Is Kaohsiung an English-friendly environment?
— By Dawnelle Froehler and Josie Wu Translated by Annie Liu Living in a city that’s not English-friendly can be troublesome. Something as simple as directions to a local restaurant, finding clothes that fit properly or mailing a box of goodies home, can be tedious to say the least. Many foreigners in Kaohsiung found that, without the help of English speaking Taiwanese friends, day-to-day errands or planning leisure activities could be quite daunting. However, after a year or two of learning about how things work here, picking up a few key words and phrases in Mandarin, improving one’s abilities in the art of pantomime and accepting the fact that it is simply more difficult to get what one wants, living here became quite comfortable. The good news is that over the past few years the local government has greatly increased its efforts in making Kaohsiung an international city. The results are visible everywhere: the construction of the KMRT (Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit), the Romanizatio
