Hello,
I am genuinely interested to hear opinions, especially from Taiwanese people themselves, if there are a few on this forum.
Last year I started the following thread: How did you deal with people looking at you all the time? The situation is clearly not getting any better, I find myself more and more annoyed and I clearly don’t like it, but at the same time I feel powerless.
So the question is in the title, what goes through the mind of the average Taiwanese people when seeing a foreigner?
As a Westerner, I know I will never understand, but I can still give it a try.
Thanks for any constructive reply.
Not much really, in Taipei anyway. A lot of people will fear that they might have to speak English to you–a terrifying prospect. If you are able to put them at ease about that, all should be well.
if you are in an area with lots of foreigners, no one thinks anything. if you are like out in the boonies, then ppl will generally think ‘what is that person doing here?’.
For some people, especially children, you’re just a novelty. Something different and perhaps interesting to look at. No big deal. I mean, Taiwan can be a bit of a boring place, would you begrudge them a moment’s entertainment?
As for me, sometimes I am simply alarmed by your hideous visage or relative…largeness.
To be fair, neither @Andrew0409 nor @Hanna are “average Taiwanese people.” Do any average Taiwanese people even post on Forumosa? By definition, I’d say no.
Actually, nowadays I look for the same reasons @Andrew0409 does. Just curious whether that white fella over there might be a Forumosan.
I also think it holds true for all of us who have lived here for a while that Taiwan isn’t always the most exciting place, so seeing a foreign face kind of breaks up the monotony a bit.
This is probably the closest answer so far. Although in my case, when I tell people I’m American, the response is almost always, “But you’re not an authentic American, right?” For some reason, everybody seems to think I’m Italian.
