7 main languages of the new residents of Taiwan

Once I started learning languages seriously, I never stop, and I think I won't stop. The adrenaline I have when speaking the language with someone for the first time excites me the most. Seeing surprising facial gestures from people rewards me the most. I find it funny when people don't expect me to speak their languages. When that happens, I already know what comes next. They usually ask me a lot of questions about the reasons for learning their languages.

I have been living in Taiwan since 2008. Taiwan somehow resembles America in the immigration aspects where more and more immigrants gradually move here. Most of these immigrants come to Taiwan as students or contract workers in the beginning. Those who stay after the end of their initial purpose mostly become long-time residents, permanent residents, or even Taiwanese citizens.

Taiwanese manufacturing and eldercare industries have a significant number of foreign workers from Southeast Asia, mainly Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines. Many of the female workers eventually found love in Taiwan. Thus, the existence of foreign mothers in Taiwan doesn't surprise anyone. The government even introduced the term "新二代 (new second generation)" to the children of the mixed marriage between Taiwanese and foreigners, mostly from Southeast Asia. In addition to that, the school curriculum also includes Southeast Asian languages in order to bridge the gap between these countries. It also gives an opportunity for the children of mixed marriages with Southeast Asian to learn one of their parents' languages.

The government even made learning resources to learn 7 main languages of the new residents of Taiwan. These 7 languages are Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai, Burmese, Cambodian, Malay, and Filipino languages. The website shown below offers interactive programs and downloadable ebooks. Now everyone can learn Southeast Asian languages! As a language enthusiast, I feel grateful to find out about this website. It doesn't take much to do to be a polyglot in Taiwan. You can just learn all these 7 languages and you can use them in Taiwan in your daily life. Please share your experience with us if you are learning Southeast Asian languages.