Taiwanese-Mandarin Slang Words

Same as other languages, Taiwanese-Mandarin also has slangs words which are considered very common in an informal conversation. Here are some Taiwanese-Mandarin slang words you may not have known.
Hope you find it useful!

No.	Taiwanese Slang	Read	Meaning
1	3Q	san Q	thank you
2	3C Product	san C Product	computer, communication, consumer product
3	PK賽	PK sai	duel (a one-on-one)
4	酷	ku	cool
5	很Q	hen Q	very chewy
6	小可愛	xiao ke ai	tank top
7	OK 棒	OK bang	bandage
8	A片	A pian	porn movie
9	很窄	hen zhai	very narrow

Slang words no. 10-14 are words for COMPLIMENT, no. 15-16 are NEUTRAL.

No.	Taiwanese Slang	Read	Meaning
10	型男	xing nan	stylish/ metrosexual man
11	美男	mei nan	pretty boy
12	正妹	zheng mei	pretty/ beautiful girl
13	帥哥	shuai ge	handsome guy
14	素女	su nu	beautiful, gentle (female)
15	宅男	zhai nan	a couch potato; male who prefers to stay at home  and seldom goes out
16	宅女	zhai nu	a couch potato (for female)

Slang words no. 17-24 are considered OFFENSIVE for SOME people.

No.	Taiwanese Slang	Read	Meaning
17	台胞	tai bao	Taiwanese
18	台妹	tai mei	very conservative, old-fashioned Taiwanese girl
19	老外	lao wai	foreigner
20	外勞	wai lao	immigrant worker (labor)
21	娘娘腔	niang niang qiang	feminine guy
22	土包子	tu bao zi	bumpkin, a hick
23	書呆子	shu dai zi	nerd, geek
24	草莓族	cao mei zu	strawberry-generation, refers to Taiwanese  who born between 1981 and 1991 with  spoiled, lazy, arrogant, selfish characters  (unwillingness to work hard, easily give up,  just like strawberry, soft and get mashed easily)

Slang words no. 25-26 are considered OFFENSIVE for SOME people.

No.	Taiwanese Slang	Read	Meaning
25	小心眼	xiao xin yan	stingy, being very calculative about something
26	有种	you zhong	have gut
27	翻白眼	fan bai yan	eye-rolling to irritate people or express anger
28	傷腦筋	shang nao jin	troublesome, nerve-racking

Slang words no. 32-34 are considered IMPOLITE.

No.	Taiwanese Slang	Read	Meaning
29	相思病	xiang si bing	miss someone so badly
30	劈腿	pi tui	betray, have an affair
31	吃醋	chi cu	jealous
32	小三	xiao san	being a third party in a relationship
33	狐狸精	hu li jing	female who snatch others' BF/husband
34	上床	shang zhuang	having sex

Slang words no. 35-39 being adapted from other languages.

No.	Taiwanese Slang	Read	Meaning
35	麻豆兒	ma dou er	model
36	卡通	ka tong	cartoon
37	羅曼蒂克	luo man di ke	romantic
38	一級棒	yi ji bang	the best (adapted from Japanese, ichiban)
39	拜拜	bai bai	bye-bye or praying

Slang words no. 40-52 are considered IMPOLITE/ OFFENSIVE

No.	Taiwanese Slang	Read	Meaning
40	羅哩叭嗦	luo li ba suo	wordy, gabber
41	碎碎念	sui sui nian	wordy, gabber
42	囉嗦	luo suo	wordy, gabber
43	嘮叨	lao dao	wordy, always repeat the  same thing over and over again
44	機車	ji che	annoying, always complaint, not easy  to get along with, demanding
45	欠扁	qian bian	deserve a spanking
46	披在癢	pi zai yang	being naughty deserve a spanking
47	挑嘴	tiao zui	picky, fussy
48	俗拉	su la	coward
49	雞婆	ji po	always want to get involved in  someone else’s business
50	厚臉皮	hou lian pi	shameless
51	吹牛	chui niu	bluffing
52	沒水準	mei shui jun	no standard

