In this episode I interview Derek McCracken, an American who has been living in Taiwan for 7 years. Listen to find out: – What brought Derek to Asia and specifically Taiwan – How he started teaching English, while looking for other opportunities – How he started his first business in Taiwan – How he compares […]

In this episode, I actually interview… myself! Well not, really. I invited CLO user Joe Cooperman to interview me on my motivation for coming to Taiwan and starting this course teaching fellow expats how to speak Mandarin. Listen to find out: – Why Joe uses CLO – What brought me to Taiwan – What problem […]

In Part 2 of this episode, we continue our interview with American businessman Steve Iglehart.

Listen to find out:

- How he moved on to the skin care market

- What his biggest challenge was in this market

- The intense process of training salespeople to use his product

- How he learned to read people's reactions over the years

- What the advantage of being an expat was, when it came to sales

- What businesses he has since transitioned to

- Why he thinks it's easier for an expat to do business in Taiwan today

- Why he feels a local university degree is the best way to reach fluency in Chinese

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Steve Iglehart is an American businessman from San Francisco who has been living in Taiwan for almost 30 years.

Listen to this episode to find out:

- What made Steve want to learn Chinese

- Why he chose to come to Taiwan

- His first moments in Taiwan, looking for a Chinese school

- Why he decided to stay on in Taiwan and do a university degree locally

- Why he found the degree to be one of his most challenging life experiences

- His experience job hunting after graduating

- How he learned how business was conducted locally

- What his first business was

- What reaction locals had to doing business with him

Keiran is a Canadian living in Taiwan, now working in the bicycle industry.

Listen to this episode to find out:

- What brought Keiran to Taiwan in the first place

- How he began learning Chinese initially

- What he didn't like about his first school

- How he found people to practice his Chinese with

- Where the most effective part of his learning came from

- What he did to make himself more approachable for casual conversation with strangers

- Why he ended up getting a university degree in Taiwan

- What challenges he had getting the degree

- Why he feels learning more than one language at the same time is an effective way to learn

- Why getting a university degree locally in Taiwan is a great opportunity

- How he started in the bicycle industry

- His advice for expats wanting to do something different career wise

- Why being able to speak Chinese was helpful to him

- His advice for expats wanting to take their Chinese to the next level

- How he recommends you make the most of your experience abroad

In this episode, I interview Ross Darrell Feingold, an American now working as a senior advisor at the DC International Advisory, a law firm in Taipei, Taiwan.

Listen to this episode to find out:

- What made Ross focus on learning Mandarin Chinese 20 years ago

- What a one year intensive Mandarin learning program in Singapore was like

- Why he felt this program was still not enough for him

- What it was like to take a Mandarin studies course in a small American university

- What made him choose Taiwan over Singapore and China to further his Chinese learning

- What his plan was, after learning Chinese

- The most important thing to consider when applying for a job in Asia

- How he compares Asia with the west

- The differences in company culture

- A misconception he's noticed in company hours

- Why he chooses to live in Asia

- How he uses Chinese in his daily work

In this interview, I interview Jon Renzella, an American artist now living in Taichung, Taiwan.

Listen to this episode to find out:

- What brought Jon to Taiwan in the first place

- Why he wanted to live in a place that didn't speak English

- How he began learning Chinese without any formal classes

- His current approach to learning how to read Chinese

- How he uses technology to help with learning how to read

- How he transitioned into being a full time artist in Taiwan

- His experience joining the local art community

- His advice for fellow expats looking to follow their interests and passions

- How he overcame the language barrier to joining the local community

- How he started a gallery for foreign artists to showcase their work with the local community

- Some of the differences in local art culture from what he's experienced in the west

In this episode I interview Alex Wagner, who now runs a pizza shop at a local Taiwanese night market.

Listen to find out:

- What brought Alex to Taiwan in the first place

- How he transitioned from teaching to selling pizza

- His process starting the business

- How the night market business works

- How he markets himself as the foreign face of the business

- Where he finds employees to work there

- How his Chinese has improved as a result of interacting with customers

- His plans for his business going forward

- How he got over the uncertainty of starting a business

- The crucial factor required to stand out at a night market

- His advice for those wanting to transition away teaching English

In this episode, I interview "Bear" - originally from Scandinavia, now working in China.

Listen to find out:

- What brought him to China in the first place

- His initial hardships in China

- Why he felt he wasn't capable of learning Chinese in the beginning

- Why he didn't make progress learning initially, and what changed that

- What motivated him to start learning characters

- The drastic improvement being able to speak Chinese had on his daily life

- How he's able to make friends with local Chinese

- What aspect made a great improvement in his qualify of life in China

- Some of the big differences in company culture he found in China versus Europe

- The big difference in job interviews between China and Europe

- His experience with "face" and trust in Chinese companies

- His recommendations for foreigners living in Chinese communities and in local relationships

- How he learned to communicate using a Chinese version of English

- How learning Chinese compares to learning other languages

- His advice to foreigners who haven't tried to learn Chinese yet, because they believe they aren't capable

- Why it's ok to make mistakes while speaking

In this episode, I continue the interview I did with Shaun Bettinson, where he discusses his "I love Taiwan" project.

Listen to find out:

- How this project got started.

- How he launched his initial promotional video

- The Project Website

- How he was able to promote it

- How he won a Guinness World Record

- Why he thinks the project was so popular

- What he gained from this experience

- How he benefited from the friendships made

- How his outlook on the future has changed