Taiwan is home to more than 750,000 foreign workers, who are indispensible to the fishing, manufacturing, and caregiving industries. But many workers face frequent conflicts with their employers due to cultural and language barriers. To address this challenge, an NGO called One-Forty has launched a school for migrant workers. The school offers Chinese lessons and on-the-job training, to help workers adapt to Taiwan. It also teaches secondary skills like entrepreneurship, to make the workers even more employable. Our Sunday special report.

Weaving through the market, this shopper picks out ingredients for lunch, stopping every so often for a chat.

This is Tiny [Read: Teeny], who hails from Indonesia. She arrived in Taiwan in 2009 and now works as a caregiver in New Taipei.

Tiny is close with her employer Tsai Mao-yueh, whom she calls Dad. Besides managing his everyday needs, she loves to cook up a storm.

She can whip up everything from Taiwanese and Thai cuisines to authentic Indonesian delicacies. But when she first arrived in Taiwan, the language barrier made it hard just to buy groceries.

Tiny
Indonesian worker
One time I went with Grandma to the vegetable market. I saw a box of tomatoes and wanted to ask the boss how much it was. The boss completely ignored me because my pronunciation was off. Grandma sat in her wheelchair and she couldn’t speak any Chinese, only Taiwanese. So I had no way of communicating with Grandma. So in the end I just put the tomatoes down and left.

For migrant workers in Taiwan, language and cultural barriers are common challenges. Indonesian workers arrive with 600 hours of language and professional training under their belt. But that training doesn’t always prepare them for everyday conversations in Chinese.

Chen Cheng-fen
Professor of long-term care studies
It’s like how Taiwanese people take the TOEFL before going to the U.S. Even if you’ve made very thorough preparations, when you’re living in a foreign place, you do still discover a gap between what you learned and the language you need for everyday life.

Kimyung Keng
Politics professor
I think that in Taiwan today, there are several NGOs that are doing great work. We have many social organizations that encourage Indonesian workers to continue classes after they arrive in Taiwan, to continue learning. For example, there’s the 1095 workshop in Taichung, and the One-Forty organization in Taipei. There’s also the Global Workers’ Organization, Taiwan. These groups hold a great deal of classes that enable Indonesian workers to continue their education on weekends, after they arrive in Taiwan.

In 2019, Tiny saw a YouTube ad for a school for migrant workers, run by the One-Forty non-profit. She was intrigued by the prospect of free tuition and lessons taught entirely in Indonesian. She told her employer that she wanted to enroll.

Tiny
Indonesian worker
I told Dad, “I want to go to class. I want to go to One-Forty.” He asked when registration opened. I said Sunday. Then Dad took me to One-Forty to register for Chinese class.

Tsai Mao-yueh
Employer
They are a disadvantaged group. It is because they are disadvantaged that they left their hometowns to work In Taiwan. She is a very motivated person, and of course I fully support her. I consider her part of the family, and I want her to make advances in life.

Tiny’s school serves migrant workers, and it works around their holiday schedule. Classes are held just once a month near Taipei Main Station. The lessons are tailored to the needs of students. Today’s lesson, for instance, is on how to order bubble tea.

Nana
Indonesian worker
Before I couldn’t speak at all. Now I’m taking classes regularly. What they taught me today, later I will go and try it out.

Endang
Indonesian worker
I can communicate with my boss and I can talk to friends, to other Taiwanese people. My speech has become more clear and more correct.

Practical language lessons help foreign workers adapt more quickly to life in Taiwan. Tiny has attended class for four years now. She says she’s become a veritable shopping expert.

Tiny
Indonesian worker
I’m really great at shopping now. Hitting the vegetable markets is a cinch. When there’s a buy-one-get-one free promotion, I’m on it right away. I know it’s buy-one-get-one free, and that I’ve got to hurry and buy.

Taiwan opened to migrant labor 30 years ago, and is currently home to more than 750,000 workers. According to a 2022 labor ministry survey, more than 40% of employers have experienced conflict with employees due to language barriers.

Kevin Chen
One-Forty founder
Every migrant worker I’ve interviewed has told me that they faced a huge language barrier after arriving in Taiwan. Some couldn’t spea
#台灣新聞 #TaiwanNews #民視新聞 #FTV新聞 #Taiwan