Slang words no. 53-59 are considered OFFENSIVE

No.	Taiwanese Slang	Read	Meaning
53	王八蛋	wang ba dan	bastard
54	混蛋	hun dan	bastard
55	小混混	xiao hun hun	gangster, bad boy
56	流氓	liu mang	gangster
57	傢伙	jia huo	brat
58	烂人	lan ren	lousy, no responsibility
59	色狼	se lang	pervert, sex-maniac

Slang words no. 60-62 are considered VERY OFFENSIVE

No.	Taiwanese Slang	Read	Meaning
60	遜	xun	lame, crappy, showing no courtesy,  have bad manner
61	賤	jian	cheap (refers to a person), low status
62	靠	kao	f*ck

CONCLUSION: to determine whether a word is offensive or not, it depends on the person you are talking to (can they stand it?) and the relationship between you and that person (close friend, common friend, acquaintance, or older people, and so on.)

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Best City to Live in Taiwan

Which city do you want to live in? Here I have made a review about best city to live in Taiwan based on the certain criteria.

Public Transports (Convenient)

(1) Taipei is the most convenient city to live in Taiwan since it has MRT that take you around city, sufficient number of public busses and taxis. (2) Kaoshiung comes in second place as it operated its first MRT system in 2008. (3) Taichung, as Taiwan’s third largest city, could be one of many choices too. It doesn’t yet have MRT system, but it has sufficient number of  buses runs along many major traffic routes.

Same as Taichung, other cities in Taiwan that doesn’t yet have MRT system rely heavily on city bus and taxi. Usually, the number of public transports between cities varies according to their population density. However, if you live in a county (not city), it is recommended that you have a car or motorbike for convenient in mobility.

Don’t worry for mobility between cities. Taiwan has two railway services which are TRA (Taiwan Railway Administration) and THSR (Taiwan High Speed Railway). Railway transports connect cities that are far apart, from north to south of Taiwan.

Safety

(1) Crime rate. Taiwan has a relatively low crimes rate. Taipei is definitely the safest city to live in Taiwan. We can still see women walking alone during night or students going back home from cram school after 9-10 p.m. However, Taichung doesn’t seem to be as safe as Taipei. Many said Taichung has a lot of gangsters show up during the night. But, who said going outside at midnight is safe?

(2) Traffic Safety. Drivers in Taipei and New Taipei City seem to have better moral than the other cities. They usually will let pedestrians to pass through first.

Living Cost

Although Taipei offers higher average of salary compared to other cities, the cost of living is relatively higher too, especially when it comes to rent a house or room because Taipei has much higher land and house price. For example: the average cost to rent a room (with toilet inside) in Taipei city is around 11,000 NTD, whereas the average cost to rent a house (entirely) in Chia Yi is around 6,000 to 7,000 NTD. Many Taiwanese also said, for the same amount of money, you can only afford an apartment (usually with two bedrooms) in Taipei, but you can afford a mansion in Taichung.

Industrial (Science) Park

You can consider to live in Hsin Chu, Tainan, or Kaoshiung because they have science park or industrial park. There are a lot of semiconductor and high-tech industries build in the park so it’s possible to increase your chance in getting a job.

Weather

Taichung has the best weather in Taiwan. It receives sunlight throughout the year and rarely strikes by typhoon. Keelung has the worst weather. It has the highest rainfall throughout the year and high humidity.

Generally, the temperature of the cities located in the south of Taiwan is warmer than those located in the north. When it comes to natural disaster, Hualian and Taitung are the most earthquake-prone-cities in Taiwan.

Environmental Pollution

Taipei, Kaoshiung, and Taichung are the most polluted cities in Taiwan since those three cities have higher population density and higher number of vehicles. Cities located in eastern Taiwan such as Taitung and Hualian are the least polluted cities in Taiwan.

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Best Timing to Come To Taiwan

When is the best timing to come to Taiwan? Well, if you ask me, I would say… it depends on your purpose of visit.

1. Purpose: Travel

Summer season begins in May and ends in August. Summer temperature in Taiwan is exceedingly hot (in average 35 degrees Celsius) and humid, especially in July and August. You can sweat easily by staying outdoors for a couple of minutes. Not really comfortable. June, July, and August also be known as typhoon season. Strong wind, heavy rain, and flooding will always be associated with typhoon strike, depends on the typhoon strength. Flight delay or cancellation and typhoon break holiday may happen too if typhoon strike is severe. You may need strong umbrella for conquering typhoon days.

