Translating signs and non complete sentence is probably easier for native speakers, but seriously English grammar rules are so confusing at times that mistakes do happen. That’s why proofreading is needed to fix those small errors, however the writing field has such a high standard because there are probably people in India with fluent and near native level of English who is willing to do it for peanuts. Language related work is really the last thing I want to do for a living because they intimidate me. Especially when people go grammar Nazi on me over use of “have and has”. However menu items are not complete sentences so there are less chance for a mistake… you just need to concentrate on making something that sounds believable and dare to use pinyin for those that can’t be reliably translated.
Nonsense: the average Taiwanese IELTS and TOEFL score put them in the ‘upper intermediate’ bracket, and the ones that take tests have usually learned English beyond high school. I teach English to university students and most Taiwanese new entrants test in at ‘intermediate’. The general level is not high, although it’s great that they do as well as they do, given that they have a very different L1.
Fuck exploding duck etc is just machine translation.
I edit and proof for a Chinese agency (I’m a trained, experienced editor) and I charge my British freelance rate which is a lot more than they pay their Chinese translators. I guess they charge the clients enough for it to be worth it but people just don’t see the point in paying, in Taiwan. ‘Good enough’ is fine.
To be honest, the stuff they do is complex. I’m not sure how many people who had the skill to translate, edit and proof their own Chinese to English would want to. There must be more lucrative things they could be doing.
I have the skill and I want to translate simply because I enjoy it. My rate is not cheap, but I’m still a lot lower than most experienced, good Taiwanese translators, and I can guarantee correct grammar and creative problem-solving.
Sure, the Taiwanese who take the IELTS and TOEFL have great scores. Then there are all those people (like many of my friends) who realize that taking those tests are a waste of money for them. I think it’s a U-shaped curve where people either have pretty darn good English or next to none.
No, my point was that they really have bad scores, comparatively. Not good enough to translate Chinese to English.
I don’t normally talk about grammar, or care about people’s grammar, and I probably make lazy mistakes and typos on this forum. I do try a little harder when we get talking about linguistics though. To be fair, you did just claim that the majority of educated Taiwanese have a better understanding of English grammar than the majority of native English speakers, 
and made a few grammatical errors in the process. I also complimented your English writing 
. My main point was that for translation, getting something that almost sounds good isn’t good enough. The majority of native speakers may not be able to name every single grammatical item, but if we’re talking about sign posts, directions and safety warnings, they sure as hell will spot the mistakes.
For non native speakers they may be. Though most native speakers don’t even need to think about grammar, it just comes naturally. That’s why it makes sense to either have a native speaker doing the translations, or at least being involved during the proofreading/editing stages. Is it not the same in your native language? Do you think - oh this is a noun, the verb goes here, the preposition…
Small introduction on me :
- I am a technical expert for a multinational
- Living with a Taiwanese
- Mix of local and expat package (so I’m not living in an expat ghetto)
- Not a native English speaker (therefore not an ayatollah on English grammar)
Yes, it’s good. Never had much trouble to go around. Bus drivers warn you when you reach your destination. Taxi drivers are helpful and honest.
In Korea, they just ask you to get out of the taxi…
Yes.
Yes, but in some remote places, the translation is very crappy. I still manage to get the big picture.
Every private owner decides if he wants to translate or not. Back in Europe, everything is written is the local language, be it French, German or Spanish. After all, not everybody has to learn the barbaric language of ‘les Rosbiffs’! We are in Taiwan, not is US/UK. It would be sad if the whole world was unilingual/unicultural.
99% of the time, the owner will help you to order or find someone who understands you. Sometimes, I find it exhausting. Pictures would clearly help!
Yes, it’s easy and fast. Had no problem, even during my first visit.
NA
NA. I came with a specific contract.
Yes, low taxes but we are out of any retirement plan !
NA
Yes, we are treated as locals and it’s good. Most doctors speaks a good English.
Things to improve:
- Banking system: if you want to attract international talent, you need an advanced banking system. Last time I went to the bank to withdraw Korean won, I had to sign 7 (seven!) forms. It took 1 hour and everything was in Chinese. I hate to sign stuff I don’t understand!!! Every time I want to do something, I need to go to the bank with all my papers. We’re not in 1850 anymore, 21st century = online banking & portfolio management.
- Environment: look at the rivers, smell the air. Something is not correct : the law or the application of it. If it’s the application, I would point out the corruption.
- Urbanism: I get better! More green, more space, looks better. Sometimes, you can see crappy places around scenic/tourist spots. They should be destroyed to improve tourist attraction.
- Traffic: It’s plainly ridiculous. Every foreigner I know complains about that. Of course, Taiwan is better than India or Cairo but so far behind Korea! So so far!
