Taiwan is an awesome place. When traveling or living in Taiwan, there are certain things you need to know. Either to avoid misunderstanding or adopt local custom easily.

Hack 1 When traveling of living in Taiwan, you needs to know when and how to pay

In Taiwan, if you walk into a local food shop, there are 2 ways to pay.

The first way is to pay first. The shop owner or the clerk will tell you how much in total and ask you to pay. They will say：請先付款(qǐng xiān fù kuǎn)or請先買單(qǐng xiān mǎi dān), which means “pay first, please”.

The second way is pay before you leave. You can either ask the shop owner/ clerk to collect your money or go to the counter with your bill. Under this situation, nobody will ask you to pay before you leave.

If you feel confusing about when to pay, the best way is to ask：先付錢還是吃完再付(xiān fù qián hái shì chī wán zài fù)？which means: pay first or after finish?

Hack 2 how to mark “amount” when ordering food in a local small food shop in Taiwan

There is a fun way that Taiwanese mark amount in the food shop or tea shop. We will use one Chinese character–正 to represent “5”. If the amount is 1, then we will make “一”, if the amount is 2, then we will mark as “丅”…till five. Then we will write another “正”。

Hack 3 how to pay bus fee when living or traveling in Taipei

Here, I specially indicate Taipei, because Taipei has the most convenience and popular public transportation system.

Before you take bus, try to buy the “easy card”. You can storge money in advance. Then you can use the card to take bus、MRT、train、boat. You can also use it to pay your bill in some shop, like convenient stores.

When you take bus with easy card, you need to punch your card(刷卡/shuā kǎ) both get in and out. The machine will charge automatically.

Hack 4 greeting words

Except 你好(nǐ hǎo)、早安(zǎo ān), there are still other popular greeting words, like：

吃飽了嗎(chī bǎo le ma), which means did you have your meals?

去上班啊(qù shàng bān ā), which means are you going to work?

Hack 5 frequently asked question in Taiwan

There are some questions may lake you feel uncomfortable, but are popular questions here.

你幾歲(nǐ jǐ suì): how old are you?

你有沒有男/女朋友(nǐ yǒu méi yǒu nán /nǚ péng yǒu): do you have a boy/girl friend?

這個多少錢(zhè gè duō shǎo qián): how much did you buy that?

你喜歡台灣嗎(nǐ xǐ huān tái wān ma): do you like Taiwan?

Hack 6 customized service~one of the very special service in Taiwan

In Taiwan, there is special service is you can ask to adjust the flavor of your order. Like the following items are the most popular things:

半糖(bàn táng): which means half sugar.

少冰(shǎo bīng): which means lesser ice-cube

不辣、小辣、中辣、大辣(bú là、 xiǎo là 、zhōng là 、dà là): which indicate how spicy your food will be, from not hot at all to very hot.

Hack 7 “wait for a while” doesn’t really mean “short time” in Taiwan

When a Taiwanese tell you: please wait for a while, it never means “a while”, especially in a restaurant or food shop. People always tell you: 快了(kuài le), which means very soon, but nobody knows it will take how long actually.

When you hear people tell you “等一下(děng yī xià)” or “馬上(mǎ shàng)”, it literally means very soon or quickly, but actually means “wait” only.

Hack 8 Taiwanese does not used to say “NO” directly

If a Taiwanese doesn’t like something or doesn’t have the intention to do something, he/she will not say no directly. How to know their real idea? Normally Taiwanese use the following ways:

If they don’t like the flavor: they may say, 很好吃，可是我不習慣那樣的味道(hěn hǎo chī ，kě shì wǒ bù xí guàn nà yàng de wèi dào). It means: the taste is good, but I am not used to eat that.

If they don’t feel comfortable to join an activity, they will say the following sentence first: 我先看看我那天有沒有事哦(wǒ xiān kàn kàn wǒ nà tiān yǒu méi yǒu shì o)! which means let me check my schedule first.

After that, they say: 不好意思，我那天有事(bù hǎo yì sī ，wǒ nà tiān yǒu shì). Which means: sorry I can’t go with you because I have appoint with the others.

Here you can read about 10 need-to-know Mandarin Chinese sentences in Taiwan

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Taiwan is a nice and beautiful place. If you are considering to visit Taiwan, you better know the following 10 need-to-know Mandarin Chinese sentence in Taiwan.

Need-to-know sentence 1 我要全糖

When ordering drink in Taiwan, you normally can decide how sweet you like.

So, you can say： 我要 + 全糖     / 半糖    / 少糖     / 無糖

wǒ yào +quán táng /bàn táng /shǎo táng /wú tang

It means I want normal sugar content/ half sugar content/ less sugar content/ no sugar content.

Need-to know sentence 2 我要正常冰

When ordering drink in Taiwan, you normally can choice how “cold” you want.

You can tell the clerk：我要+ 正常冰 / 少冰     / 去冰

wǒ yào +zhèng cháng bīng /shǎo bīng /qù bīng

It means I want normal ice cube content/ less ice cube content/ no ice cube

Need-to-know sentence 3 對不起

When you accidently hit or push somebody, or make any mistake, you need to say ”對不起(duì bù qǐ)”, which means “I am sorry.”

Don’t worry, Taiwanese are very kind people, if you disturb anyone or make a mistake, just say “對不起” to them. They will not really get mad to you (normally).

Need-to-know sentence 4 謝謝

When somebody help you or give you something or after you request something, you can say “謝謝(xiè xie)” to them, which means “thank you”

Need-to-know sentence 5 我要這個，謝謝

When you want to see or buy something, you can point out that and say “我要這個，謝謝(wǒ yào zhè ge ，xiè xie)”, which means “I want this, thank you.”