Autumn season begins in around September to November. September: you can still wear short during the day, but you will need thin jacket or long pants for the night. Typhoon sometimes occurs in September too, but not as frequent as in summer season. October: a bit chill during the day and getting colder at night. You probably need to bring a jacket and begin to store your shorts inside closet. November: approaching winter and you need to wear warm jacket, long sleeve, and long pant.

 

Winter season begins in December and ends in February. The average lowest winter temperature reaches about 8 degree Celsius. Cold, humid, and raining frequently, especially in December and January. The thing I don’t like most from winter is that I can’t dry my clothes naturally indoor, so I need drying machine at self-service laundry shop. If you stay at hotel, make sure that they provides heater because there are quite a lot nice, above average priced hotels don’t provide heater.

Spring season is relatively short. If you want to enjoy Taiwan cherry blossom season, come around February until mid of March. When the temperature is getting hotter in March, the flowers start shriveling up. Spring ends around April. Spring rainy season is around Mach and April.

Conclusion: From my opinion, the best timing to visit Taiwan for travel purpose is around end of May (because there is still plenty of rain in early May), September, and October. 

2. Purpose: Working

If you come to Taiwan to find a job, you should know one thing. Taiwan taxable year begins from January 1^st till December 31^th. So, if you arrive at Taiwan and start working in August (for example), by means until December, your staying in Taiwan is less than 183 days in a year, your salary is subject to 18% income tax, which is more than regular income tax rate (no matter in which categories your income falls under). 

Conclusion: (1) if it is possible, arrive at Taiwan before July 2^nd or (2) if you sign one year contract, start the contract on 1^st January and ends on December 31^th is preferably, although I know it is difficult to control when employer wants to hire us.

3. Purpose: Study

Fall semester in Taiwan begins from September to January, whereas spring semester starts from February to June. The official new academic year always starts from fall semester, by means new batch of student in Taiwan universities usually enter new program in September. However, the number of universities who allows foreign students to join the program in spring semester is increasing too. So, you have to make sure that the university or program you are applying for allows you to enter the program in either fall semester only or both.

Conclusion: Ideally, you should come to Taiwan at least one month before the new semester begins because there are several things need to do, such as finding a place to live (if you don’t stay in school dormitory), choosing/ adding course, applying for ARC, and so on.

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Find a Job in Taiwan

I want to share my experience with you about how to get a job in Taiwan for foreigner. I classified jobs into 4, which are office job, language-teaching job, tutor job, and freelance job.

A. Office Job

It’s difficult to get a job in Taiwan nowadays. Economic recession hits Taiwan due to global economic downturn. Several thousands of Taiwanese employees are getting laid off this year because of factory closing. So, you have to compete tightly with Taiwanese plus other foreigners in Taiwan. Based from my experiences and from what I have heard, your chances will be higher in getting a job in Taiwan if you:

1. Be able to speak Chinese, at least in regular / daily conversation level, because most of the Taiwan companies still use Chinese for internal meeting.
2. Have a university degree.
• You have received formal education in Taiwan, by means graduated from one of the best universities in Taiwan, especially public universities. Employers assume you have already got used to living in Taiwan.
• Taiwan employers also fancy those who have earned a degree at overseas university in developed countries, such as USA, UK, German, Japan, France, Netherland, etc. 
3. Have a special skill needed by Taiwan job market -- earn a degree with major in Computer Science / IT, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Science. Friends of mine who graduate with those majors get jobs easier.
4. Apply for certain companies such as:
• Companies which market their products to your country of origin so they need employees who speak your language to handle those customers.
• Companies whose products sold to overseas buyers/customers. Able to speak other languages, besides Chinese and English is preferably.
• Global companies who have diversified employees of various nationalities so they are more open to foreigners.
• Companies whose products and services sold to foreigners in Taiwan. For example: marketing staff of rental property for foreigners in Taiwan, money remittance service for foreigner in Taiwan.
• Companies who need translator for their migrant workers (labor).

Apply for office job

1. Suggestion before applying job

• You need someone who can read Chinese to help you submitting your CV online, because all of job search engines in Taiwan are built in Chinese; or 
• Install web browser that can translate entire website page, such as Google Chrome.

