[I improperly posted this first to ‘living in Taiwan’. Please step on my eyeballs.]
I mean outside Taipei, say Chiayi, Taitung or Tainan.
A buddy in Bangkok who taught in Taipei last year said that it was a no-brainer - the Immigration cops own (virtually or actually I don’t know) the biggest school right across the street from borderland HQ. This guy said it was all about graft, but unlike Cambodia where it is cash plus ‘consideration’ in Taiwan there is a veneer of officaldom about it - no doubt to increase the price or save face.
But I read of that changing - one actually has to go to class or prove that one speaks putong-qua. Maybe smaller cities don’t have the fake schools. Anyone done the ‘I am a student’ routine in small cities? What did it costs in cash and b.s.? Personally I like a straight-up corrupt country where it is strictly palm-greasing to individuals or the state - but I recognize that Taiwan is not Yemen or Rwanda.
[quote=“edgrimley”]How doable is being a ‘Chinese language student’ upcountry? I mean outside Taipei, say Chiayi (Jiayi), Taitung (Taidong) or Tainan.
… one actually has to go to class or prove that one speaks putong-qua. [/quote]
Jiayi, Taidong or Tainan are south of Taipei. Is that upcountry or down country to snowbacks?
The language schools most people use are in Taipei. I haven’t heard of any others.
BTW, nobody in Taiwan speaks putong-qua [sic] . People in China speak putonghwa. Here in Taiwan the main language is gwoyu.
Since you are so comfortable with corruption, why don’t you just teach in Thailand , Cambodia or Vietnam? Are you really sure you want to come to Taiwan? After all, that SARs bug may pop up again in the next fall/winter flu season. :shock: Do you really want to take that chance? That is one problem you can’t grease somebody’s palm and be rid of.
Taipei is definitely better, because everyone speaks Mandarin. In the south, there’s a large percentage of Taiwanese spoken, so you’ll be confused half the time and not know why. The language teaching resources exist in the major cities if TLI has set up a branch there, but it’s pretty sparse in smaller cities. I spent my first six months in a smaller city taking Chinese pronunciation classes with elderly Taiwanese women at an elementary school after hours because there were no other Chinese language schools to speak of. Taipei has the most Chinese language schools and diversity of classes.
Ok, I am ignorant of which dialect is spoken in Taiwan. I did think it was funny however while travelling in Yunnan, Hainan, Shenzen and Hong Kong that the expression I consistently heard educated people use for ‘can’t do it!’ sounds remarkably similar to the first part of the name used for Mandarin.
No, I am not the slightest bit interested in learning Chinese except for survival and social graces. I dislike the very sound of it (except Hainanese which sounded musical like Vietnamese). My interest in Taiwan is financial not cultural (for that I tour India).
Let me make this obtusely clear - teachers who do not have a degree (I am told) do some creative paperwork in order to remain in Taiwan to er… study the fascinating langauge of locals. It has nothing to do with scoff law of non-recognition of the authority of the state (such as equal opportunity anarchists and liberatarians who value Bush and his brother shrubbery about equal). No, we all honour rule of law. The state does not support certain classes and special interest groups. It is about social order and KEEPING A JOB.
As far as I can tell Forumosa is registered in the USA not Taiwan - why would the administrators care about the truth being told? Drugs and prostitution are openly discussed why not the realities of bureaucracy?
For your purposes, ed, this is not a great place to ask. Most of us are living in Taiwan legally, although I’m sure most of us have been students / teachers at some point. I can’t really give you up to date information, except to say that of course it can be done. If you have no interest in Taiwan apart from making a quick buck, I’m not sure it’s the best place for you. Seriously consider other options - this place isn’t the goldmine for teachers it used to be. You could make more by living outside Taipei, but without a word of Chinese, I don’t know how appealing that would be.