In this episode, I interview Caleb Shetland, an American now workingin Taipeias a firmware engineer. Listen to find out: - His experience learning Chinese at a US college - What approach he wishes he had used instead, to learn characters - When he realized that learning Mandarin would be useful for his engineering career - How he thinks Mandarin compares in difficulty versus other languages - His experience traveling overseas for the first time to Beijing - His experience as a foreign student at a Chinese campus - His struggletrying to find a job as an expat engineer in Taiwan - His initial experience working in an office environment in Taiwan - What it was like being the only foreigner in a large multi-national company - The benefit of being a foreign engineer in Taiwan - The demand for expats in the local tech industry - The importance of co-ops and internships
In this episode I interview Alex Trup, a Brit now working in Digital Marketing in Taipei, Taiwan. Listen to find out: - About his experience learning Chinese in the UK - How he went from China to Taiwan - His experience as a foreigner in a Taiwanese workingenvironment - Why he likes Taipei compared to other cities he's lived in - His experience as a new father in a mixed cultural relationship - His approach to raising his child in a bilingual environment - What he would have done differently if he was to learn Chinese from the start - His advice for a westerner looking for a job in Taiwan or China - How he got the job at his current company as one of its first expat hires
In this episode I interview Xiao Fei, an American blogger now living in Taiwan. Listen to find out: - His experience trying to get a degree at a local Taiwanese university - Why he switched out of the Chineseprogram to an English one - His experience living in China - Why he finds his current university program more manageable - How and why he started a blog about waterfalls in Taiwan(Facebook) - His long term plans in Taiwan - What he would do differently if he was to learn Chinese again - Why he thinks writing is a valuable skill to learn - Why he's proud of his sloppy writing - His opinion on telling jokes in Chinese
In this episode I interview Keoni Everington, an American now working in the media business in Taiwan. Listen to find out: - What got him interested in learning Chinese 20 years ago - What it was like learning Chinese in Ohio - How he benefited fromguanxi early on - What it was like moving from Ohio to Beijing in 1994 - How he overcame the difficult living conditions back then - All the different jobs he had along the way, and how he progressed through them - His secret to getting jobs that he may not be directly qualified for - The advantages and disadvantagesbetween working for Chinese companies versus western ones - What he wishes he had done differently career wise - What he recommends more foreigners do to expand their career paths - An alternate approach you could use to work at a specific company
In this episode I interview Scott Faul, an American now living in Taiwan. Listen to find out: - What got him interested in learning Chinese, while in the US - His experience studying Chinese in Taiwan, while working on the side - How he used the Chinese he had learned, while working in the US - The benefits he found for being able to speak Chinese, while looking for work - His experience living in Beijing for 10 years - The difference he found in culture between China and Taiwan - The difference in accents and slang he experienced between Taipei and Beijing - What he would have done differently regarding learning Chinese - Why he switched from business to doing a masters in translation - What his career plans in translation are currently - The difference in businessculture in China / Taiwan versus in America - How negotiations are handled differently in China / Taiwan versus out west
In this episode I interview Aaron Simmons, an American Professional Development Coach. He is the founder ofDiversify International and Multi-Lingual Story Corner. Listen to find out: - What got him interested in Chinese culture and language in the first place, while studying in the US - Why he chose a more challenging route to learning Chinese - What his experience was living in China while in an intensive program learning Chinese - Why he moved from China to Taiwan - How he got his first job managing a school - What he found uniqueabout managing local Taiwanese employees - How he had to change his management style to adapt to local culture - How he adapted to becoming a consultant - How he improved his Chinese skills as a result - Why he decided to start his own consulting company - How he found new clients - How he adapted from simplified Chinese characters to traditional ones - What the biggest challenge he had adapting to Chinese in Taiwan was
In this episode, I interview Alex Barker, an American consultant about his experience learning Chinese Listen to this episode to find out: - How Alex got interested in learning Chinese in America - His experience in an American college class learning Chinese - Why he didn't make as much progress in Chinese as he wanted to - His experience taking a university class in Chinese in Taiwan - His experience working as an intern at the American Chamber of Commerce - Why he found it useful to have Mandarin ability on his resume - Why he feels there are multiple levels of Mandarin ability - His experience with personal relationships that only use Chinese - What he would do differently if he had to study Chinese again - Why he would encourage students in school to choose Chinese as a second language - What advice he would give to students learning Chinese in a non Chinese speaking area - How he recommends people learn colloquial Chinese - What threw him off about speaking Chinese in Taiwan ve...
In this episode I interview Adriana Estrada from Guatemala, who has lived in Taiwan for the past 7 years, completing her undergraduate and master's degree during that time. Listen to find out: - What brought Adriana to Taiwan in the first place - What advantages she brings to the work place over local Taiwanese - What types of companies she's looking to work at - Her experience completing an engineering degree in Chinese - Why she chose Taiwan to do her degree in - Why she's glad she did her degree in Chinese and the approach she took - Why other students come to Taiwan, but don't learn as much Chinese as they should - Why she feels most learning of Chinese is done outside of the classroom - Why she feels getting a degree in Taiwan isn't for everyone - What aspects of culture shock she's experienced in Taiwan versus Guatemala - Her experience dating Taiwanese men - Whether she's affected by the amount of Taiwanese used by locals -Her opinion on the different food options available
In this episode, I interview Nick Howard, an American who has been living in Taiwan for the past 9 years. Listen to find out: - What brought him to Taiwan in the first place - How he moved up from teaching at a cram school to teach at a university - The process he went through learning Chinese - Why learning Chinese was a priority for him - Why he switched from learning in class to learning on his own - How he transitioned from teaching to consulting - Why he started a co-working space(Facebook) - What he would recommend for expats wanting to switch from teaching to a different career path - Why he recommends living in a smaller town, for those wanting to improve their Chinese and understanding of local culture - How Taiwanese is used locally versus Mandarin - How he's been able to get along with his wife's Taiwanese family
In this episode I interview Derek McCracken, an American who has been living in Taiwan for 7 years. Listen to find out: - What brought Derek to Asia and specifically Taiwan - How he started teaching English, while looking for other opportunities - How he started his first business in Taiwan - How he compares starting a business in Taiwan compared to Thailand - How he began learning Chinese on the side - What benefits he found from being able to speak Chinese at a functional level - What skill he thinks is necessary for expats to learn Chinese - What things he did in his learning to get to the next level - How he transitioned into his current job at an international fitness company. - What cultural differences he's noticedcomparing Taiwanese clients with American and Thai ones - Why he chooses to live in Taiwan than America - What advice he'd give to an expat wanting to change their career path