from Spain, so if anyone there is interested in learning Spanish, that would be awesome hahaha
I’m going to browse rentals