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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]NP: my DC is also interested in studying in China next year. Already speaks decent Mandarin (simplified) and wants language immersion to really perfect their skills. They are concerned if they go to Taiwan the use of traditional characters will make them functionally illiterate, although they could still speak of course. Anyone have thoughts on if this is true, or how hard it would be to get the most out of language immersion in Taiwan if you don't know traditional characters？

As a parent it hadn't even occurred to me to be concerned about spending time in China. I figured the Chinese government isn't concerned about college undergrads and the kids just use a VPN to get around the firewall. But maybe Taiwan is a safer bet.[/quote]

This depends on how fluent he is. If he knows a fair number of characters, he can probably read traditional or guess a word correctly. People travel between China and Taiwan all the time and can navigate fine. They likely cannot write the system they didn't learn. From a speaking perspective, English is still taught in Taiwan and many people can hold conversations in good English. China is the opposite, I am not Chinese but I don't think I ever heard an English loaner word and English is not taught in school. Either would be fine for language immersion though, as anywhere you don't want to hang out just with the English crowd. The firewall isn't really an issue. I think China used to be more lenient on clueless foreigners breaking laws they didn't know about (especially traveling in third tier cities where the locals implement laws sometimes incorrectly) or foreigners were just treated better. You can't really argue or reason your way out of a situation now. [/quote]

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