Where foreigners people are hanging out? (except bars)

To be a foreign language literature student…(senior already) :wink: I feel

i need to make some foreigner friends not only improve my english

ability ,explore my field of vision but also experiences the different of

cultures! so any one can recomend some safe places can meet some

foreigners?( please don’t say bars i think foreigners there are too dangerous thank you)

and what ways should i say to them?( one time i saw a foreigner in the

bookstore i want to say hello want to make friend to her but i didn’t in the

long run) so please give me some advice what ways should i say? how to

make friends to them? thanks a lot!!

Chinese girls in bookshops poking around the foreign literature section… far more dangerous :smiley: :smiley:

The OP have a very good question, and the concerns regarding pubs might be valid. However, taking on (free?) part time work for early hours in restaurants like Carnegies, Tavern, Alleycats etc., will not expose you to too much danger, only happy people enjoying some good grub. I don’t know if the bosses would accept anyone working for free there in exchange for picking up some more English, but it could be worth a try.

The Bookstore, ye Say?
Damn, all that precious wasted time in bars!

Actually, libraries work pretty well, at least back home they did for yers truly.

Sorry, I digress,
I’m off to the bookstore…

As for the OP; my advice would be to read as much English literature as one can. Listen to longwave or internet radio. Pounce on people in bookstores…

[quote=“aliceyun”] One time I saw a foreigner in the
bookstore I want to say hello want to make friend to her but I didn’t in the
long run, so please give me some advice what ways should I say? how to
make friends to them? thanks a lot!![/quote]

How not to converse with foreigners:

“Hello, America is number one. Wow, you’re so fat! Why do you have white hair?” In my case this is usually accompanied by the Taiwanese tugging on my arm and/or leg hair, and followed by questions about the bald spot on my head.

When do you think I lost all interest in speaking with them? Answer: The moment they assumed I was American.

(Note: I often wonder if this is how Taiwanese make friends with each other.)

How to converse with foreigners:

One word you should avoid saying to foreigners in Taiwan is hello only because we are bombarded with it by just about every Taiwanese we pass in the street. I now ignore it and anyone who shouts it at me. Think about how it would be if every time you went outside your door everyone you passed shouted ni hao at you.

Taipei’s foreign community consists of more than just English speakers, so perhaps you could break the ice by first asking if the foreigner speaks English. If so, then ask where the foreigner comes from, what book he/she might recommend for a senior foreign language student, let him/her know what you like to read and ask what he/she likes to read…and so on.

I just mean that the English language section of bookstores (especially ones that are open late at night) can be very good places to make interesting new friends, apparently, or at least so I am told. As a married man, of course, I have no actual experience with this.[/quote]

And before you were married? How about, where did you meet the missus? :wink:

Uh, Eslite bookstore, Dunhua branch, 3AM…

No, not really. She was one of my private students for about an hour and a half and then I sucked her finger. Proposed marriage two days later.

Try walking around in Shi-Da university area with a map, pretending to be lost.
Approch any intersting foreign-looking student with the excuse that you are not from Taipei, and maybe he/she can help you.

It will be more authentic if you hold the map upside down, and always point the direction your nose points (that has to be North) :slight_smile: :slight_smile: Remember, you don’t understand maps, even if you read and speak Chinese.

Addendum:
I have not met a person in Taiwan that can give directions on a map, after almost 13 years living here, so you should be safe with the approach. It they seem to know, just ask something like:
OK, so I go West for 200 meters, turn to South-East, follow that for 300meters etc. etc.

They’ll be off your back before you know it.

Remember, it is a long way from Nanking West Road to Nanking East Road - better take a taxi.

[quote=“aliceyun”]so any one can recomend some safe places can meet some

foreigners?( please don’t say bars I think foreigners there are too dangerous thank you)…[/quote]

Well, I’d be offended by such a remark if I really cared.

aliceyun,

You might try looking for online discussion groups that focus on English language literature. There is a board here on Forumosa (Arts and Entertainment) where you can post your thoughts or questions about works you are reading. Plenty of people who participate on this website are well-read in the Western classics. From your participation here and on other boards, you may then encounter Taiwan-based people from various countries who are interested in literature whom you can meet with offline to discuss topics you are interested in. (Have you considered the possibility that there are some Taiwanese people who are well-read in English language literature and capable of having a discussion about what they have read in English? In other words, you may not need to limit your search to “foreigners.”)

The point is to let these sorts of interactions happen naturally, rather than forcing them, i.e. I don’t think you are going to be too successful approaching Westerners and asking them to speak English with you about a topic you, but not necessarily they, are interested in.

I once met a local scholar who has a great deal of expertise in Chinese history, art, and culture, subjects I am also interested in. After we became friends, we began a reading-based language exchange on topics we were both interested in that went on for a year or so, until he moved away to complete his PhD research. We are still friends, and the language exchange was successful because we genuinely like each other and have mutual interests.

By the way, we conducted our language exchanges in pubs, and we never met any dangerous foreigners while we were there, though we did meet up with a few belligerently drunk Taiwanese people.

P.S. You are getting teased by some of the posters here because it is a bit offensive to be valued by another person for what you can provide to them (i.e. a chance to practice your English), rather than to be valued for who you are as a person. You’ll be far better off by pursuing friendships with people, regardless of nationality, who are interested in English literature. I think you will quite naturally meet folks from different countries and, if you share common interests, will become friends. And you might try dropping your adherence to media-generated stereotypes (i.e. that foreigners in pubs are dangerous).

