Cheryl has been in Taiwan for 26 years and has worked as a tour guide, translator and author.
Listen to this episode to find out:
– What brought Cheryl to Taiwan in the first place
– Why she recommends Taiwan as a place to learn Mandarin
– The advantage to learning phonetic symbols (zhuyin) along with characters
– How she was able to transition from teaching English to translation and then as a tour guide / translator.
– How she got her first job at a museum
– Why she thinks the demand for translation services will continue to increase
– How to create your own path in your own niche / specialty in Taiwan
– The importance of networking to find opportunities
– What types of projects she would like to do in the future
– The difference in working at a Taiwanese company versus a foreign company
– How to get your ideas through, when working at a local company
– The process of registering your own company here
– How her kids fared with bilingual education
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Why would it be easier to go from traditional to simplified characters and more difficult to do the opposite?
Good question. In general, there are less simplified characters than there are traditional and in many cases the characters have less radicals in them, so you’re going from a wider set of knowledge to a smaller, simpler set.