Need-to-know sentence 6 你好

It is just “hi”, “hello” in English, when you want to talk to somebody, or before you request something, you can always start form “你好(nǐ hǎo)”

Need-to-know sentence 7 我要去這裡

When you are in the street and don’t know how to go to the place you want，you can show people add and tell them “我要去這裡(wǒ yào qù zhè lǐ)”, which means “I want to go here.”

Need-to-know sentence 8 我吃素

If you are a vegetarian, you can tell the food shop “我吃素(wǒ chī sù)”, which means “ I am a vegetarian”.

Need-to-know sentence 9 這個多少錢

When you want to buy something, you better ask the price before you really want to buy it. You can ask the shop owner “這個多少錢(zhè gè duō shǎo qián)”, which means “how much is this?”

Need-to-know sentence 10 這個很好

If you want to commend something, you can say “這個很好(zhè ge hěn hǎo)”, which means “it is great”.

Free useful document to download 8 smart ways to think in Chinese

Here you can read about How to learn Mandarin Chinese Easily as a beginner.

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Why learning Mandarin Chinese is a smart decision? Let’s check out the following 5 reasons. You will know why you batter start to learn Mandarin Chinese now.

Reason 1 Mandarin Chinese speaking population is in the very top ranking over the word.

Let’s see the document from Wikipedia：

Rank	Language	Speakers (millions)	Percentage of world pop. (March 2019)
1	Mandarin Chinese	918	11.922%
2	Spanish	480	5.994%
3	English	379	4.922%
4	Hindi (sanskritised Hindustani)	341	4.429%
5	Bengali	300	4.000%

 If you can speak Mandarin Chinese, your world will become wilder than your imagination. You will have bigger chance to communicate with a foreigner because both of you may both can speak Mandarin.

Reason 2 Increase you chance to gain more opportunities either in finding a job or developing your business.

Mandarin Chinese is one of the most popular language in the world. Also, there are a lot of Chinese Businessmen and enterprise all over the world.

Learning Mandarin Chinese won’t help you to get a job directly, but will increase the possibility to impress others.

In the other side, knowing Mandarin Chinese can assist you build up a closer relationship to a Chinese-businessman compare with those who don’t know any Mandarin Chinese.

Reason 3 Getting the “first hand” information- not through any translation information.

You may interest in Chinese culture, songs, movies, food or anything. But, how you get related information? How you learn it?

The benefit in learning Mandarin Chinese is you can review the information that you are interested directly. You don’t need to wait the others.

And, you don’t need to worried about if the translation is good or not. You won’t be miss leading. Sometimes, even the translator can really do their job well, but, just not like the original.

Reason 4 Break your limit

Mandarin Chinese is very a different language compare with English or Spain. When you try to understand Mandarin Chinese’s logic, you are also break your old habit, experience another new system.

If you want to learn a new language, why not Mandarin? It is not hard, as long as you find the right way, it is a commonly used language, and can bring you more chance to know different people.

Reason 5 Easier to build up your interpersonal networking relationship

It is a common sense that if you want to make friend with somebody quickly, speak his/her mother language is one of the best ways. Speak that language good or bad is not important, let them feel you are “part of them” is the key-point. Again, since Mandarin Chinese is the top 1 popular language, why don’t you choice it to learn!

Here you can read about How to practice Mandarin Chinese when you are not surrounded by it

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Is learning Mandarin Chinese hard to you? Let’s check out the following suggestions. You will find how to learn Mandarin Chinese easily as a beginner.

Choice the right materials and select the right speed to listen

There are a lot of Mandarin Chinese learning material for beginners. You can easily find hundreds of videos in YouTube. What you need to do is to choose the one that fit your level (or a little higher), don’t try to push yourself too much. There is an old saying in Mandarin Chinese: More Haste, Less Speed (欲速則不達) which means don’t be rush.

Some You Tubers can speak really good Mandarin, but maybe bit fast to you. Don’t forget there is a bottom in YouTube can adjust video speed. When the speed slow down, everything will become easier.

One day five vocabulary and one sentence

How many days are there is a year? 365days! That is right. If you can remember one new vocabulary and one sentence per day, after one year, you already familiar with so many new words and sentence.

Don’t think there are nothing, they are very important foundation as a beginner. You can develop yourself on top of them, you will improve fast.

The most important thing is to keep what you learn in your brain. Lesser but really understood and remember what you learned. How much you learned is just a number, how much you can understand and remember is the key point.

Slow is not bad, but need to move forward everyday

Ignore speed. Build up your own tempo. Slow doesn’t means anything, fast neither. As long as you are improving and move toward to your goal, slow is not bad. Well prepared for next level.

Don’t stay in place. It is means everyday get something new, everyday try something harder than yesterday. Not too much, just let you feel comfortable (a little stress still be fine).

Read Mandarin Chinese and find what you know

Language is for communication. Unless I try to connect with the real word, what I have learned will be useless.

As a beginner, how can I build up the connection? One of the easier ways is to read something. Reading is less stress than speaking, because you don’t need to respond people immediately and quickly.

However written language is hard than verbal language. What I suggest here is to pick up the characters/vocabularies that you knew. Through this, you can increase the opportunities to repeat what you know in your brain. Also, when you see them, you can try to think about their pronunciation and meaning and so on.

Here you can read about How to practice Mandarin Chinese when you are not surrounded by it.

Free useful document to download 8 smart ways to think in Chinese

If you are interested in knowing more about me, please click here