I probably won’t stay in Taiwan after the end of my contract because of one single reason:
Working culture: no room for personality, innovation or boldness. Even as a foreigner, I need to fight against the local way of working. Hopefully, my (Taiwanese) manager is open-minded and after a few discussions, we find some common ground.
Basically, at the beginning, they asked me to work in a very bureaucratic, inefficient way. You just can’t ask an engineer to work inefficiently. We are more or less designed to optimize stuff.
If you want international talents to work here, they must have room to maneuver, there should be an opportunity for them to express fully their potential. It’s so frustrating here sometimes. Maybe if you are older (I’m under 30) or in a manager position, it’s more enjoyable. For me, it’s not.
I noticed something here, in that a few posts say that Taiwan’s English signs may be bad but at least still better than China’s. Geez that’s just like the locals, with a mentality like that no wonder Taiwan is where it is now.
When your only defense is that you’re better than a country that is several times poorer and much less developed, which ain’t even true in some aspects, that is actually really pathetic.
I already saw some good responses so I won’t bother to do the survey but let me touch on one question. When it comes to restaurant menus and the lack of English, the issue isn’t even about putting English or proper translation, it’s about the absolute lack of pictures. Sure, Taiwanese may not have a problem but pictures would help greatly for non-Chinese reading folks. I mean, in Japan many restarants don’t have English menus but they all have photos of their dishes.
I was reading a book on Taiwan’s history (Forbidden Nation: A History of Taiwan), and what you say about hindering optimization kind of reminds me of story about the laying of Taiwan’s first railway line. It was to run from Taipei to Keelung (about 130 years ago). Liu Minchuan, a Governor of Taiwan (from 1884-1891) set about modernizing Taiwan. He even got foreign expertise involved. He hired a German engineer, a Mr Becker, who pegged out part of the route. After which the local soldiers and officers went about helping themselves to the pegs (using them for firewood), which halted progress. The foreign engineers and surveyors plotted a smooth course to Keelung, but again, the Taiwanese soldiers and their officers, who didn’t have the task properly explained to them, messed everything up so they could earn a bit more money. They realized that whenever the plotted course encroached on a rich landholder’s property, the landholder would bribe the soldiers to alter the course. Later on the soldiers intentionally altered the course of the tracks so it would run through the ancestral graves of the richest landholders, and thus made a lot of money in bribes. When the tracks did reach Keelung, they had so many twists and turns that they were almost unusable! But when the Japanese came along they fixed the railways.
So you see, this issue of interfering with professionals and not allowing them to work optimally has been going on here for at least 130 years!
The German engineer, or rather the leader responsible for the railway project should have negotiated with the landowners of wherever the intended path is and worked out a deal, compensation or whatnot rather than just build a railway line haphazardly.
Very unstandardized, though better than before. Really, find an international standard (hint, hint, pinyin) and stick with it.
Again, getting better, but there are still laughable signs (“No striding” on Alishan being a good example) though those signs can be a tourist attraction in and of themselves. Shopping circle?
[quote]3. Do you feel satisfied about the English-language translation of Taiwan government’s public facilities?
4. Do you feel satisfied about the English-language transition of Taiwan’s shops (such as Menu in the restaurant)?[/quote]
Business’ choice. I made myself a Yahoo answers account a while back for Taiwan, and there were a lot of people asking for translations of menu items or product descriptions, My Chinese is crap, but thanks to a pop-up translator, logic, and a sense of Chinglish, I was able to get a lot of ‘best answer’ recommends. No way I could have done that without being a native English speaker. Businesses can put themselves out there if they think they can improve, but really, anyone in the government ought to be better than this “but my nephew…” nonsense. Your websites leave a lot to be desired, too.
Super easy. Even if drivers lack English, everyone’s willing to work with you.
5 years is better than the previous 7, but there is still a ways to go with regards to regulations. Allowing me to leave for more than 183 days in a calendar year would be a nice start. I could develop myself professionally elsewhere, then come back to Taiwan with the skills they need. Now? I’m stuck with what I can do here, which isn’t much due to restrictive policies.
No. Relax the 2 years documented experience requirement for professionals who already have the requisite skills. Pay is low enough that competition from chea[er workers shouldn’t be a hindrance.
Excellent. Taiwan does a great job at showing value for money.
I know of none other than MBA programs. My partner was told that he could easily study Anthropology here but wouldn’t be able to fulfill the discussion requirement. Maybe there should be a pathway to study, kind of like TOEFL/ESL courses offered initially to international students in US universities?
I love the health care! Though a GP + referral system might help to streamline things a bit for specialists.
Thanks for giving us a voice, however stunted it may be.
Thank you very much for all your posts!!!