6 ms·

How hard is it to live in Taiwan speaking only English? Is their official language Mandarin or is it some different Chinese dialect? How safe are Taiwan streets

How hard is it to live in Taiwan speaking only English? Is their official language Mandarin or is it some different Chinese dialect? How safe are Taiwan streets?

hellofunk 6y ago
The main problem, when I was there, as with many places throughout Asia, is the poor air quality. You’ll definitely notice it, my eyes were burning to get through the adjustment period.
- komali2 6y ago
  Really? I found air quality even within Taipei to be comparable to San Francisco or even better, at least according to my nose, sinuses, and tear ducts.
  - hellofunk 6y ago
    Perhaps you were there during a weather pattern that minimized the effects. Unless you are saying you had a long-term low pollution experience there, which I think is impossible.
    - komali2 6y ago
      > Unless you are saying you had a long-term low pollution experience there, which I think is impossible. Over a year of anecdotal data using my own senses, which I consider extremely sensitive to allergens. Maybe some pollution data will indicate otherwise? It's certainly no rural Kansas, and I bet industrial hot spots in Taiwan suffer (like near TPE), but yea I felt great in Taipei. Far better than most Asian cities, perhaps comparable to Tokyo.
      - hellofunk 6y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution_in_Taiwan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution_in_Taiwan > based on reports by the World Health Organization, that the air quality in Taiwan is generally the worst of all of the Four Asian Tigers, in particularly drawing attention to the annual mean PM10 level of Taiwan (54 micrograms per cubic meter). The annual mean PM10 level of the country's capital Taipei (47.1 micrograms per cubic meter) made the city rank only 1,089 among 1,600 included cities around the world. Based on 2004 data by Taiwan's Department of Environmental Protection, the annual mean PM10 level for Taiwan had, for the last decade, been worse than the European Union limit value (40 micrograms per cubic meter) every year.
    - monting 6y ago
      Taipei is actually pretty OK. Other cities in Taiwan, not so much.
- tasogare 6y ago
  Happened to me in the throat in Kaohsiung. Otherwise I approve the qualities listed by the the grand parent post. I didn’t know about the Gold Card but I’ll definitely look into it. I always enjoy taking a break from Japan and going there. People are more spontaneous, food is more varied, it’s refreshing.
- andrewflnr 6y ago
  Yikes. That's a hard no from me.
  - komali2 6y ago
    Well, you can always ride a bicycle for 10 minutes and find yourself in a thick jungle on top of a mountain, far removed from any hint of smog.
    - andrewflnr 6y ago
      Can I just live in the jungle instead?
      - komali2 6y ago
        Absolutely! Apartments (luxury and otherwise) line the roads up into the mountains.
eric_khun 6y ago
By far the most english-speaking country in Asia (after singapore). You wouldn't have issue to communicate with people, have a normal daily life. Might have issue to communicate with the old generation, but most of the people will go out their way to help you. Mandarin is the official language, but they are now making a huge push to become a bilingual language[1] For safety, from 0 to 10, I'd give it a 9.5. I like to joke about the daily biggest national news being a grandma who lost its cat, since not much "bad things" happens here. Most of the thing I lost were returned, for example I thought I've lost my bag with my ipad few years ago in a bar, but someone returned it the day after x) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2020/06/13/2003738132 https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2020/06/13/2...
- DarmokJalad1701 6y ago
  > By far the most english-speaking country in Asia (after singapore) I would've thought that was India.
  - komali2 6y ago
    At least in the USA it's my experience that when people say "Asia" they mean maybe what some other people would describe as "East Asia." This has been true my whole life, despite there usually being someone there to say "but what about India?"
  - macleginn 6y ago
    In my exp, an average Indian person without a university education does not really speak or understand English.
  - simonebrunozzi 6y ago
    Not by a long shot. You read that in India English is sort of an official language. But in truth, a big chunk of the population still doesn't speak it, and the ones that do often have a thick accent and not a very rich vocabulary. Source: been to India ~25 times.
khuey 6y ago
It's not that hard to survive on English in Taipei. The official language is Mandarin (though the typical local accent is different from the Beijing-esque prestige dialect). The streets are safe from crime, if that's what you mean, though the competency of the average vehicle driver leaves something to be desired.
- komali2 6y ago
  > competency of the average vehicle driver As long as you give a WIDE berth to blue trucks you should be fine.
doom2 6y ago
It would probably be a little difficult. Outside of big cities / tourist attractions, I found few people that spoke decent English (thankfully I speak a passable amount of Chinese). The most widespread dialect is Mandarin, but you'll hear a lot of Hokkien and Hakka (for example, transit system announcements). I found safety to be a non-issue the last time I was there. Taipei feels like any other big Asian city and even on smaller side streets I didn't feel unsafe. In smaller towns and such, I also wasn't nervous.
komali2 6y ago
Taiwanese people are weirdly cautious for a country with absurdly low crime - there's massive, ugly (imo) bars on all the windows, to prevent burglars (and also hang your clothes off of). Despite that, I've never felt safer at night than I have in Taiwan.
acdha 6y ago
I spent a month there in 1998 working with a software development partner. Language was a complete non-issue in the office but I definitely would have liked to have some conversational Chinese for dining, shopping, taxis, etc. but I’d assume the generational shift I saw then has continued in the last 20 years, too.

