I have a kid who mostly grew up in Taiwan. We moved back a few years ago. His Mandarin is so-so (good listening, okay spoken, not much written). He’s a senior in high school in the States and interested in a gap year. Does anyone have advice on non-Taipei Mandarin programs? He is looking for a walkable, lower cost of living city with a program. It would be a plus if his courses might transfer as electives to a liberal arts college or the like. I’m interested in any advice you have.
He is looking for a walkable, lower cost of living city with a program.
What do you mean by ‘walkable’? What do you mean by ‘lower cost of living’? Pretty much every city has lots of universities and language centers. Off the top of my head you can check the Huayu enrichment scholarship, Dong Hwa university 華語文中心 in Hualien, Tunghai or Feng chia in Taichung. It’s easy to find Mandarin programs if you search for ‘universities in <city>’ and then go to the English version of the website. I’d recommend you narrow down your search a bit: which city/region, what type of program (full time, part time, full semester, summer only…), what level of program (you mentioned he has some language skill - would he want to take a class for complete beginners? would he be able to take a more advanced class?)
For any transfer courses you’d have to check the specific universities. Many language courses will offer or include a language certification test at the end.