The Truth About Travel in China – Part One: Language

China’s really difficult for Western travelers.
No one speaks any English.
The menus, trains and street signs are all in Chinese.
The food is terrible.
The people are pushy and rude.
Good luck with that one.

- Advice we heard on the road before we arrived in China

It was almost enough to make us pay for a package tour.  Everywhere we went it seemed someone had something scary to say about traveling in China.  Anytime we mentioned our future plans for a month in China, faces would turn serious and travel terror tales would abound, filling my head with doubts.  Were we really hardcore enough to backpack through China?  Will it really be so hard to get around?  How much is that Intrepid Travel tour?

We have now been in the People’s Republic of China for two weeks, and it is time to separate the facts from the fiction about independent travel in China.

Yes, it is true. Many Chinese, and most taxi drivers, do not speak a word of English. Tourist sites often cater to Chinese tourists, with signage and tours only in Chinese.  Announcements in bus stations and metro stops are not always translated into English, and can be confusing even when they are. And unless you have been studying the language for some time, the characters are completely indecipherable.

So communication in China is not as simple as it was in many other parts of Asia.  But with a little forethought and a sense of adventure, it’s really not so tough.

First of all, street and directional signs are increasingly being translated into English.  In Shanghai, for example, all of the street and metro signs are translated.  Even the bus route signs in Guilin were occasionally written in English. This might be a recent phenomena rooted in the Olympics and the World Expo, but as more and more Westerns travel to China, I think it is a trend that will continue.

But of course not all signs are in English, so for us, the key has been to ask someone, either the staff at our hostel or someone in a tourist office, to write out our destination or request in Chinese.  This is how we got from the train station to our hotel in Shenzhen, mastered the bus system in Guilin and purchased train tickets in Shanghai. It’s kind of like being back in kindergarten, when your mom would write a note and leave it in your backpack – you know, the one that said, “If I am lost, please call my mom at…” – only in Chinese.  Carrying the business card of our hostels has also been invaluable, and we highly recommend it no matter what country you are traveling in.

It has also been the case that we have been sought out by English-speaking locals anxious to practice their skills and share their culture more times in the past two weeks than in the six months prior.  In Guilin, we met John, an English tutor who spent a few hours with us walking around the beautiful lakes and chatting about what it is like to be a young entrepreneur starting a business in China.  In the hostels we’ve stayed in, we’ve often been asked by staff to correct vocabulary and grammar errors.  We’ve also been the recipients of cheerful “hellos!” and smiles as strangers on the street practice their greetings.

We have found that most communication is nonverbal, and the Chinese have been extremely friendly and helpful even when they don’t speak any English. While biking around the Yangshuo countryside on our way to the Dragon Bridge, we stopped to consult our highly inadequate map.  The rocky dirt paths crisscrossed through the rice paddies in all directions; the map showed one straight line directly to the bridge.  Within a minute, a man on a motorbike approached to help.  He spoke no English, but through a series of hand gestures and head shaking he let us know that he was going to the bridge and offered to lead us there.  He’d ride along ahead of us, waiting at each intersection for us to catch up.  We never would have found the bridge without him. A little charades can go a long way.  My sister-in-law Jenn, a charades master, would have no trouble getting around here.

And there is Chinglish, perhaps the best and definitely the most entertaining aspect of the language barrier.  Our first encounter with Chinglish was at the Shenzhen railway station, listening to the translated train announcements:  This train will be leaving in…no time at all.  Please, all passengers get on board. While the word “immediately” is what was meant, it just cannot compete with the current translation when it comes to the amusement factor.  It has been nearly impossible to travel around China without finding some funny sign or announcement that brings huge smiles to our faces.  Thailand might be the land of a thousand smiles, but for English speakers, China is the land of a thousand giggles.

Stay tuned for The Truth About Travel in China – Part Two: Food

Related posts:

1. The Truth About Travel in China – Part Two: Food
2. The Truth About Travel in China – Part Three: People
3. Back on the Travel Horse
4. Good Travel Karma

Tagged as: blogsherpa, China, flashpacking, travel