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Comment by joaogui1 | Hacker News Reader

How hard is it to live in Taiwan speaking only English? Is their official language Mandarin or is it some different Chinese dialect? How safe are Taiwan streets?

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By far the most english-speaking country in Asia (after singapore). You wouldn't have issue to communicate with people, have a normal daily life. Might have issue to communicate with the old generation, but most of the people will go out their way to help you. Mandarin is the official language, but they are now making a huge push to become a bilingual language[1]

For safety, from 0 to 10, I'd give it a 9.5. I like to joke about the daily biggest national news being a grandma who lost its cat, since not much "bad things" happens here. Most of the thing I lost were returned, for example I thought I've lost my bag with my ipad few years ago in a bar, but someone returned it the day after x)

https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2020/06/13/2...

> By far the most english-speaking country in Asia (after singapore)

I would've thought that was India.

At least in the USA it's my experience that when people say "Asia" they mean maybe what some other people would describe as "East Asia." This has been true my whole life, despite there usually being someone there to say "but what about India?"

In my exp, an average Indian person without a university education does not really speak or understand English.

Not by a long shot. You read that in India English is sort of an official language. But in truth, a big chunk of the population still doesn't speak it, and the ones that do often have a thick accent and not a very rich vocabulary. Source: been to India ~25 times.

It would probably be a little difficult. Outside of big cities / tourist attractions, I found few people that spoke decent English (thankfully I speak a passable amount of Chinese). The most widespread dialect is Mandarin, but you'll hear a lot of Hokkien and Hakka (for example, transit system announcements).

I found safety to be a non-issue the last time I was there. Taipei feels like any other big Asian city and even on smaller side streets I didn't feel unsafe. In smaller towns and such, I also wasn't nervous.

The main problem, when I was there, as with many places throughout Asia, is the poor air quality. You’ll definitely notice it, my eyes were burning to get through the adjustment period.

Really? I found air quality even within Taipei to be comparable to San Francisco or even better, at least according to my nose, sinuses, and tear ducts.

Perhaps you were there during a weather pattern that minimized the effects. Unless you are saying you had a long-term low pollution experience there, which I think is impossible.

> Unless you are saying you had a long-term low pollution experience there, which I think is impossible.

Over a year of anecdotal data using my own senses, which I consider extremely sensitive to allergens.

Maybe some pollution data will indicate otherwise? It's certainly no rural Kansas, and I bet industrial hot spots in Taiwan suffer (like near TPE), but yea I felt great in Taipei. Far better than most Asian cities, perhaps comparable to Tokyo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution_in_Taiwan

> based on reports by the World Health Organization, that the air quality in Taiwan is generally the worst of all of the Four Asian Tigers, in particularly drawing attention to the annual mean PM10 level of Taiwan (54 micrograms per cubic meter). The annual mean PM10 level of the country's capital Taipei (47.1 micrograms per cubic meter) made the city rank only 1,089 among 1,600 included cities around the world. Based on 2004 data by Taiwan's Department of Environmental Protection, the annual mean PM10 level for Taiwan had, for the last decade, been worse than the European Union limit value (40 micrograms per cubic meter) every year.

Taipei is actually pretty OK. Other cities in Taiwan, not so much.

Happened to me in the throat in Kaohsiung. Otherwise I approve the qualities listed by the the grand parent post. I didn’t know about the Gold Card but I’ll definitely look into it.

I always enjoy taking a break from Japan and going there. People are more spontaneous, food is more varied, it’s refreshing.

Yikes. That's a hard no from me.

Well, you can always ride a bicycle for 10 minutes and find yourself in a thick jungle on top of a mountain, far removed from any hint of smog.

Can I just live in the jungle instead?

Absolutely! Apartments (luxury and otherwise) line the roads up into the mountains.

Taiwanese people are weirdly cautious for a country with absurdly low crime - there's massive, ugly (imo) bars on all the windows, to prevent burglars (and also hang your clothes off of).

Despite that, I've never felt safer at night than I have in Taiwan.

I spent a month there in 1998 working with a software development partner. Language was a complete non-issue in the office but I definitely would have liked to have some conversational Chinese for dining, shopping, taxis, etc. but I’d assume the generational shift I saw then has continued in the last 20 years, too.

It's not that hard to survive on English in Taipei. The official language is Mandarin (though the typical local accent is different from the Beijing-esque prestige dialect). The streets are safe from crime, if that's what you mean, though the competency of the average vehicle driver leaves something to be desired.

> competency of the average vehicle driver

As long as you give a WIDE berth to blue trucks you should be fine.

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