Because the country is pushing to be bilingual in Mandarin and English by 2030, a lot of the public signs for things like transportation are in both English and Mandarin. A lot of businesses will have English names or descriptions. And all Taiwanese students learn English in school.
There are also a lot of other languages spoken in Taiwan, like the indigenous languages and Hakka, another popular language in Taiwan.
They use the New Taiwan Dollar, referred to as TWD. It is called 元 (yuán). Sometimes, in casual speech, it will be called 塊 (kuài), especially if referring to not a lot of money.
There are dollar bills in the 100, 500 and 1,000 amounts. There may be bigger bills, too, but I have not yet had the pleasure of encountering them. There are also coins, which are very useful. They have a 1, 5, 10, and 50 cent coin. You can buy a lot with 50 cents, and even 30 cents, so the coins are definitely worth holding on to.
Interestingly, when you make a purchase in Taiwan, your receipt is an entrance in a national lottery. It is drawn every two months. Every purchase, no matter the amount of money spent, is worth one entry in the lottery. Lottery winnings range from around $200 TWD to $10 million TWD. Can you guess why Taiwan started doing this lottery in 1951?
A big bottle of water will probably cost around $25 TWD at a local convenience store (which, assuredly, is where you will buy it). This is around $0.77 USD.
An average meal at a fairly cheap/regular restaurant will probably cost you $100 - $120 TWD, which is around $3.07 - $3.68 USD. And it will be delicious.
