Learning Chinese continued...

Like many people who come to China, I had no previous experience with the language. When people asked if I was going to try and pick some up before leaving I tended to give the same answer - ‘I’ll do it when I get there’. On reflection two things can be said of this: 1. Learning something about the language prior to coming wouldn’t have been a terrible idea and 2. Learning it when you get there is something you have very little choice about. The reason for this is that in terms of people who do and don’t speak English the groups are pretty heavily weighted towards the non-English speaking side. In general terms the two groups look like this:

People who might speak basic English or better – university students, bar staff, staff at high-end hotels/shops, staff at western outlets (KFC, McDonalds, Starbucks). People who won’t speak English – everyone else.

Obviously you will come across other people who speak English, but in day-to-day life the above categorisations largely carry true - people who you will be buying meals from or staff at the supermarket where you buy groceries will almost certainly have no English skills. When prices are being read out to you in Chinese this can be slightly difficult, however it always works itself out (I did once or twice have people tap the price onto a calculator so I could read it). In terms of buying food I tended to point at things I thought looked edible - nodding along with whatever the proprietor said and hoping for the best.

What I would say though is that it does not take long to learn the Chinese for things that you will need. Within the first couple of weeks I knew the names of a couple of dishes as well as how much they tended to cost. Once I knew the names of some of the food, learned the numbers as well as the name of the street where I lived (get this one nailed down as soon as possible) I found that I got by quite easily. Most people reach this point after a month or so, and once reached, life becomes that much easier.  Luckily this is also enough Chinese to impress any friends or family you might have visiting. Walking into a noodle joint and ordering the type of noodles you want, declining the offer of extra spice and asking how much it costs can seem like an absolute master class in Chinese to someone who isn’t familiar with the language. The other thing that you become quickly adept at is reading body language - learning when you are expected to make a reply and when nodding in sage agreement is enough. This is how I managed to get through a whole taxi journey laughing and nodding along with the driver, whilst my visiting sisters sat in the back clearly impressed with my apparent fluency – that I understood very little of what he said was a fact that I kept to myself.