Should I study in China or Taiwan? Will Taiwan use Simplified Character and/or pinyin in the near future?

Question

I'm planning on a Gap Year, the majority of my time (6-8 months) will be spent studying Chinese. I've studied Mandarin for 2 years in school. I'll have studied it for 2 years in school, 2 years with private tutor by the time I graduate.

Altho my vocabulary is pretty ok, my pronunciation is pretty bad, due to my own speech issues, etc. Im most comfortable with pinyin and simp. characters.

I want to find a job teaching English. I know it's pretty hard, especially just as a HS student, but I hear the demand for English teachers in Taiwan is very high (esp if you look white, lol...) However, I do have a lot of experience teaching English, to ESL kids and Vietnamese street children (I live in Vietnam).

Main factors affecting my decision:

How easy is it to find a job teaching English is Taiwan and China just as a HS graduate?

Will Taiwan use simp. characters &pinyin by the time i graduate? I saw by 2009, all UN doc's will be in simp.

Just any advice/thoughts you have about this?

Answer 1

I think I can give you some advice on studying in China or Taiwa. One of my friends who will graduate from Chenggong University this year, told right now there are two main languages are used widely, Chinese and local dialect, simplified Characters and pinyin are official language in mainland China, you know, but in Taiwan, they do not use simplified character officially, though they can communicate with persons freely by using Chinese. And most of them do not know how to write simplified characters,though they know  pinyin clearly. In mainland China, they just use simplified Characters instead of traditional characters.

  To find a job teaching English for you, may be not a hard thing in mainland China, but one thing I should tell you is, the pay is poor compare to  that in other countries, but is enough for you to live in.

  I think the advice above may help you a little.

Answer 2

Nobody in China would hire high school graduates as teachers.

College graduates are having some hard time finding jobs there these days.