Department store studying

If you live in big city or even a small city in Taiwan, you know find a large at least one, if not several department stores. One of my favorite "out and about" ways to study in Taiwan is while ensconced in one of these odes to consumer excess. While busy on evenings and weekends, they are all but deserted during the day. So if you can find time on, say, a Tuesday or Wednesday mid-afternoon, you'll find between five and ten floors of bored shop girls. (This was true before the global recession and is bound to be doubly true now.)

My advice is to start at the top and work down. It helps, (but isn't necessary) to look up a few vocabulary words (i.e. clothing, home decor items, colours, electronics) and then just go for it. When I did this, I made up plausible conversation starters and little mock dialogues which became the basis of the conversation book I ended up writing.

Most of the time, the conversation transitions relatively seamlessly from whatever you're "thinking about" buying to other topics(where you're from, what you do, etc.)

I used to start at the top and work my way down through the departments. Sometimes I'd stay for a few hours, other times just for ten or fifteen minutes, but it was always a worthwhile venture.

Hopefully this tip helps and you see your next trip window shopping at your local department store for what it can be: a free Chinese class! Good Luck and fun!