from what I have seen, almost all private sector jobs here require Mandarin fluency.
from what Iāve seen, even the corporate jobs offered by foreign companies in Taiwan still require Mandarin fluency.
you and I are seeing 2 different private sectors.
no worries, I do believe there are businesses out there with hard-core demand of Mandarin fluency level for foreign employees.
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All I can say that Taiwanese are too forceful when it comes to Taiwanese Americans adjusting to Taiwanese culture. I keep getting told that I need to adjust. My reply is that Iāve always continued to improve Mandarin Chinese and use it as much as possible.
Really? Who is forcing you? I honestly doubt most people would care.
Throughout my military service, I was told several times as though Iām a child.
Not all of them, but I think it depends on what you do.
Whatās your area? Programming? Marketing?
market research analyst, data analyst
In my experience, if the application has to be submitted in Chinese as well as English, then you better believe that Chinese will be used in some capacity.
I would say that tech jobs still require Mandarin fluency b/c of communication with managers in meetings etc.?
in your experience, which fields tend to use the least Mandarin?
if you want to use being ABT as an advantage, good Mandarin maybe be expected. To be hired as a foreigner, mandarin can be a plus, but it is not expected.
Well thatās not really representative of most peopleās experience.
Honestly, the jobs for which having a native level of English is a requirement, i.e. the same ones that attract foreign professionals. Although Iāve got a couple of ABT friends in programming who donāt really need to talk much at all, just code.
If you find your Mandarin is consistently the one thing left standing in your way of the jobs that you want, maybe you should hire someone to teach you or take some classes. When you already have the foundation of the language formed, itās really not that hard to build up on it.
well I served at an outlying island, so ABCs, Taiwanese who grew up abroad were like aliens to them LOL
Other than language deficiencies, which probably canāt be resolved unless you live, surf the internet, etc etc in Chinese - and pick up Taiwanese while youāre at it - cultural expectations are probably the most difficult to deal with. Itās impossible to know unless youāve lived it or have some very kind friend/relative telling you what to do. Double-edged sword - the better your Chinese, the more cultural fluency youāre also expected to have - and will be punished accordingly if you donāt perform up to snuff.
Except Chinese cultural issue can be hard to deal with. Everything is fake, all a mask and all that. Honesty is not seen as a virtue here.
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#TaiwaneseCulture
my strategy during my substitute military service at a public elementary school was just to talk less and carefully observe and analyze interactions.
and your findings?
Face is everything. People arenāt willing to take criticism.