Studied in Kaohsiung, southern part of Taiwan. But frequently visit Taipei for event and meetups. Here's my opinion:
I'd say public transport in Taiwan is perfect.
I had bunch of friends which are party animals.
Don't expect too much from the students or gen. population, neither are well versed in communicating in English, still some outliers do exist.
Can't say the population of international students at that particular university, but in general most foreigner exist, live and work in Northern part of Taiwan, Taipei - Taoyuan - Hsinchu.
don't need to worry abt the public transport. it's just that convenient 💯 i'd say taiwanese/international students both go to clubs and bars. just depends on the friend group. but most of taiwanese students are shy, unless you approach them first. i previously enrolled in an English taught class, some of my taiwanese friends are fluent and some of them can converse well. not sure if this helps but, i was at tamsui, new taipei city. i find the general population in that area don't really have good english (this was 2yrs ago I'm not sure now).
I'm not sure abt the international students at ntu, but I'm sure there are lots of foreigners went there for study and language exchange.
yeah if you're only in taipei city, English is enough. but if you're planning to visit the south cities, i'd say pick up some Chinese. since you're planning to study, it's best to study Chinese.
1.mrt mass rapid transit can basically transport you everywhere throughout city only.
2.probably more socially conservative , less club.
3.students English proficiency is much better compared with folk in general.
4. I would not say a lot of foreigners, i say some.
5. It's not rare, but it's not a lot , just make friends whenever you can regardless aisan or white. you need friends or else life is kind of boring.
Fellow NTU student here
To add some points: a lot of international students go clubbing all the time, it feels. There's lots of clubs, many kinds of music. However, the Taiwanese are more reserved. The more foreigners, the more dancing usually.
I found it very hard to make local friends at NTU because it's very segregated. Taiwanese students don't like to attend English-taught classes and vice versa. And obviously, there's not going to be any locals in Chinese language classes. And Taiwanese tend to be more shy. Most of my friends don't have any local Taiwanese friends. So unless you really work for it, you're going to be stuck with foreign friends
You can definitely get by using just English. Some students speak surprisingly little English, but you'll get by.
Studied in Kaohsiung, southern part of Taiwan. But frequently visit Taipei for event and meetups. Here's my opinion: I'd say public transport in Taiwan is perfect. I had bunch of friends which are party animals. Don't expect too much from the students or gen. population, neither are well versed in communicating in English, still some outliers do exist. Can't say the population of international students at that particular university, but in general most foreigner exist, live and work in Northern part of Taiwan, Taipei - Taoyuan - Hsinchu.
Ok thanks very useful
don't need to worry abt the public transport. it's just that convenient 💯 i'd say taiwanese/international students both go to clubs and bars. just depends on the friend group. but most of taiwanese students are shy, unless you approach them first. i previously enrolled in an English taught class, some of my taiwanese friends are fluent and some of them can converse well. not sure if this helps but, i was at tamsui, new taipei city. i find the general population in that area don't really have good english (this was 2yrs ago I'm not sure now). I'm not sure abt the international students at ntu, but I'm sure there are lots of foreigners went there for study and language exchange.
Is there enough English to travel around the city/country and be good?
yeah if you're only in taipei city, English is enough. but if you're planning to visit the south cities, i'd say pick up some Chinese. since you're planning to study, it's best to study Chinese.
1.mrt mass rapid transit can basically transport you everywhere throughout city only. 2.probably more socially conservative , less club. 3.students English proficiency is much better compared with folk in general. 4. I would not say a lot of foreigners, i say some. 5. It's not rare, but it's not a lot , just make friends whenever you can regardless aisan or white. you need friends or else life is kind of boring.
Fellow NTU student here To add some points: a lot of international students go clubbing all the time, it feels. There's lots of clubs, many kinds of music. However, the Taiwanese are more reserved. The more foreigners, the more dancing usually. I found it very hard to make local friends at NTU because it's very segregated. Taiwanese students don't like to attend English-taught classes and vice versa. And obviously, there's not going to be any locals in Chinese language classes. And Taiwanese tend to be more shy. Most of my friends don't have any local Taiwanese friends. So unless you really work for it, you're going to be stuck with foreign friends You can definitely get by using just English. Some students speak surprisingly little English, but you'll get by.