Ah, of course, a test requirement for a basic ARC. Brilliant idea! Because nothing says “welcome to the workforce” like adding yet another hoop to jump through just to be able to work and live here. After all, who wouldn’t want to balance learning a new job, adjusting to a new culture, and passing a language test, all in one go? Sounds like a dream.
And I’m sure every employer would just love to lose potential hires because they couldn’t pass a language test for a basic work permit. I mean, why hire a skilled professional when you can hire someone with a slightly better grasp of Mandarin, right?
But please, let’s not forget the real victims here: the poor locals who might have to speak a few words of English while these foreigners, you know, contribute to the economy, pay taxes, and maybe even learn the language over time. Imagine the horror.
While I don’t support a test for the ARC or newcomers, if you move to a country, you should make an effort to learn the language so that if you decide on settling here, you’re not useless at doing basic adult things.
Foreigners learning a new language, imagine the horror!
Ah, “agree to disagree.” Fair enough. But we both know integration is more than just about language, and that’s the reality, whether we debate it or not.
But sure, we can disagree. Sometimes that’s how it goes. Now, how about a toast to living in Taiwan? I’m sure we can agree on that.
I would love to speak fluent Chinese to prove I am not a loser weiguoren living here for 5 years but sorry I am tied up with other things since I came here. First with the masters degree I did while my school provided no Chinese class for us while working part time and then finding a full time work which pays me minimum wage and I have to work 12 hours almost each day and on top of that I am not in my prime 20s anymore. The body and Brain gives up after a long day
Is that a excuse? Sure. But saying that foreigners who don’t learn Chinese, do it out of being lazy is just not true in all cases
I think it should. I don’t think it should be the same test as for citizenship (despite how easy it is even without memorizing the answers), but maybe just class hours would be a good benchmark.
Obviously some people don’t care, but I get bad second hand embarrassment when I meet people who’ve been here for 10+ years and can’t even have a simple conversation in Chinese
Buxibans are not ‘forced’. You could argue about wether people are ‘forced’ to learn English given that it is a compulsory school subject, however given the abysmal level achieved in compulsory English education you could probably as validly argue that they are forced to not learn English.
As for wether the goal of this compulsory education is ‘accommodating’ the choices of immigrants, I think it would be quite hard to argue that. When I learned English, and when I learned other languages it was never to ‘accommodate’ anyone other than myself really. Learning to communicate in a language is empowering
True, however you can’t really blame that on ‘dem foreigners’. If that was the case you could just randomly label anything on foreigners. If parents are forcing their kids to take classes that the kids don’t want then that is like the responsibility of the parents who are doing that.
But there is also an issue where even entry level jobs are asking for bilingualism. I should feel comfortable in my own country speaking my local language.
In a touristy area? Sure. But I also expect higher pay for the time I put in to learn the skill.
But in a not touristy place where the foreign worker is going to interact with locals? At least learn enough to not be useless at basic adult things.
I think one should learn enough to do basic adult things.
Watching someone in their fifties who has been here for 20 years drag their girlfriend/wife/friends to the cell phone store just to do service is embarrassing.
I am single. I deal with my daily adult things in Chinese. I don’t have a girlfriend and girls are more trouble than they’re worth.
A permanent resident should be able to in Chinese do basic adult things that we associate with living a normal adult like, including, but not limited to:
Write personal info/address.
Handle regular subscription services and paying bills.
Buy necessities.
And other daily activities.
If you can’t even ask where the toilet is… like come on.
I hear ya. One thing that occurs to me is that this is a factor of the host society as much as anything else.
If you look at the non Anglophone immigrants in Ireland, they speak English, like pretty much all of them. Even after a few months and often with an Irish accent. Any immigrant who has been there long term is likely native level fluent. I guess the main reason is because that is the language that everyone assumes they are communicating in, in close to all contexts.
Then look at the Netherlands, there are plenty of foreigners there that have lived there for years yet don’t speak too much Dutch. Why? It might be because almost everyone in the Netherlands switches to English immediately at the slightest sniff of a person who is not a native or native level Dutch speaker. I even met native Dutch speakers with this problem: when they spoke their native language to people in the Netherlands the people replied in English because they thought they were not Dutch speakers due to their appearance or accent.
I saw this happening to French Canadians in Paris too.
So what is it about Taiwan that makes it so some people wind up living here without progressing their language skills? My kids are native Chinese speakers yet regularly have people trying to communicate with them in pidgin English because they look foreign.
I guess a language test for the APRC could be a nice little nudge. But judging by the citizen test exam it would possibly just be a joke anyway. And it might not be addressing the more immediate issues.
The litmus test should be whether a language test would be beneficial to Taiwan or not. Do permanent residents who don’t speak sufficient Chinese to pass the test contribute enough to Taiwan to stay long-term? I’m fairly certain the government has considered this point to be in Taiwan’s best interest. I think the status quo is ideal. No language test for APRC but a language test for citizenship. Besides, there is the APRC interview that could better determine if the applicant is going to be dead weight on society or not. My APRC interview was all in Chinese and the official was asking pretty pointed questions to decide if I should be approved. I don’t think more red tape is necessary.