How hard is it to live in Taiwan speaking only English? Is their official language Mandarin or is it some different Chinese dialect? How safe are Taiwan streets?

hellofunk 6y ago

The main problem, when I was there, as with many places throughout Asia, is the poor air quality. You’ll definitely notice it, my eyes were burning to get through the adjustment period.

komali2 6y ago
Really? I found air quality even within Taipei to be comparable to San Francisco or even better, at least according to my nose, sinuses, and tear ducts.
- hellofunk 6y ago
  Perhaps you were there during a weather pattern that minimized the effects. Unless you are saying you had a long-term low pollution experience there, which I think is impossible.
  - komali2 6y ago
    > Unless you are saying you had a long-term low pollution experience there, which I think is impossible. Over a year of anecdotal data using my own senses, which I consider extremely sensitive to allergens. Maybe some pollution data will indicate otherwise? It's certainly no rural Kansas, and I bet industrial hot spots in Taiwan suffer (like near TPE), but yea I felt great in Taipei. Far better than most Asian cities, perhaps comparable to Tokyo.
    - hellofunk 6y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution_in_Taiwan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution_in_Taiwan > based on reports by the World Health Organization, that the air quality in Taiwan is generally the worst of all of the Four Asian Tigers, in particularly drawing attention to the annual mean PM10 level of Taiwan (54 micrograms per cubic meter). The annual mean PM10 level of the country's capital Taipei (47.1 micrograms per cubic meter) made the city rank only 1,089 among 1,600 included cities around the world. Based on 2004 data by Taiwan's Department of Environmental Protection, the annual mean PM10 level for Taiwan had, for the last decade, been worse than the European Union limit value (40 micrograms per cubic meter) every year.
  - monting 6y ago
    Taipei is actually pretty OK. Other cities in Taiwan, not so much.
tasogare 6y ago
Happened to me in the throat in Kaohsiung. Otherwise I approve the qualities listed by the the grand parent post. I didn’t know about the Gold Card but I’ll definitely look into it. I always enjoy taking a break from Japan and going there. People are more spontaneous, food is more varied, it’s refreshing.
andrewflnr 6y ago
Yikes. That's a hard no from me.
- komali2 6y ago
  Well, you can always ride a bicycle for 10 minutes and find yourself in a thick jungle on top of a mountain, far removed from any hint of smog.
  - andrewflnr 6y ago
    Can I just live in the jungle instead?
    - komali2 6y ago
      Absolutely! Apartments (luxury and otherwise) line the roads up into the mountains.

eric_khun 6y ago

By far the most english-speaking country in Asia (after singapore). You wouldn't have issue to communicate with people, have a normal daily life. Might have issue to communicate with the old generation, but most of the people will go out their way to help you. Mandarin is the official language, but they are now making a huge push to become a bilingual language[1] For safety, from 0 to 10, I'd give it a 9.5. I like to joke about the daily biggest national news being a grandma who lost its cat, since not much "bad things" happens here. Most of the thing I lost were returned, for example I thought I've lost my bag with my ipad few years ago in a bar, but someone returned it the day after x) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2020/06/13/2003738132 https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2020/06/13/2...

DarmokJalad1701 6y ago
> By far the most english-speaking country in Asia (after singapore) I would've thought that was India.
- komali2 6y ago
  At least in the USA it's my experience that when people say "Asia" they mean maybe what some other people would describe as "East Asia." This has been true my whole life, despite there usually being someone there to say "but what about India?"
- macleginn 6y ago
  In my exp, an average Indian person without a university education does not really speak or understand English.
- simonebrunozzi 6y ago
  Not by a long shot. You read that in India English is sort of an official language. But in truth, a big chunk of the population still doesn't speak it, and the ones that do often have a thick accent and not a very rich vocabulary. Source: been to India ~25 times.

khuey 6y ago

It's not that hard to survive on English in Taipei. The official language is Mandarin (though the typical local accent is different from the Beijing-esque prestige dialect). The streets are safe from crime, if that's what you mean, though the competency of the average vehicle driver leaves something to be desired.

komali2 6y ago
> competency of the average vehicle driver As long as you give a WIDE berth to blue trucks you should be fine.

doom2 6y ago

It would probably be a little difficult. Outside of big cities / tourist attractions, I found few people that spoke decent English (thankfully I speak a passable amount of Chinese). The most widespread dialect is Mandarin, but you'll hear a lot of Hokkien and Hakka (for example, transit system announcements). I found safety to be a non-issue the last time I was there. Taipei feels like any other big Asian city and even on smaller side streets I didn't feel unsafe. In smaller towns and such, I also wasn't nervous.

komali2 6y ago

Taiwanese people are weirdly cautious for a country with absurdly low crime - there's massive, ugly (imo) bars on all the windows, to prevent burglars (and also hang your clothes off of). Despite that, I've never felt safer at night than I have in Taiwan.

acdha 6y ago

I spent a month there in 1998 working with a software development partner. Language was a complete non-issue in the office but I definitely would have liked to have some conversational Chinese for dining, shopping, taxis, etc. but I’d assume the generational shift I saw then has continued in the last 20 years, too.