[Cosmo]

In just under a week I'm going to China, for 2 weeks I'm going to be with a tour company, but after that I'm on my own. I would like to know a few things, anf have a few phrases translated.

Questions: How widely is English spoken in the main cities (Beijing and Shanghai)?

I'm thinking of having useful phrases in Chinese and English, so I can read the phrase I want, and point to the Chinese next to it. Will the Chinese have to be in symbols, or can it be written in western alphabet?

I'll return later with the phrases i would like translating. And thanks to everyone who can help.

[K McCall]

Hey, Cosmo,

I spent a month in China in 2002 completely on my own (no tour company, just me, my friend, and my younger brother), and I had the same concerns as you. Generally, though, it was relatively easy to find someone who spoke English, and in fact there were a few occasions where I quite obviously looked lost and had a Chinese student approach me and offer to help - one even went so far as to have her brother drive me and my friend roundtrip to Ghengis Khan's tomb, which was about a 6-hour drive from where we were.

The biggest concern I had was food, because my friend is Jain and has a number of dietary restrictions. So before we headed out, we went to our favorite Chinese restaurant and asked the manager to write down the Chinese characters for our favorite dishes. He was happy to oblige (we'd eaten there often) and these cards worked like a charm.

Good luck, have fun, and I think you'll find that there will be plenty of people eager to help you through your journeys.

[Zav]

I've to China 3 times since last year for more than 7 months mainly in BJ. Don't expect too much. Not many chinese speak english. I can recommend you this phrasebook which can quite useful (and funny): Immersion Guides | Products | Mandarin Phrasebook

[pbo]

I spent a month in China in 2002 completely on my own (no tour company, just me, my friend, and my younger brother), and I had the same concerns as you. Generally, though, it was relatively easy to find someone who spoke English, and in fact there were a few occasions where I quite obviously looked lost and had a Chinese student approach me and offer to help - one even went so far as to have her brother drive me and my friend roundtrip to Ghengis Khan's tomb, which was about a 6-hour drive from where we were.

Should be even better now - since the olympics were there not so long ago. So everyone's all friendly and all that...

The biggest concern I had was food, because my friend is Jain and has a number of dietary restrictions. So before we headed out, we went to our favorite Chinese restaurant and asked the manager to write down the Chinese characters for our favorite dishes. He was happy to oblige (we'd eaten there often) and these cards worked like a charm.

That, or go to McDonalds. Same everywhere KFC is different, but if you want a spicy version of the menu - definitely try. By spicy, I mean Chinese-spicy, not American pseudo-spicy.

I've to China 3 times since last year for more than 7 months mainly in BJ. Don't expect too much. Not many chinese speak english. I can recommend you this phrasebook which can quite useful (and funny): Immersion Guides | Products | Mandarin Phrasebook

Don't know about it, and I speak Chinese so can't comment on that one...

[pop4]

I spent the whole of last year studying in China. In the main cities, you should be able to get by as there are usually snippets of English everywhere. Once you go to the smaller towns, unless they're big tourist destinations, you'll probably struggle a bit. However, most people are friendly, and if you look obviously foreign, it probably wouldn't be too hard to get people to try to help you; in some places, foreigners are still a novelty.

Just another thing, the individual Chinese words aren't called symbols as such, but most people tend to refer to them as characters.

[pbo]

Just another thing, the individual Chinese words aren't called symbols as such, but most people tend to refer to them as characters.

They're called hieroglyphs

[Cosmo]

I just got a Lonely Planet Mandarin phrase book, all my problems solved.

[mmayer]

I have been to the Far East (China, Taiwan, and few other places on that side of the planet) over 30 times in the last 14 years, and although finding someone that speaks english is generally not a problem.....the food most definitely is a problem. Here are my guidelines:

1. Do not ever drink water straight from the tap!
2. If you are handed bottled water, make sure the seal has never been broken. I have seen many of these bottles re-filled with tap water.
3. If your food does not come out steaming.....I would not recommend eating it.
4. Know where the batchrooms are (the ones with western toilets). If you do get sick, you will need to be within about 100 yards of a toilet (25 yards of a chinese toilet as you would probably have to strip down first).
5. Beer and Soda are generally very safe, but either pour into a clear clean glass, or clean the top of the can throughly. By the way....the beer is terrible over there.
6. Make sure your health insurance covers you abroad, not all plans will. You can purchase a policy very cheap for the short time that you are traveling.
7. Do not try to drive a car over there......extremely dangerous, and the traffic rules.....well, there seem to be very few.
8. If your in a busy city like Shanghai or Suzhou, keep your wallet/passport in your front pocket.
9. Beware of the "Famous Chinese Liquor".......that stuff can peel paint!!

Good luck

[wasser]

Questions: How widely is English spoken in the main cities (Beijing and Shanghai)?

I'm thinking of having useful phrases in Chinese and English, so I can read the phrase I want, and point to the Chinese next to it. Will the Chinese have to be in symbols, or can it be written in western alphabet?

You can have both, but you'll specifically want simplified Chinese characters. I stress simplified because that is the type of Chinese writing used on the mainland.

China's alphabetic writing system is called Pinyin. Note that this Chinese Romanization, though it uses the came letters, doesn't exactly follow the same rules for English, but, unlike English, the rules are always consistent and make it easy to pronounce just about anything in Mandarin.

A simple example for hello:



English: hello
Pinyin: Ni hao
English pronunciation: "Knee how"

That is devoid of Chinese tones, which are extremely important since the tone can change the meaning.

Another tip to add to mmayer's list, drinking hot tea is a pretty safe and easy to find beverage. Oh, and beware of ice.

They're called hieroglyphs

Technically perhaps. But that's just like saying, "hey, nice canis domesticus!" when all you want to say is, "hey, nice dog". In English, as pop4 said, "most people tend to refer to them as characters."