How is the currency of Taiwan referred to in Mandarin?

Question

(I'm not going to use the hanzi or even proper pinyin for some terms because I only know them from speaking as an absolute beginning learner.)

In Mainland China the currency is the "yuan" but in practice nobody calls it that. Instead they say "kwai".

I've just arrived by ferry in Taiwan from China and here the currency is the "New Taiwan Dollar".

Should I refer to it by the term "yuan", "kwai", or by an adaptation of the English word, something like "dola"?

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Bonus: What about when referring to the Old Taiwan Dollar between 1946-49 or the Taiwan Yen during the time under Japanese rule?

Answer 1

As many have said the "proper" way to refer to the currency of Taiwan is 新台币 (Xīn tái bì) which is literally broken down to 新 (Xīn) = New and 台币 (tái bì) = Taiwan Dollars

Old Taiwan dollars are referred to as 舊臺幣* (旧台币) (jiù tái bì)

However you would only refer to them by these proper names when dealing with multiple currencies. When referring to local currency you would use 块, 毛, 半 (Kuài, máo, bàn).

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块 Kuài

Refers to 1 unit of currency relative to where you are. So 一块 (Yī kuài) in Australia refers to $1 AUD, in Singapore refers to $1 SGD, in the UK refers to £1 GBP, and in Taiwan refers to $1 TWD.

Now because you're in Taiwan you won't be using much more then 块 Kuài because the half dollar is rarely used. But please have a read since you seem to travel a lot and it will be helpful to know:

毛 Máo

Refers to 10's of cents so 一块五毛 (Yī kuài wǔ máo) would be $1.50 in AUD, $1.50 SGD, £1.50 in GBP, etc ...

半 bàn

Now 半 (bàn) isn't a unit of currency but a modifier whose value is equal to half of a single unit of its parent value. Now that seems a little confusing at first but it's the same as saying "and a half" in English. So let's move on to some full prices of some items:
六块九毛半 (Liù kuài jiǔ máo bàn) = $6.95
一百八十九块半 (Yī bǎi bā shí jiǔ kuài bàn) = $189.50

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Note: 块毛半 (Kuài máo bàn) only works for currencies that use whole values. Under the older systems of currency like the old British system of 12 pence to a shilling, 20 shillings to a pound this would not work and you would have to use the formal names of each unit.

Answer 2

Yes, people use ‘kuài’ in conversation, as in ‘yī qiān duō kuài’ (over 1,000 NT$). You can also add ‘qián’ to make it clear you’re talking about amounts of money: ‘wŭ shí kuài qián’ (50 NT$).

You might want to use ‘(xīn) tái bì’ when changing money, as in ‘qĭng gĕi wŏ tái bì’ (please give me Taiwan dollars). I don’t know what was used in previous periods, but here are some ways to refer to other currencies:

• mĕi jīn ‘American dollars’
• rì bì ‘Japanese yen’
• găng bì ‘Hong Kong dollars’
• yīng bàng ‘British pounds’

These are from a Mandarin textbook put out by TLI, a language school in Taiwan. Be careful with the tone on ‘tái’ - in some contexts this can be confused with the falling tone ‘tài’ referring to Thailand/Thai money. But if you’re already in Taiwan, that shouldn’t be a problem.

Answer 3

To make a distinction between the two, people in China and Taiwan refer to it as 台币 tai2 bi4 。

For general conversation, just use 块.

Answer 4

kuai4 (块) is a generic word that does not say anything about the money's currency. So regardless of the currency you can always use kuai4.

New Taiwan Dollar is either tai2 bi4 (台币) or xin1 tai2 bi4 (新台币) according to dictionaries. (I've never used them so I'm not sure.)

http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqb=New+Taiwan+Dollar