Where in Taiwan

[Fergus_1]

would you study Mandarin, in terms of govt approved schools where one can get student visa? Love cycling and also kinda burned out with big loud cities after 10 years of Hong Kong. Does anyone know of good places East Taiwan to take Mandarin or must it be Taichung, Kaoshung, Taipei only?

[semantic nuance]

Hi, you may try 台灣大學校院附設華語文教學中心一覽表. It's a list of the Chinese language centers at universities in Taiwan. Quoted is the school at east part of Taiwan.

東部

慈濟大學華語文教學中心 (校本部) 2003年

970 花蓮市中央路三段701號 (03)856-5301 Ext. 7689

Hope it helps!

[chaxiu]

Hey,

I live in Taichung (Taizhong) so I can’t really comment on Taipei or Kaohsiung.

There are three university language programs that I know of: Feng Chia University, Tunghai University and Providence University. All provide student visas as far a I know. You would have to contact them to check.

Feng Chia University

www.fculc.fcu.edu.tw/chinese/

Tunghai University

www2.thu.edu.tw/~clc/

Providence University

clec.pu.edu.tw/

I went to Feng Chia Uni for 6 months when I first came to Taiwan. At that time I had just started teaching English and it was a very heavy work load. If you are coming hare just to study I think it’d quite a good environment to learn in. If you have to work and study then I think it is a little too much. I felt that it gave me a good great grasp of the fundamentals: pronunciation, radicals, stroke order, etc. But i think that because I was working, most of my spare time was spent learning character instead of speaking.

I have had friends who went to Tunghai uni and they were quite happy there. Perhaps it has a better reputation and is a little more expensive.

Most people who don’t go to a university course go to TLI or a smaller school called TLC (Taichung Language Center). You would have to check, I don’t know if the offer student visas. Since leaving Feng Chia Uni I’ve been taking individual classes a TLI and I have no complaints at the moment.

www.tli.com.tw

I really like Taichung because it’s not as big or expensive as Taipei or Kaohsiong. It feels less crowded and more open in the layout of buildings, roads, etc. It has most things I need: great food both local and western, decent book stores, etc. I can even get Vegimite. But it is one of those cities where pretty much everyone rides a scooter to get around. Public is ok here, it’s just better in Taipei.

Taipei has set up bike paths in and around the city, but you would have to as some one who lives there for further information.

All I know about Kaohsiong is it is HOT.

Hope it helps

Chaxiu

[Fergus_1]

Thanks to the above members for repling...thanks for that...I'll have a good look now