Language and communication in China

Little English is spoken outside the hotels. Three apps on your phone and a guide resolve 95% of situations — and the rest is solved with a smile and a number written by hand.

The Chinese you hear

The official language is Standard Mandarin, based on the Beijing dialect, taught in every school and spoken by around 70% of the population as a mother tongue or second language. Alongside it coexist hundreds of local dialects, from the Cantonese of Guangdong and Macau to Shanghainese and Hakka.

The practical consequence is this: a visitor who has learned a hundred words of Mandarin can make them work in Beijing, Xi’an or Chengdu. In Canton or Macau, where Cantonese is heard in the street, it helps less — but written Mandarin works everywhere, because it is the same writing system and it is what appears on signs, menus and paperwork.

Tones: why “ma” can be mother, hemp or horse

Mandarin is a tonal language: the same syllable changes meaning according to the contour of the intonation. This is why foreigners think they are speaking Chinese and nobody understands them. You do not need to master it, but it helps to know it exists, because it explains the patience — and the laughter — with which locals receive our attempts.

Two rules that prevent misunderstandings:

• Speak slowly, not loudly. Intonation matters more than volume.
• Write numbers down. Prices, quantities, floors. It avoids confusion instantly.

The three apps that cover the trip

WeChat (Weixin). Simultaneously messaging, payments, tickets and translator. It has a camera text reader that translates menus, signs and packaging in real time. Without a WeChat account, a trip to China becomes unnecessarily difficult.

Pleco. The best Chinese–English dictionary, with camera character recognition and downloadable phrase packs that work offline. We recommend installing it and downloading the phrase pack before the flight.

Amap (Gaode). Maps with names in English and up-to-date transport. Google Maps works badly in China because of the network infrastructure, and it is not worth persisting with.

On the tours we organise, none of these apps is obligatory: the guide handles everything. But for the moments when you go out alone, they make the difference between asking for help and sorting it out.

How much Chinese there is in each place

The experience varies a great deal depending on where you are, and it is worth knowing what you are walking into before leaving the hotel:

• International four- and five-star hotels. Fluent English at reception, the concierge and the restaurants. Everything gets resolved.
• Boutique hotels and courtyard houses. Basic English at reception, often one person only. Outside that person’s hours, the translator on your phone.
• Chain restaurants and coffee chains. Menu with photographs, often with English, ordered by QR. It is where a foreigner manages best alone.
• Neighbourhood restaurants and stalls. Menu in Chinese, often only on the wall. It is where the food is best and where the guide is indispensable.
• Taxi. Between no English and very little. Show the destination written down.
• Monuments and museums. Bilingual signage almost always, audio guides in English at the major houses, but the room attendants rarely speak.
• Rural areas and minority villages. The first language tends to be the local one, with Mandarin second. This is where our local guides come in.

The practical rule we give our clients: if there is a guide, talk to the guide first. If no guide is nearby, write it down. Only as a last resort do you speak, slowly, with numbers on your fingers.

Twenty words that are enough

Word	Written	What it is for
Hello	nǐ hǎo	greeting anyone
Thank you	xiè xie	and xiè xie nín to be more formal
How much?	duō shǎo qián	markets and small purchases
I don’t understand	tīng bù dŏng	buying time until someone appears
I don’t want spicy	bú yào là	Sichuan and Hunan food
OK / fine	hăo de	closing any agreement
Toilet	cè sŭo	the most important question of the day
No	bú yào	refusing sellers politely

Putting nǐ hǎo together with xiè xie and bú yào covers a surprising share of the day’s interactions.

At the table and shopping

Three phrases open doors in a restaurant with no English menu. “Wǒ yào zhège” — I want this — said while pointing at the next table, works almost every time. “Bú yào là” — no chilli — is the most useful phrase of the trip in Sichuan and Hunan. “Mǎi dān” — the bill, please — spares you sitting there looking at the door.

Add “tài guì le” — that’s very expensive — to haggle with a smile in markets and at stalls. And “kěyǐ ma?” — is that all right? — which serves for everything else, from entering a closed temple to asking for a table on the terrace.

Where language gets most in the way

In neighbourhood restaurants with no English menu, the most effective strategy is to point at what other people are eating. In markets, write numbers on your phone screen. In taxis, show the destination in Chinese in a screenshot from the map — never say the name in English.

In stations and airports there are information desks with English-speaking staff and self-service kiosks with an English version. Outside the big cities, do not count on it: that is where the guide becomes indispensable.

Communication etiquette

Speaking Chinese badly is better than not speaking any, but there are three rules of courtesy that avoid friction. The first is volume: raising your voice is read as impatience, even when the intention is only to be heard. The second is address: use the surname preceded by Mr or Mrs, not the given name at first. The third is yes: answering “yes” can mean “I heard you” rather than “I understood”, so it is worth confirming with a second question or in writing.

Two gestures cover the rest: give and receive anything — a card, your change, a ticket — with both hands, and do not point with a single finger. None of these details requires Chinese, and all of them are read as respect.

Our practice

All our private tours include an English-speaking guide in the cities on the route, with no rotation of escorts. When the itinerary includes villages, markets or meals in family homes, we add a local guide who can translate from the dialect. It is the difference between watching and taking part: in Yangshuo, a fisherman explains the cormorant technique to us; in Chengdu, in the teahouse, you understand why people sit there a whole afternoon.

We also hand over, before departure, a printed phrase sheet in Chinese and pinyin with what the client will need: allergies, dietary restrictions, medication, how to ask for no chilli and how to say you do not want to buy. It is for showing to the taxi driver, the waiter and the pharmacist, and it needs no network, no battery and no willingness to speak.

And one final piece of advice, the only one that really matters: speaking Chinese badly is better than not speaking any. Attempts are met with patience and laughter, and it is through them that the next conversation opens.