Moving to Taipei by end of October 2016 - Could use some advice!

Glad to know you chose Taiwan for your next move. I no longer live in Taipei but I have always considered Taiwan a truly beautiful country with wonderful friendly people. Taipei has a Japanese influence as it was occupied by Japan in the the past, and I feel that this adds to it's intrigue. Many elderly Taiwanese can still speak Japanese.

As far as Mandarin Schools are concerned, I studied at the Mandarin Training Center in Taipei which is part of the National Taiwan Normal University. Students include business people, diplomats and ordinary people wanting to learn another language or improve their Mandarin, indeed all types. It is probably the most famous Mandarin language school in Taiwan.

Of course there are smaller schools allover the place but perhaps other posters here can give some advice on those.

Welcome to Taiwan. If you plan move to Taiwan in the end of October, it will be nice weather at the moment actually. But the winter is coming, so try to prepare yourself as well. For the accomodation, you can try to find the room through website but will be difficult for you if u don't understand chinese. Cause that is the local website so all will be in Chinese. So i will suggest you join the looking for roommates or apartment in Taipei on facebook. There you can find the room easier. There are a lots of foreigners who looking for roommates as well. So you share the apartment with other foreigners, and exchange the culture as well. If you want to study Chinese, you can find the information about National Taipei normal university, Culture university. Actually, almost the university in Taiwan have language center. So good luck for you.

Welcome! I am from the US, but have lived in Taipei for a little over two years. Taipei is a somewhat hectic city of course- bit Taiwan itself is a beautiful country. In fact, just last week we rented a car and went on a road trip down south to Kenting and along the east coast (taitung to hualien). Beautiful weather and fairly empty beaches! And that's what I love the most about taiwan- getting out of Taipei and exploring.

A friend of mine went to TMI (Taiwan mandarin institute) to learn the language. This is ideal if you also work full time, since its 5 weeks to 2 months, fast-track, and you can opt to take it just in the evenings.

I'm happy to help you out if you need anything or have any specific questions- I also moved here without knowing anyone...! Good luck with your move, and welcome to Taiwan

Taiwan is a great place to stay, but you may meet some difficulties due to job hunting (language barrier and racial tensions may occur as well). I would suggesting you choose other parts of Taiwan beside Taipei, since it has the highest cost of living and housing. Learning Chinese in Taiwan will be the best opportunity. First, Taiwan has a strong Chinese culture as a proxy of China. However Taiwan still using the traditional Chinese characters which tend to be prettier (in my opinion) and complex, of course. But once, you're able to use it, then Simplified Chinese would be a piece of cake for you. There are a lot of School's institutions that provide Chinese courses, and you may find more details here: http://www.studyintaiwan.org/learning_where.html.

Well, wish you enjoy the new life here, in Taiwan! Will have bunch of sophisticated things need to explore, including culinary and cultural places!
Wish this information helps you!