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With just weeks left before Taiwan opens to individual Chinese tourists, some cab operators have already made a series of preparations to attract a new stream of customers from the mainland, which include training the drivers to speak with a Beijing accent. "Welcome to Taiwan! Now it's your turn…" "Welcome to Taiwan!" While there may not be much of a language barrier between Taiwan and China, many in the service industry believe that picking up a mainland accent would surely help business. As Taiwan is expected to be open to individual tourists from China at the end of June, some local taxi operators have already started training their drivers to speak in a way that will make Chinese visitors feel more at home, or so they think. "A bronze statue of Chiang Kai-shek is in the white building, for people to pay tribute to. Just like you have statues of Chairman Mao back in China." The drivers hope that by speaking with an accent similar to their Chinese customers', they can be hired to serve as tour guides as well to generate additional revenue. "Where would you like to go, sir?" "Can you give me some suggestions?" "A one-day trip to Yangmingshan, or a one-day trip to Beitou, where you can have a hot spring bath. Which one do you prefer, sir?" And to make payment easier for mainland tourists, these cab drivers even accept credit cards issued by China Union Pay. The fake accent plan may appear interesting, but it's also likely to backfire, especially when the accent is poorly imitated and bordering on a mockery of mainland Mandarin. "This is where Ma Ying-jeou works. During Japanese rule, It used to be the governor's office, and was later turned into Taiwan's presidential building." And things can get even worse. "Where are you going today, miss?" The driver probably wasn't aware that the Chinese term he just used for "miss" often refers to sex workers in the mainland. And it's definitely not a smart way to address your customer. ◆ 追蹤更多華視影音及圖文新聞：
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