The perception of tolerance and acceptance that foreigners have experienced in Taiwan in their living, working and cultural environment has not changed significantly in the past two years, a government survey suggested yesterday.
The survey, conducted by the Cabinet’s Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, showed that approximately 74.4 percent of foreign nationals surveyed were satisfied with the level of tolerance and acceptance they had experienced in Taiwan’s living, working and cultural environments, down slightly from a year earlier when the percentage stood at 75.1 percent.
Titled “2010 International Living Environment Satisfaction Survey,” the survey covered four main categories: strengthening immigration counseling assistance, broadening and attracting economic migrants, building a society of diverse cultures and indicators for an international living environment.
The survey showed respondents gave Taiwan’s overall living and cultural environment a high satisfaction rating of 80.5 percent, with “everyday shopping convenience” and “convenience in connecting with one’s home country” receiving the highest satisfaction ratings at 82.4 percent and 83.2 percent respectively.
The satisfaction level with Taiwan’s work environment was 76.4 percent, while the main reason for choosing to work in the country was “the desire to get to know Taiwan’s culture,” cited by about 41.2 percent of the respondents.
About 60.1 percent of the respondents were satisfied with their wages in Taiwan, while 78.2 percent, 88.4 percent and 61.2 percent of the respondents were satisfied with the friendliness of employers, the friendliness of co-workers and communication in the workplace respectively.
The satisfaction level with the benefits provided by companies was 53.6 percent, while the satisfaction level for Taiwan’s tax system for foreign workers was 44.2 percent.
The overall satisfaction level with Taiwan’s cultural tolerance was 64.8 percent.
However, 35.4 percent of respondents thought that Taiwanese people were not familiar with the cultures of their home countries, while 44.3 percent considered the English-language skills of Taiwanese to be average.
About 76.2 percent believed that Taiwanese were accepting, tolerant and open to learning about different cultures.
When it came to the topic of cultural integration in Taiwan, most respondents used English (40.9 percent) and Mandarin (35.0 percent) as their main languages of communication in their daily lives and at work.
The greatest percentage of respondents, about 38.5 percent, described the frequency of their social meetings with Taiwanese friends as “occasional,” followed by 24.1 percent who frequently socialized with Taiwanese. A total of 43.5 percent said they had an “average” knowledge of Taiwan’s culture, while 42.6 percent said they had a “good” knowledge.
The survey was conducted via face-to-face interviews between Aug. 1 and Sept. 15.
A total of 1,073 effective samples were collected, with a margin of error of 3 percent.
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