My experience Studying Mandarin in Taiwan
by Sarah Nygård
I spent close to 1,5 years learning Mandarin Chinese in Taipei, Taiwan at Mandarin Training Language Center, NTNU. When I landed in Taiwan I was met by a wall of humidity and heat. I knew from my simple google search that Taiwan was a subtropical country with high humidity, but experiencing it in person was nothing compared to what I had imagined. But I loved it!
The first couple of days I navigated myself around the city with the help of a huge map and whenever I was lost, there was always a kind person close by to help. I soon came to realize that everything in Taipei was almost within walking distance, and when it wasn’t, there was the convenient MRT and city bikes that you could easily use, using your Easycard (悠遊卡). Taiwan is a beautiful green country with many places to hike, both in and outside the city, where one of my favorite places inside the city was ‘Elephant Mountain’ (象山).
In terms of cuisine, there is an affordable and wide range of different dishes and snacks to try out both at the night markets as well as at restaurants. Vegetarian food was a little bit difficult to find, but after some time I figured out the dishes that I could and couldn’t eat. Language wise, restaurant menus were often in Chinese and without pictures; therefore, I became well acquainted with using google translate on a daily basis.
There were a few things that I wasn’t ready for when living in Taiwan; the first one being earthquakes. Earthquakes are a frequent phenomenon in Taiwan, less so in Taipei and more so in the south and east, such as in Kaohsiung and Hualien. Typhoons also pass by and over Taiwan, leading to school and work being cancelled. Finally, vermin. Cockroaches were described to me as the national animal of Taiwan as they were frequently found in almost all buildings. Fortunately, there are ways to get rid of them momentarily.
Conclusively, studying and living in Taiwan is an experience that I can’t imagine having gone without. It was a time for me to grow personally, a time where my perspective of the world widened and a time where I made friends for life. I look forward to visiting again in the future and I am thankful to Taipei Mission in Sweden for having helped me experience such an amazing place.
