I mean any of the 60-odd university-affiliated language centers around the country. TLI probably still works if you are willing to pay for it. They are all the same though. Terrible teaching methods, some good teachers, some really bad, most depressingly mediocre. Boring textbooks that do not teach Chinese as it is spoken and have terrible content to boot. But they work.
I have said MTC exclusively like 20 times.
And I will rail against MTC until the day I die.
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They somewhat deserve it coming from the guy that did 2 semesters more than you. They took a lot of my money for a mediocre education.
I want to say that significant investment in my education really stood to me later though. It took a few years but it really did give me a leap up in earning power as I could cover the China market also for my employers at the time. In fact for the job I am in now the Asia VP (Taiwanese guy) interviewed me completely in Chinese. He’s long gone but I’m still here. 
. I don’t deal with China now but it’s there in my back pocket when needed.
The sense of satisfaction of being able to read simple phone bills, fines, texts , emails , shop signs , menus , apps and rental contracts never really goes away either because I spent 5 years living here as a complete illiterate before studying at MTC. Just for that alone I say foreigner go forth and learn !!!
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All the other ones are the same. I did hear that NCCU was perhaps a bit more progressive but then others told me that it became like all the others a bit later.
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How long did you study at MTC?
Two solid years.
I have written about it at length on this forum.
And can you speak and read Chinese at a reasonable level now?
No. Any Chinese skills I have has been in spite of their teaching, not because of it.
I don’t spend money to receive something in spite of a provider’s incompetence.
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I had no progress - like literally no progress - for about three years of self studying it. Then suddenly over the course of a week of immersion living with a Chinese speaking family something flipped and I woke up one morning with the ability to communicate. Then it went back to solid no progress again. I find it hard to tell if my Chinese has improved at all since then. I am going to make an effort again now over the summer as I am humming and hawing about the naturalisation language exam again, so gonna do the vocab practice for that 
I think not being able to read and write much definitely seems to put a ceiling on how far you can go, or at least how quickly you are going forward.
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This is a good point!
Going to a recognised Chinese course (can’t remember how long ) qualifies you for the Chinese portion of the naturalisation requirement.
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The hours that they want you to put down on it are brutal though, when I looked at the attendance requirements in the approved places I immediately wrote that option off.
Are you literate in Chinese ? If not think about going formally.
I kind of feel the same way about the quality of the instruction I received at MTC. It was a long time ago though but I do remember it being very painful and me doing 99% of the work. Most people were unhappy with the quality of the teaching service that they provided. But everyone I know who suffered through at least two years has very good to excellent Chinese now if they stayed in Taiwan.
In my day, it was pretty easy to come by scholarships and the tuition was maybe NT$12,000 for a semester if you did have to pay. That was about 1/5 or less of my monthly income so it was easily affordable. We also had a maximum of five students and in the more advanced classes often only one or two oher students came to class regularly.
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I can can communicate by typing, not by handwriting, and based on feedback my meaning gets across but I type some wrong characters. As for reading I can read a very little, and otherwise cut paste to google translate to read the pinyin.
My plan is to just go through all the questions and memorize all the vocab using google translate.
I don’t share in this experience. Sometimes I am standing in the car park in front of my office. Tourists just come up and ask me questions in Chinese and it’s usually asking for directions. As @Mataiou says polite and friendly random people are.
As for QR codes I never use them and simply ask for a menu or ask the staff what food they have.
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That worked for a while but an increasing number of places in Taipei are not indulging me anymore. Yes, I can and have just left, but that’s not always an option and I have basically given up on this fight.
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Maybe down south it’s slower. Sometimes I tell them I didn’t bring my phone lol
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9 posts were split to a new topic: Frustrated with tipping
That Google translate to pinyin is a pretty cool trick. You should be able to read in pinyin for many things.
I’m not sure you becoming fully literate will improve your spoken Mandarin but I think it would enrich your life tremendously. This is a highly literate society.
I continue to surprise myself by having unexpected breakthroughs every few years. They are getting smaller and the interval between them is getting longer.
I’m pretty sure your strategy for cracking the naturalization test will work just fine. You could just take it orally you know.
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It really is. People just have more time down there. And there even more old people in the southern counties than in Taipei. So staff need to help them and are used to/willing to do it.