The use of English in China?

Question

I'm going to China next year for a gap year to teach English, and I know zero Chinese. Is this going to be a major problem? Is everything in Chinese eg. signs etc, or is there also English?

I went to Japan and there was heaps of sort of mixed up English, but English all the same, is China similar?

Cheers.

Answer 1

It depends where you go in China. I'm sure there are more English signs in cities like Beijing and Shanghai than in other major cities away from touris areas. Best would be to assume there are not going to be English signs. We spent a few weeks in Changsha which a typically modern Chinese city with few westerners and very little was in English. Most menus had none although they do have the Chinese written also in 'pinyin' which is the Roman alphabet and can at least help you to read and ask for somethign! We found many young people who spoke a little english and all were very willing and eager to help as often they had not had much chance to talk to a 'real' english speaking person. Yes most signs are in Chinese. Airports have both but stations don't but we never found it too big a problem to travel. Take a calculator when you go out and shopping will be a breeze!

Answer 2

Well, it depends on where you go in China. Most people, for the most part, speak a little bit of Chinese, but where I went, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Huangzhou, they spoke English. I would reccomend knowing a litt bit of Mandarin (Chinese). I don't think it'll be too much of a problem.

The signs, are mostly in Mandarin, though! Some are in English, but it's mixed. But if you want McDonalds or KFC, they have the same logo.

Good luck and have fun because China is a beautiful place!

Answer 3

Limited

Answer 4

Sort of, unless you are in Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangdong province. Everything outside of those areas is written in Chinese. A Mandarin phrasebook would help.

Answer 5

it all depends on where you go, Beijing, Shanghai, other big cities you will have no problem, if you go to smaller cities you will pick up Chinese very fast b/c of the need to

In major cities, most signs are in Chinese and English