Taitung County Government optimizes "bilingual services" to encourage store owners to speak English and introduce their local culture

The Taitung County Government (臺東縣政府) continues to improve the bilingual service environment, from basic hardware store and site transformation, foreign consultants are invited to the store for one-on-one visits to help new immigrants smoothly conduct transactions and provide English information on epidemic prevention during Taiwan's COVID-19 alert period. Not only does it make new immigrants living in Taitung feel welcome and at ease, but it also makes new immigrants in other counties and cities admire and praise Taitung as an "international city."

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Taitung County Government is committed to developing bilingual services and moving forward to become an international city. Photo/Retrieved from "Common Wealth Magazine"

Taitung County Mayor Jao Ching-Ling (饒慶鈴) said that Taitung is a livable and "Drift Eastward" (東漂) city. Taking care of each ethnic group is the secret of Taitung County's promotion of "Drift Eastward". Taitung County is very popular from the private sector to the government sector. Foreigners living in Taiwan are welcome to “drift eastward” and live in Taitung. Therefore, we spare no effort to mobilize the private sector and instruct the International Development and Planning Office of the county government (臺東縣府國際發展及計畫處) to improve the bilingual service environment.

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The county government encourages shopkeepers to speak English and introduce their local culture. Photo/Provided by Taitung County Government

Tirshatha Edelman, a foreign consultant, said that foreigners will like Taitung’s local culture. For example, the Bunun (布農族) tribe’s traditional method of processing ramie from plants to make clothes will surprise foreigners. When we are abroad and service personnel try hard to speak to us in not so good Chinese, we will not feel angry. Similarly, foreign friends will feel grateful when they meet service personnel who try to speak to them in English. Those who have the courage to speak, just speak, and show their enthusiasm to provide good service.

In addition, the International Development and Planning Office of Taitung County promotes the "Discover Taitung Multilingual Website" which provides useful information and important news about life, travel, food, art and literature for foreigners. And, through the foreign language Facebook fan page "Hello Taitung", updated information on epidemic prevention and information on stores with bilingual services are provided. Foreign friends are welcome to use it. Taiwanese people can also use this to learn English and enrich their knowledge.