【My personal experience】 Practice makes perfect! Should I study in Taiwan from zero Chinese?

Hello everyone. I’m @olivertomolife and I’ve studied abroad in Kaohsiung!





I’m sure some of you are feeling anxious about your upcoming study abroad in Taiwan.





Some of you may be worried about your study abroad plans in Taiwan.





If so, there is something I want to tell you.





In this article, I would like to talk about whether you can study in Taiwan without any knowledge of Chinese!





If you are planning to study abroad, I think this will be helpful for you, so please read through to the end.

I experienced a working holiday in Kaohsiung for one year from February 2020. Currently, I am writing a blog based on that experience.





I hope this article helps alleviate some of your fears about studying in Taiwan!

Should I study abroad in Taiwan from zero Chinese?

In conclusion, you can study abroad even if you have no knowledge of Chinese!





Because that’s what I did myself.





In fact, before I came to Taiwan to study, I had only learned basic conversation.





That’s why the first month in Taiwan was really tough…





Anyway, in order to learn the local, living Chinese, I watched TV and went out to the streets every day.





I was amazed at the adaptability of human beings, and at the same time, I gradually got used to life in Taiwan.





What I would like to say to those who are worried now is that language can be acquired through repeated practice, so don’t be afraid to take on the challenge.

Here are three things I learned from my own experience that you should study before coming to Taiwan

1 Be able to introduce yourself

You should practice introducing yourself.





It can be as simple as your name and where you are from.





The first thing I struggled with was introducing myself on the first day of language school.





When I was in Japan, I had only studied grammar and vocabulary, so my conversational skills were very poor.





I got through the situation by combining the words I had in my head, but I will never forget the frustration I felt.





I didn’t understand anything for the first two weeks at the language school, and it was really like hell.





However, as I worked harder and harder, I began to understand more and more.

2 Memorize daily life terms

In Taiwan, there are Chinese characters in every environment.





Because of this, I had a hard time eating out and shopping at the supermarket.





Everything in the world is represented by Chinese characters, so naturally I encountered things that I did not learn in school.





So remembering the names of household items and food would make your life a lot easier!





Interestingly, as my Chinese level increased, I could automatically understand the meanings of Chinese characters I saw for the first time in the city.





This will give you confidence in your language skills, so let’s all do our best!

3 Learn Taiwanese manners

It may seem obvious, but manners in your own country are different from those in other countries.





If you assume that they are the same, you may get into trouble.





In Taiwan, there are manners such as taking leftovers home from restaurants and no tipping in cabs.





It is natural to know the manners of the country you are going to visit, but I did not want you to make any mistakes, so I told you again.

What countries do most students come from in Taiwan?

According to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, over 110,000 foreign students came to Taiwan in 2016.





By country, China, Malaysia, and Hong Kong had the fourth highest number of students studying in Japan.





In recent years, Taiwan’s educational exchange to Southeast Asia has been increasing, so the number of students from Indonesia and Vietnam is also increasing.

Conclusion

I introduced whether you should study in Taiwan from zero Chinese!





I will be posting more information about Taiwan in the future, so please stay tuned.





Thank you for reading to the end!