Black Canadian here. I got accepted to both schools and got the Huayu scholarship to learn Mandarin. I planning to commit about 3 years learning Mandarin in Taiwan and I am going into this hoping that at the end of it I can be decent enough to use professionally. I do policy work in govt adjacent org if that matters. A few questions I had in mind, TIA:
Would you recommend NTU CLD or NCKU if cost is of no concern?
I have travelled quite a bit in Asia so I expect some curiosity about my race etc but would this be an issue when trying get rentals or accessing services especially in smaller towns?
Being in Taipei City would place you closer to government connections should that eventually be one of your goals. You’d also get better public transport (better than any city in Canada, really), higher costs (though cheaper than just about any city in Canada, really), and often shittier weather.
Being in Tainan puts you closer to older forms of settlement in Taiwan (going back to the 17th century), lower costs, more sunshine, and shittier (and sometimes no) public transport.
Both NTU and NCKU are good universities, so neither would be disastrous, I think. I am uncertain however how blackness is understood in the south. Here in Taipei there are a fair number of Ethiopians working as researchers in the university district (I meet them regularly at NTUST, where they’ve trained the resident baristas to make coffee the way they like it!), as well as folks from the Caribbean and elsewhere in the diaspora around town.
If you can, let us know what you eventually decide.
Thank you for responding. I am not looking to work in Taiwan as I intend to return to work with my org but in roles where Mandarin is essential. I’m in a unionized position and can get up to 4 years education leave.
I have to provide a response to the TECO that offered me the scholarship by the end of the week so at this time I think I will go with NTU CLD.
Glad to hear there’s some diversity in Taipei. In India and parts of Vietnam I had people walk up to me and grab my hair without asking but I’ve been made to understand from online forums that in Taipei at most I could expect some stares.
I asked about rentals cause even in Canada (Greater Vancouver) I’ve had issues in the past renting from individual landlords despite having a decent job and I think my race was a major factor. Because of that, in the past 6 years I’ve only rented from rental companies. I’ll update my experiences once I’m in Taipei.