2. Website for applying job (free)

• 104 job bank. The most well-known job search engine in Taiwan. It has over 5 million user registered there. 104 has several search engines for jobs that have been classified into 104 job bank (for white collar worker), 104 tutor (for tutorial job), 104 case (for freelance job), 104 temporary job, 104 hunter, and so on. Their interface is so complex, sophisticated, and a bit confusing. I like their feature for analyzing job applicant competition. With this feature, we will know how many job applicants who have been applied for the same job with us, their latest education level, language capability, and so on. You have to register as a member first to access this feature.

• 1111 job bank. I think their interface is better than 104, because it is simpler. Based on my experience, companies listed on 1111 job bank are relatively more aggressive than 104. I got initiative calls (not the one I have applied for) from companies listed on 1111 more than those from 104, but most of the calls are coming from medium to small-sized companies. Maybe you have different experience? The thing I like most from 1111 job bank is that they put a feature to know the average salary (based on your educational level and experiences) for the position you are going to apply right below the job category.

• Yes123. It is nice that we can transfer our resume from 104 job bank to yes123, so no need to go through long registration process twice. Their website interface is nice too. I like their feature for knowing the difficulty of the job we are going to apply for. And they also provide the average salary comparison table between north, central, and south of Taiwan for similar position. It is easier to understand. They said that 70% of the jobs posted by Taiwan local company at yes123 can’t be found at 104 or 1111.

• CareerJet. Someone introduced to me another great jobs search engine, which is Career Jet. Not only can you access tremendous selection of job, you can also upload your CV online and apply for lucrative jobs. Since the job postings are aggregated from various internet sites, job seekers can save their time by not needing to visit each site individually. It’s free and best of all, it has English version website, in addition to the Chinese one. Hence, it is really helpful for foreigners who want to find a job in Taiwan.

• Others Taiwan job bank. Others are OkWork ; or ejob. I haven’t tried these all before, so can’t give any comment. Sorry…

• Jobdb. Ok, It sounds silly to submit your CV to a Hong Kong-based job search engine, but I did that because they have several job located in Taiwan. It is nice because the website is in English. I got 1 initiative call from Taiwan-based-company which saw my CV posted at Jobdb.

Things to know

• Once you have posted your CV online and apply for a job, company will contact you within 1 to 2 weeks (in average) or up by email or phone.
• In average, most of Taiwan companies need 2 times of face-to-face interview before they officially hire you. Bigger and more demanding companies need up to 2 times of interview plus several tests (psychology, character, English capability, or even your work related-knowledge test).
• If you are not really sure if the interview will be conducted in English or not, then you should ask. 
• If a company calls you and offer you an interview chance for a job you didn’t apply for, you can ask them where they saw your CV from. If you are not familiar with the company name, you can ask them to send an email to you first and tell them you will give them a confirmation whether you will attend their interview or not as soon as possible. Then, you can goggle the company first. Don’t waste your time in accepting and attending all of the interview offers from companies you don’t like. Transportation cost is not cheap if the interview is held in other cities.
• Try not to skip reference section because most of Taiwan companies concern on this section a lot. You can put the name of your supervisor, ex-senior, co-worker, or professor.
• Get ready for long working hours, especially for those who want to work at IT or ODM companies. My husband works for an IT company and he works for 11 hours per day in average (of course without overtime payment). But, some companies may allow their employees to get off work on time (9 to 5 job)

B. Language Teaching Job

As foreigners in Taiwan, we can do teaching job, especially language teaching job, mostly English. For teaching English, Taiwanese prefer:

1. Foreigners who come from English native speaking country such as: USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, etc. I heard my friend that it is possible for other foreigners who are non- English native speaker to get English teaching job in Taiwan, such as Pilipino. However, they receive less paid than other English native speakers.
2. Taiwanese prefer to hire someone who has a degree. You should attain a university degree, since the competition becoming an English teacher is tight in Taiwan.
3. Having English teaching experience is preferably, but if you don’t have any teaching experience, try to get a TEFL/TESOL certificate.

The example of most well-know English cram schools or international schools are Kojen English Center, HES International, International English Village, and so on, or you can found related information at esl base website. Your working place is not limited to English cram school or international school only, but you can try to apply for English teacher job for employees in a certain company.

