Anyone from Taiwan/ I'm thinking about studying there

[Thibaudv]

Hi, I am currently in my second year of university in Ghent, Belgium and there are these programs for studying abroad for one or two semesters.

For the ones outside of Europe we need to give a top 3 and a motivation for the first choice. My choices currently are:

-Taiwan (National Sun Yat-Sen University)

-USA (University of Illinois, Chicago)

-USA (Baruch College - City University of New York)

 

Since the USA ones are usually the most popular ones, I'm thinking about putting Taiwan as my first choice. 

But I don't really know that much about Taiwan outside of HTC (i'm a huge fan) being there, so I am wondering if it is worth studying there for (half) a year...

 

So I have some questions:

What language do they speak there? (I am fluent in English, Dutch, German and French, do I need to start learning Taiwanese?)

How modern is the country? (high speed internet? everyone having 4g and stuff like that?)

Are the people cool/nice/friendly?

How different is it to normal EU countries? (I have visited most european countries but i have never left the EU)?

How is studying there?

Any important things I need to know about the country/ about living there?

 

Please feel free to answer any of my questions, even if you aren't from Taiwan

Thanks in advance guys!

 

[Jerakl]

I'm pretty sure Taiwan is/was part of China. AFAIK it is a state that's off the mainland.

[TheMail]

I stayed in Taipei for 4 years, and I really loved it there.

In Taiwan they speak Mandarin, people often refer to their accent as "Taiwanese", but that is false, Taiwanese is a different dialect of Chinese that is only really spoken in secluded places by grandparents. Everyone speaks Mandarin.

I found Taiwan to be more modern in terms of their infrastructure than suprisingly enough, Seoul... So that is saying something.

The people are nice, as long as you actually make an effort to integrate into their culture and learn proper Mandarin.

While it is significantly more westernized than the rest of China, English still isn't spoken all that widely, but that is changing very quickly as English is now a mandatory course in their school curriculum now.

 

BUT, if you are sensitive to being made fun of, or "bullied", then don't go there; they won't hesitate to call you a 老外 (lǎowài). A good amount of the people are fairly xenophobic, but it isn't much of a problem, if you learn Mandarin they will accept you with open arms.

 

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

 

 

I'm pretty sure Taiwan is/was part of China. AFAIK it is a state that's off the mainland.

It is under direct control of the PRC

So yes, technically it is part of China.

BUT, it retains de-facto independence in some issues.