[quote=“jimipresley”][quote=“mike029”]I think it’s quite arrogant to live somewhere and not at least attempt to speak the local language. Yes, English is great and we all love it, but it’s extremely arrogant to expect everyone else to speak our language.
[/quote]
I certainly don’t expect people to speak English to me. I’m not arrogant, but I’m also not on some hippie “immersion” trip. I don’t carry a backpack, nor do I wear flip-flops.
[/quote]
I don’t know Mandarin well enough yet - but she knows me.
She says until I understand her inside out and in-between , I won’t find the Job I seek for- despite a well laden CV.
She says it was an honorable thing to do speaking solely English and French @ home - allowing my stepdaughter to study overseas with superior TOFL & DELF scores - but it disadvantaged myself in the 5 years being here.
I do regret enourmously I did not pursue with the Chinese lessons received (for free) @ my previous company. As much and many times I told the teacher I don’t need to know if my pants are black, my shoes are brown and my hat is white - I could not reach the “business Mandarin” I was craving for to receive.
Yes, like others - I have a survival Chinese for Taxi’s and shopping and with the few words I know - I can slightly understand what the story is about.
My objective now is really catching up @ the Taiwan Cultural University @ downtown. if someone wants to share a 2 pupils on 1 teacher class - PM me ! (No need to make jokes about the threesome lads )
As I perpare to leave to MTC in July I’m already studying mando. I’m only studying characters because I fear if I’m learning oral alone I’ll mispronunce words and be hard to break that cycle. Any websites you’d recommend for pinyin pronunciation and learning traditional characters?
[quote=“happytime”][quote=“jimipresley”][quote=“mike029”]I think it’s quite arrogant to live somewhere and not at least attempt to speak the local language. Yes, English is great and we all love it, but it’s extremely arrogant to expect everyone else to speak our language.
[/quote]
I certainly don’t expect people to speak English to me. I’m not arrogant, but I’m also not on some hippie “immersion” trip. I don’t carry a backpack, nor do I wear flip-flops.
[/quote]
What’s wrong with backpacks and flip flops? Jeeze[/quote]
Nothing, if they’re blue and you bought them at a 小北百貨.
Having another language skill is ALWAYS worth it. It’s whether you want to make the effort or not that is the point.
In my job, I use my mandarin with some Chinese clients and the odd Taiwanese one. It helps me get around china where things can be pretty difficult without the language sometimes. It has benefited me and helped in me getting a better job with more pay, but only after I ticked the boxes of experience and skills first. You will hear that from others on here too.
It’s invaluable to communicate with inlaws, if I didn’t speak Mandarin I would have to speak some Hakka , which I guess would be kind of fun to learn actually.
The easiest time to learn is right after you arrive and you’re really enthusiastic about it. Once you kind of settle into a routine, and you’ve made lots of foreign friends, and things get comfortable, you realize you can survive without it and many a foreigner just coasts from there on out. It also becomes a self-fulfilling situation. The more Mandarin you know, the more your social connections include poor English speaking Taiwanese people which improves your Mandarin.
I joined a class with a guy who was a white dude who had arrived 2 years before with nothing but a liberal arts degree on his back and no Mandarin. He was slowly reading newspapers and working through elementary school textbooks in class and watching TV outside of class. Not everybody can learn that fast by being hard core, but it is possible.
[quote=“finley”]… Somehow, it’s nice to be able to read the signs that say “don’t park here” or “no dumping trash”. It gives you a sense of being ‘home’.
[/quote]
Why? Few people in Taiwan care about that … following them makes you feel more at home!
It’s been absolutely worth it for me. I love hearing people’s stories, and to chat/gossip with the locals. Mastering Mandarin has let me learn many interesting things about people in my community.
)
