In this episode, I interview Caleb Shetland, an American now working in Taipei as 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 struggle trying to find a job as an expat engineer in Taiwa ..read more

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 working environment – 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 Taiwa ..read more

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 Chinese program 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 ..read more

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 from guanxi 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 disadvantages between working for C ..read more

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 differentl ..read more

In this episode I interview Aaron Simmons, an American Professional Development Coach. He is the founder of Diversify 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 unique about managing local Taiwanese employees – How he ..read more

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 experie ..read more

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 muc ..read more

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 pa ..read more

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 ..read more