I’m thinking of staying in a Chinese speaking country for at least two years because I want to learn Mandarin (Pu tong hua).
Taiwan would have a couple of distinct advantages over the mainland, mainly (sub)tropical climate and traditional characters.
But since I have to consider the cost of such a stay, I wonder how much more expensive a longer stay in Taiwan would be compared to an equally long stay in, say, Beijing.
So, my question:
What are your estimates, how much more expensive is Taiwan compared to China for long-term language students?
Well, I haven’t lived in China for about five years, so things have probably changed considerably, but twice as expensive sounds about right. Things you’d have to consider are that 1) Taipei is way more expensive than the rest of Taiwan and 2) Beijing is more expensive than the second tier cities of China.
Of course, there are other cities in China that are far warmer than Beijing. Xiamen is at the same latitude as Taiwan, is large enough to have any sort of laowai student amenities you’d want, and would be cheaper than anywhere in Taiwan. If you wanted even warmer, you could try Nanning in Guangxi province or Hainan Island, though I don’t know how good any of the language programs (if any) are there.