Become a private tutor can be another choice too, especially if you want  flexible working time or you don’t have any university degree. You can try to apply through 104 tutor job and post your CV online. Besides English, Taiwanese also love to learn Japanese, Korean, German, French, and many more.

Apply for language teaching job
Website for applying language teaching job:

• Chinese Website: 104 job bank, 1111, yes123, etc.
• English Website: ESL Dewey,tealit, reachtoteachrecruiting, and many more
• Tutorial Job: 104 tutor

C. Tutor Job

As I have mentioned before, tutoring job can be found at 104 tutor. Besides becomes languages tutor (English, Japanese, Korean, etc.), you can also become a tutor in other areas, such as academic subjects, music (piano, violin, guitar, etc.), dancing, computer (AutoCAD, Flash, Dreamweaver, graphic design, etc.), sports (swimming, basketball, yoga, etc.), make-up, acting, singing, photography, or even babysitter for toddler.

However, 104 tutor is not free. Without payment, you are still able to post your CV online, but you can't get access to student/parents contact information on tutor-wanted announcement. In this case, you can only wait until students or parents who see your CV posted there contact you.

With payment, you can apply tutoring jobs as many as you want by yourself, without waiting. The membership price is around NT$ 399 for 90 days. You may give student to try your teaching method first before they make decision whether to recruit you become their private tutor or not. The tutoring location can be in your place or in students' home.

D. Freelance Job

You can check 104 Case, there are plenty of freelance jobs available in Taiwan. For example: graphic designer (logo, poster, book cover, ads), book translator, on-site translator, website designer, package designer, presenter, photographer, 3D Designer, Apps creator, PPT slides maker, interior designer and so on.

Same as 104 tutor, become a member of 104 Case is not free either. You have to pay NT$ 3,800 for 180 days membership and NT$ 6,700 for 1 year membership. Paid members have access to company contact information (usually email) and apply for freelance jobs they are interested in. You can also upload your works/ personal portfolio (file, pic, or web) for company reference.

I have tried this before and I paid for 180 days membership. I applied for translation, graphic designer, and PPT maker freelance job but I had no luck. I got contacted by a company once and we met at their office. They said they want to take a look at my work first by making PPT slides for the first chapter of their book. After I finished and sent it to them, they never contacted me again. Maybe they didn't like my work...


Gud luck for your job hunting! You can share your experience too  :)



Source of information: Self experience, friends experience, 104 job bank, 104 tutor, 104 case, 1111, yes123, CareerJet.

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My Vehicle is Towed in Taiwan

When I was in rush to send my customer back to her office, I parked my car somewhere in an unoccupied public space. It had no white line on it, so parking there was definitely not permitted. I thought it wouldn’t take so long, just for a few minutes. But I was wrong! Twenty minutes later, my car was gone and I saw my car number plate and a contact number written on the ground. It was towed….

You might also find your bike, motorbike, or car is not at the place when you first parked it. It is possibly being towed by police officer because of parking illegally. So, how to do next? Here is some information to help you.

Reason of being towed?

Parking violation, such as parking vehicle on a restricted place (red line marked area); or in the private access road without permission from the property owner; or in disabled-only-parking areas, but fails to present the disable parking permit sticker which is usually attached to the inside of windshield.

How to redeem your towed vehicle?

Claim your vehicles as soon as possible and prepare the important related document!

1. While towing your vehicle, police officer will write down vehicle number plate together with a contact number, written by chalk on the ground where you illegally parked your vehicle. You must contact that number in order to know where your vehicle is stored.
2. Present the ID card, vehicle key and related documents such as, vehicle registration letter or license number when claiming the vehicles. Fail to do so, you might claim your vehicle (low possibility), but a hefty fine will be charged to you.
3. For preventing towed vehicles being falsely claimed, the owner has to take a picture together with his/her claimed vehicle and sign a legal form. If other person showed up to claim the same towed vehicle, police officer will further investigate this case.  
4. Pay the fine standards for violations of vehicle parking

Fine standards for violations of vehicle parking

Notes: The total fine = towing fee + penalty + storage fee.

The data above can vary between cities/ counties/ townships around Taiwan

I claimed my car on the same day when it was towed and I had to pay around NTD 2,000 at that time.

