Crash Chinese

Re: Crash Chinese

Hi Simon,

Your pre-departure infomation will give you the very basics of the language and enough to say hello, goodbye, thank you and most importantly - beer.

If you are looking for more the best idea is for you to get online and have a search on the web, after a 5 minute search (I am at work) on Lycos I found the following site which looks like a good place to start:
www.qsale.co.uk/info4china/ArtsAndCulture/Language/Chinese/Learning/OnlineLearning/

Let us know if you can find anything better. Enjoy the trip.

[b][email]chris@imtrav.co.uk[/email][/b]

Re: Crash Chinese

Hi,

Another idea would be to buy a phrase book - both the Lonely Planet and the Rough Guide produce a Mandarin phrasebook, both of which are quite good. Having said that, there is no substitute for the real thing - Chinese is notoriously difficult to pronounce, so if you can get hold of any tapes or anything, that would be excellent.

Of course, the other tried and tested method is to brush up your charades skills and prepare for some oscar winning miming. I found that very useful when first in China !

Liddy Barnes,
Destination Manager, Far East

Re: Crash Chinese

Sorry, forgot to add that it is Mandarin that you would want to learn. It is widely understood throughout all of China, even in the South where they speak Cantonese.

Re: Crash Chinese

Hi Simon,

I've been on the (great) Chinese Adventure tour two years ago. Language was not a problem most of the time because a lot of Chinese you will be dealing with speak English, I had even people in the street coming up to me to practize their English! (Although some of those had commercial motives of course.)

My tour leader at the time provided me with a map with the name of the hotel and all sights in English and Chinese in each city, so you can point out to a taxi driver where you want to go, or ask directions to people in the streets. I also used the Lonely Planet guide, because it too has maps with sights in English and Chinese.

I used the Lonely Planet Guide, the Chinese phrases chapter, for communication with Chinese people, but much handier was a Chinese (Mandarin) phrase book I bought in Beijing in a tourist souvenir shop at Tianamen square. Much handier to carry around than the LP guide. I used this one when there were no English speaking people around, especially at the farm stay where I stayed as a guest with Chinese people at their home (I think you won't be doing that at the China Explored tour). So my advice would be to buy a phrase book in China, you will find one in about every souvenir shop.

It helps a lot if you know a few words Chinese (like "thank you"), the Chinese will love you for that and will be much friendlier then! No doubt your tour leader will make you learn some words when you are there.

Have fun on your tour!

Robert.

Re: Crash Chinese

Hi Simon

if you live in London you could try the School of African and Orient Studies' notice board. Chinese students seeking language exchange partners put notices up there, so you might be able to find someone to give you some help.

There is a Singapore government website http://www.gov.sg/spkmandarin/
which has audio clips for quite a lot of useful phrases. It is a bit propagandist but quite amusing in a way.

Good luck

Digby

Re: Crash Chinese

I am an American who speaks Chinese almost fluently and I have traveled a bit in China.
It's important to stress that if you learn a few words of Chinese, just make sure you get the 4 tones right. Without the correct tone, in most cases, you will not be understood. Small travel guides will show you the correct tones, but it's difficult.

Tones in sequence are a real trick. The only advice I can offer is that 4th tone often functions as a stressed syllable does in English. A second tone followed by a 3rd tone gives a continuously rising tone. No one ever told me these things when I first came to China - I just had to figure it out!!