We all are talking of how to learn English , how do you think it is like being an Australian in China ?? when i was there last spring , I missed my flight from NanNing and had to take the late flight ,and to make matters worse there was no flight to Australia for 3 days ,so after finding a taxi driver that could take me to a hotel and trying to make the girls on the desk how long I needed to stay ,I went to the room ,TV I thought good I will watch it ,over the next days ,60 chanels and all in Chinese with movies that only Chinese people could understand ,,

Replying to  [opalcutter]: Hello, you need better planning when visiting a foreign country. Do you have Chinese client? Do you have Chinese friends? Switch to a China Mobile SIM card you can call all China even the world at reasonable fee.

Alternatively, you can have some necessary words translated into Chinese on your carry-on book(note), such as where can I find a toilet? Please drive me to the airport (hotel, railway station, etc.)

Good luck next trip.

Moolan

Quoting from [opalcutter]:



We all are talking of how to learn English , how do you think it is like being an Australian in China ?? when i was there last spring , I missed my flight from NanNing and had to take the late flight ,and to make matters worse there was no flight to Australia for 3 days ,so after finding a taxi driver that could take me to a hotel and trying to make the girls on the desk how long I needed to stay ,I went to the room ,TV I thought good I will watch it ,over the next days ,60 chanels and all in Chinese with movies that only Chinese people could understand ,,

You can watch CCTV9, China's International channel. It's in English. Most of the Chinese are very freindly, and most of the young Chinese can speak a little English, you can talk to them. I think they will be glad to help you.

Welcome to China!

Replying to [opalcutter]:Your situation is similar to a China man in L.A.

But Chinese are better off in California and where the China town is, in London, the Soho district, in Amsterdam and in France, the Chinese are mistaken as Vietnamese.

Be prepared for emergencies like this, bring an pocket electronic translator with you and a dictionary if you can get hold of one. Learn some words for survival, like "take me to the hotel" able to count numbers from 1 to 1000.

I had an Indonesian friend who got lost in Japan, Chiba district, near Tokyo. He does not read or write the Chinese script, neither could he speak Ego (English) or Chinese, but only Indonesian. They brought him to the Police Station, and he had to stay in the station for the night, instead of getting back to the hotel room. ... that is the price of being a mono-linguist.

Dick Moby

Replying to [Dick Moby]:

Hi Dick,

I feel lucky that I speak Chinese, Cantonese and English.

Moolan

Replying to [Moolan99]:
how many years do u need to learn the chinese and ....?
maybe u have so many native colleage and friends.

Vivian Ding

Quoting from [Moolan99]:

Replying to [Dick Moby]:

Hi Dick,

I feel lucky that I speak Chinese, Cantonese and English.

Moolan

Hi Moolan, I do think you have a great talent in learning languages.

Replying to [opalcutter]:Oh! my dear! You can watch CCTV 9, can't you find this channel?

Replying to [opalcutter]:What a bad day!
the CCTV-9 spoke English! But if you want to watch some movie, I think you should learn some chinese.

Replying to [just do it]:could not find it // but the real fun part was watching a US western in Chinese