Visiting to Taiwan.. Language to use

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
1

Hi,

First of all I know Mandarin is the most common language in Taiwan but I dont speak it.

So I can speak English, Cantonese and Japanese (i know some french but i know it’s useless)… which one should i use first and mostly likely to be understood?

2

You will likely get the best response to English in big cities. If you are speaking to an older (70+) person, you could try Japanese–they may not want to use it. Cantonese is unlikely to be useful.

3

hi thanks for replying!
I included Cantonese is because my cousin said there are lots of Taiwanese in Taipei can understand Cantonese… She went to Taiwan 2 years ago n she said most of the places she have visited can understand her?? I wonder if she is just trolling but then she doesnt need to lie to me… could it possibly because there are lots of HK tourist so people picked up Cantonese?

4

Try English first, then switch to Japanese if that doesn’t work.

You might find some Cantonese speakers. But most of them will probably also know at least some English.

5

[quote=“nosmas”]
hi thanks for replying!
I included Cantonese is because my cousin said there are lots of Taiwanese in Taipei can understand Cantonese… She went to Taiwan 2 years ago n she said most of the places she have visited can understand her?? I wonder if she is just trolling but then she doesnt need to lie to me… could it possibly because there are lots of HK tourist so people picked up Cantonese?[/quote]

Not really.

You’ll find more people who understand English and Japanese. By the way, if you are going to try Japanese with 70+ people, make sure they look like they are Taiwanese and not some old KMT soldiers, because they can get pretty angry at you.

6

thanks! I hope I can get around easily with these 3 languages…:slight_smile: