>>2258865Depends what you mean by "taiwanese" :
If you mean hakka, it's basically as different from standard mandarin (aka "putonghua") as cantonese is. It's a different dialect and they're not mutually intelligible. A lot of taiwanese speak it, but don't bother too much with it as long as you didn't fully master mandarin which is what most people use professionally and socially unless you're in some rural or peripheric area of a big city. Hakka is very similar to Hokkien, found in the mainland and over represented in Singapore.
If you mean "taiwanese mandarin", which is all you really need to know to deal with the locals unless you live in some small community outside of Taipei/Taichung/Kaohsiung, it's basically an accent. Taiwanese people switch a few tones here and there (the mandarin word for France being a prime example), but most importantly they do this thing that
>>2258925 mentioned as faggy, which is basically speaking mandarin with a lisp. Basically what he means is that the sounds "tch", "dj" and "sh" (respectively "ch", "zh" and "sh" ) are pronounced "tss" "dzz" and "zz". They are also overly, ridiculously polite and usually always take a soft intonation. Now you may sound "faggy" in the mainland, but a mainlander sounds like a rude fuck out here in Taiwan. And you *really* don't want to be that here.
From what i'm reading in this thread, it seems like you want to take the opportunity of your stay in taiwan to learn mandarin. here are a few pointers : the flashcard method is not for everyone but worth trying, and pronunciation should be your utmost priority. Not pronouncing your tones correctly is akin to systematically emhpasizing the wrong syllable in English. Not only is it fucking annoying to a native speaker to listen to, but it can get unintelligible really quickly. Taiwanese people do tend to be more tolerant of mistakes though.
