I want to USE Taiwanese people to practice my Chinese.
I don’t mind a little give and take but I’ve met some locals
who love talking to me in English and they DO teach me about Taiwan and culture but nothing about how to speak the language.
Is it because I look Taiwanese that people here may find it easier to
speak to me in English than other westerners?
Is it because my Chinese isn’t amazing?
Do a lot of Taiwanese want to practice their English or brush it up/improve?
I know I should try and use my Chinese as much as possible and with confidence.
When I speak Chinese and am understood, some people ask me how I’d say that in English so that they can learn therefore I have to use my English eventhough I don’t want to.
Any advice or tips ? Should I just hang out with people who aren’t at all interested in improving their English skills?
Just answer in another language. Not many people here speak frensh, italian, german or spanish.
Well, if you want to USE them but not let them USE you, I’ll let you figure out whether that’s right or not. 
Just stick to Chinese. I have an ABC friend here whose Chinese is getting better by the hour, because he is simply completely bloody-minded about not speaking English. If someone speaks to him in English, he answers in Chinese.
Or else tell people you’re from Central America and you don’t speak English… 
[quote=“hairy knuckles”]I want to USE Taiwanese people to practice my Chinese.
I don’t mind a little give and take but I’ve met some locals … Should I just hang out with people who aren’t at all interested in improving their English skills?[/quote]Who do you hang out with at the moment? How much time do you spend with them? I have a couple of groups of Taiwanese friends, most of whose conversational English is not bad and a couple of whom speak very good English, far better than my Mandarin. Yet I still find that I pick up a lot of Mandarin when I am around them. This is for various reasons: the principle one being that after some time they will normally ‘revert’ to speaking to each other in Mandarin. Even just listening to these conversations, provided that you have a basic idea of the topic, can be a great way of acquiring language. Also, when people ask me “How do you say (Mandarin word or phrase) in English?” this is another good way of acquiring vocabulary, and the ensuing discussions provide further useful input.
For the above reasons, as well as for having a jolly good time, it’s good to hang out/go out with a group of Taiwanese people, or a mixed group of Taiwanese and foreigners.
Get the hell out of Taipei. Hardly anybody in the rest of Taiwan speaks English. Move to Kaohsiung, Taichung, Tainan, you can speak all the Chinese you want.
communicate only in mime.
Mod’s right. Just get out of the city.
I found in the early stages of learning Chinese, I was dependent on English-speaking Taiwanese friends who were always willing to tell me how to say such and such in Chinese or Taiwanese.
When I got good enough I was able to learn directly from people who knew no English whatsoever. In short, you need to choose your local friends according to your language needs.
Depends on how good your Chinese already is. I remember for the most part my “language exchange” partner were too shy to practice their English with me, because my Chinese was already pretty decent.
After a while it was all a front to hang out. I mean I would help them with their college homework and they would help me with my assignments. But we just go on day trips and night markets.
Those that wanted to find a hardcore English exchange partner would than move onto my other classmates who were not as fluent. So there was no way for them to “cheat” and yap away in Chinese to communicate.
I am not aware of anyone speaking this language or of this language even existing… :s
Maybe only the Shwish shpeak it?
I asked my Taiwanese “friend” when he would speak to me in Chinese and his reply was “Speak to you in Chinese?!U kidding?”.Then he gave some explaination that if he learnt English first,it’d speed up the process of learning Chinese. What do you think of that? He never uses Chinese with me and tries his best to communicate in English. I can’t do the same since I don’t have the vocab.
Why is this so hard for you? Teach him one final phrase “Have a nice life” and get someone else in to do the job. You’re surrounded by native Chinese speakers for chrissakes.
They don’t consciously think they are speaking to you more in English. Well, kind of ,… but not really. Basically, if you have a foreign looking face, they speak English to you because speaking mandarin to a foreigner feels too weird (coming from a homogenous society).
I am Taiwanese by ethnicity and so even after telling them I am from America, they still speak mandarin to me. They are insistent in that. I have to change to English for them to follow. So, I’m in the opposite situation with the original poster.
They aren’t taking advantage of you-- its just about comfort zone.
[quote=“Spack”] get someone else in to do the job. You’re surrounded by native Chinese speakers for chrissakes.[/quote] I HAVE been thinking
about that,Mr.Spack, it’s just that this guy and I have the same interests and I don’t want to tell him that. It’s rare to find someone like this guy in Taipei. I’m confused…
Nobody here has spoken to me in Chinese AND I also have an Asian face
so it’s not cuz I’m not from here. Maybe after being here and studying here from scratch for only 6 months, I must be fooling myself into thinking I can carry out a full-blown convo with a native, without problems! I’m just an impatient son of a mugou .
honestly can you say “nobody?”
i have experienced the complete opposite. However, I don’t mean the whole conversation, I mean like in the beginning, they will start right off in mandarin. I guess if they know your mandarin level, maybe they will then choose to speak english or mandarin with u…
Just stop posting on the boards and go out into a night market. Nobody will take to you in English.
- Avoid all expats
- Avoid all stores with more English words than fingers on your hand
- Only eat where the native eat
- Stop thinking in English
- If you have to talk to a local college student, only talk to those majoring in Chinese.
Soon enough you’ll be brainwashed and speaking Mandarin like a native.
I’ve heard people recommend the nightmarket to go and use your Chinese. I take it you go to a stall and inquire about stuff and make conversations with the sellers. I’ll give it a try, eventhough I get claustrophobic in those busy, narrow market areas.
I guess part of the problem may also be that locals can sense the English teacher in me and react to it. I’m trained to respond to others’English with an “Oh really?!” even if I don’t feel like that!
hairy knuckles,
How do they know your an English teacher? I don’t follow. You could be a foriegn banker as far as the natives of Taiwan are concerned.
Just don’t speak English. Pretend Spanish is your primary language.
I think you are falling back on using English too quickly in uncomfortable situations. Replace “Oh really?!?” with “Yuan Lai Ru Ci?!?”
Don’t use the literal translations of “Zhen de ma?!?” If used incorrect you will cause lost of face for the other side, since you would be directly confronting his prior statement.
Personal experince - Chinese girlfriend - no English - fluent in few months