I go to pubs and I am dangerous.

you think it is too dangerous to meet foreigners in bars.

probably your mother tells you it’s too dangerous to talk to foreigners, to look at strangers on the street or do anything but walk like a zombiebot with no emotions through the streets of Taiwan day after day with no emotions whatsoever.

so I suggest you do as all your friends do and continue to spend all your nights at home because your mom tells you to. Continue to simply post messages on online forums saying you want to meet a foreigner. Continue to have no idea how to have a conversation with anyone but people introduced to you by your family, friends and co-workers.

basically, you should give up before you even try to start because obviously you simply are intrigued by the idea of meeting a foreigner but you are not mature enough or “non-Taiwanese” enough to actually have a successful relationship with one.

so, in short, you should probably just continue to 1: stay home watching TV with your mom; 2; continue chatting online with your friends about how much you want to meet a foreigner; 3: continue to spend every minute you are outside your house being alternately scared to death of foreigners, having no idea what to say to anyone; and avoiding eye contact with everyone in public.

good luck

[quote=“jonnygard70”]you think it is too dangerous to meet foreigners in bars.

probably your mother tells you it’s too dangerous to talk to foreigners, to look at strangers on the street or do anything but walk like a zombiebot with no emotions through the streets of Taiwan day after day with no emotions whatsoever.

so I suggest you do as all your friends do and continue to spend all your nights at home because your mom tells you to. Continue to simply post messages on online forums saying you want to meet a foreigner. Continue to have no idea how to have a conversation with anyone but people introduced to you by your family, friends and co-workers.

basically, you should give up before you even try to start because obviously you simply are intrigued by the idea of meeting a foreigner but you are not mature enough or “non-Taiwanese” enough to actually have a successful relationship with one.

so, in short, you should probably just continue to 1: stay home watching TV with your mom; 2; continue chatting online with your friends about how much you want to meet a foreigner; 3: continue to spend every minute you are outside your house being alternately scared to death of foreigners, having no idea what to say to anyone; and avoiding eye contact with everyone in public.

good luck[/quote]

That was very helpful and encouraging.

I hang out at work, home and church.

[quote=“Tomas”]aliceyun,

You might try looking for online discussion groups that focus on English language literature. There is a board here on Forumosa (Arts and Entertainment) where you can post your thoughts or questions about works you are reading. Plenty of people who participate on this website are well-read in the Western classics. From your participation here and on other boards, you may then encounter Taiwan-based people from various countries who are interested in literature whom you can meet with offline to discuss topics you are interested in. (Have you considered the possibility that there are some Taiwanese people who are well-read in English language literature and capable of having a discussion about what they have read in English? In other words, you may not need to limit your search to “foreigners.”)

The point is to let these sorts of interactions happen naturally, rather than forcing them, i.e. I don’t think you are going to be too successful approaching Westerners and asking them to speak English with you about a topic you, but not necessarily they, are interested in.

I once met a local scholar who has a great deal of expertise in Chinese history, art, and culture, subjects I am also interested in. After we became friends, we began a reading-based language exchange on topics we were both interested in that went on for a year or so, until he moved away to complete his PhD research. We are still friends, and the language exchange was successful because we genuinely like each other and have mutual interests.

By the way, we conducted our language exchanges in pubs, and we never met any dangerous foreigners while we were there, though we did meet up with a few belligerently drunk Taiwanese people.

P.S. You are getting teased by some of the posters here because it is a bit offensive to be valued by another person for what you can provide to them (i.e. a chance to practice your English), rather than to be valued for who you are as a person. You’ll be far better off by pursuing friendships with people, regardless of nationality, who are interested in English literature. I think you will quite naturally meet folks from different countries and, if you share common interests, will become friends. And you might try dropping your adherence to media-generated stereotypes (i.e. that foreigners in pubs are dangerous).[/quote]

yes i agree with you…i believe some foreigners will think i make friends with them just because they know english well…but i didn’t mean this…
thanks your advice i will try to find some topics they are interested in…
ps sorry about i am too rude…i didn’t mean foreigners in barsare dangerous i want to say is bars is the complicated places i didn’t tend to anyone^^

so you think church is a good choice to meet foreigners?
what kind of church you guys go to…because sometimes i go to the
church(cathic) but it didn’t have foreigners there…or you guys justgo to some churchhave english speech one?? thank you~~~
and have the other advice?

[quote=“X3M”]Try walking around in Shi-Da university area with a map, pretending to be lost.
Approch any intersting foreign-looking student with the excuse that you are not from Taipei, and maybe he/she can help you.

but anyway thank your advice…i need to have courage to do that…
It will be more authentic if you hold the map upside down, and always point the direction your nose points (that has to be North) :slight_smile: :slight_smile: Remember, you don’t understand maps, even if you read and speak Chinese.

Addendum:
I have not met a person in Taiwan that can give directions on a map, after almost 13 years living here, so you should be safe with the approach. It they seem to know, just ask something like:
OK, so I go West for 200 meters, turn to South-East, follow that for 300meters etc. etc.

They’ll be off your back before you know it.

Remember, it is a long way from Nanjing West Road to Nanjing East Road - better take a taxi.[/quote]

it was funny…maybe it worth it to try…thanks your advice!! but oyu guys won’t think why this girl don’t ask chinese person but not local one>>

If you think bars are dangerous, don’t go to churches, those Christians are even crazier!

so you think church is a good choice to meet foreigners?
what kind of church you guys go to…because sometimes I go to the
church(cathic) but it didn’t have foreigners there…or you guys justgo to some churchhave English speech one?? thank you~~~
and have the other advice?[/quote]

I’ve got to say that I attend church now and then, but I canot be taken as a representative of Christianity.

I wouldn’t say one should attend church to meet foreigners. Although many people do.

Some churches have English services and you would meet many foreigners there.

If you like hiking you are certainly welcome to join one of the hiking clubs outings. We’re a pretty friendly and decent group, and most of us can speak both Chinese and English (some better than others :blush: ). Those long hikes are a perfect opportunity to talk and get to know other people.