In case you arrive there just in time when police officer approaching your vehicle, but the towing process hasn’t been put into motion yet, they don't necessarily have it towed away. They will issue a fine ticket to you by mailing it to your address. You still have to pay your fine because of parking illegally, but you don’t need to pay the towing fee and storage fee.

Missing or unclear contact number

If you can’t reach the number written on the ground or some number written on the ground is missing / unclear, you may try to call (1) Towed car search hotline number 1999, (2) your City Police Department (警察局=jing cha ju), goggling the contact number. For Taipei area, you may search it online here by entering your vehicle number plate.

Usually, if your vehicle is really being towed by police officer, you will find a contact number on the ground. But, unfortunately, if there isn’t any, your vehicle is possibly being stolen. Then you should contact City Police Department as soon as possible. They will help to track down your missing vehicle.

Where to park? 

The difference between white, red, and yellow lines-marked areas

• White line: legal parking area. Parking is allowed as long as you position your vehicle inside the white square.
• Red line: illegal parking area. Parking is prohibited for 24 hours.
• Yellow line: temporary parking area. Drivers who stop on yellow line must remain on their seat. The engine can’t be turned off and it should not take more than 3 minutes. During a certain period of time, yellow line marked area is permitted for parking (usually from 7 pm to 7 am, depends on the city government). Pay attention to sign and time limitation allowed to park your vehicle.
• Pay attention to marks on the ground, such as disabled only parking area, bus stop designated area (公車=gong che=bus), or truck only parking area (貨車=huo che=truck/lorry/van)

Suggestions

• Don’t think like this: “I only want to leave my car here (illegal area) for a few minutes”. In Taipei City, traffic police officers are everywhere. If you are not in your lucky day, you might later find your vehicle is not at where it was. Believe it or not, I saw the towing process which was done by Taiwan police officer many times. It only takes up to two minutes to get your vehicle hooked up, depends on the difficulties of your parking area. It is incredibly fast!
• Don’t leave your pet inside your car, especially when you park your car in an illegal parking space. Your pet will get towed along with your car. Please love your pet, because you won’t know what will happen next to your pet after your car is sent to storage area. Who will feed them if you can’t come on the same day when your car gets towed?
• Leaving your kid unattended in the car could be worse. You will get another fine by doing so. (regardless of whether you park your car illegally or not)

Good luck.

Source of Information: Taipei City Department of Transportation, self-experience. 

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Parking Ticket in Taiwan

When you park your car at public parking space provided by government, a parking ticket will be issued to you per hour basis. You can find your parking ticket on your windshield, as below: 

Where to Pay Parking Ticket?

Pay your parking ticket at several major convenience stores such as: 7-Eleven, Family Mart, OK Mart, Hi-Life, Chung Hwa Post Office or CPC Gas Station.

Check & Print Out Unpaid Parking Ticket

Sometimes, I am not sure if the public parking space when I last parked my car is subject to a charge. Based on my experience, usually after 6 p.m., there is no parking charge anymore. So, for example if you park your car from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the public parking space, you will only be charge for 3 hours of parking fee (from 3 till 6). However, different location of parking space has different time regulation. Most of the time, I doubt whether I have unpaid parking ticket or not. I don’t want to fail for fulfilling responsibility of paying parking fee because the fine could cost me a lot of money.

To prevent this from happening, I usually check my unpaid parking ticket record at Parking Management and Development Office Website. Not sure if you don’t have unpaid parking ticket too? Here are the steps:

1.  Choose “Parking fee inquiry” option from the menu

     

2.  Enter your vehicle number plate, choose between car & motorcycle. Then, hit query button.

3.  After the records have been showed up, hit “列印“ button to print it out. 

        The website recommends you to use laser jet printer because there are barcode labels on the records. Barcodes need to be clear enough so barcode scanner used in convenience stores can easily read them and make payment process much easier.

Unpaid Parking Ticket Reminder

You can ask Parking Management and Development Office Website to remind you if you 

have any unpaid parking ticket record by doing these following steps:

1.  Choose “繳費提醒通知服務” option from the menu

2.  Register by filling out the form

3.  Modify your data

     If you want to modify your data after registration, fill this part:

Source of Information: Parking Management and Development Office, Taipei City 

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