Getting by in Chinese
How much Chinese you actually need (much less than you fear), the twenty phrases worth memorising, and the habit that solves almost every language problem.
You need less than you think
English is not widely spoken in China, but the situations where you truly need language are narrow and predictable. Trains, metros, airports and chain hotels are designed for people who cannot read Chinese. The hard moments are street food, small shops and a taxi driver who wants to ask you a question.
- Transport and major hotels: bilingual signage, ticket machines with English, and staff who have seen a thousand foreign travellers.
- Restaurants: often a picture menu, and increasingly a QR-code ordering system.
- The real gaps: taxis, small vendors, pharmacies, and any conversation that goes off-script.
- You do not need grammar. Nouns plus a number plus a gesture covers most transactions.
Tones, in thirty seconds
Mandarin is tonal, which sounds intimidating and mostly is not. In practice, context carries meaning, and a wrong tone in a two-word request almost never causes a real misunderstanding. Learn the idea, then stop worrying about it.
- First tone: high and flat — mā.
- Second tone: rising, like a question — má.
- Third tone: dips then rises — mǎ.
- Fourth tone: sharp fall — mà.
- Neutral tone: light and quick, common on the second syllable of a word.
Twenty phrases that carry a trip
These are the ones that actually come up. Learn them out loud, not just visually — you will be saying them, not reading them.
- 你好 — nǐ hǎo — hello.
- 谢谢 — xièxie — thank you.
- 对不起 / 不好意思 — duìbuqǐ / bù hǎoyìsi — sorry / excuse me.
- 多少钱？— duōshao qián? — how much?
- 太贵了 — tài guì le — too expensive.
- 我要这个 — wǒ yào zhège — I want this one.
- 这个 / 那个 — zhège / nàge — this one / that one.
- 买单 / 结账 — mǎidān / jiézhàng — the bill, please.
- 不要辣 — bú yào là — not spicy.
- 微辣 — wēi là — mildly spicy.
- 好吃 — hǎo chī — delicious.
- 洗手间 / 厕所在哪里？— xǐshǒujiān / cèsuǒ zài nǎlǐ? — where is the toilet?
- 地铁站怎么走？— dìtiě zhàn zěnme zǒu? — how do I get to the metro station?
- 我不会说中文 — wǒ bú huì shuō zhōngwén — I do not speak Chinese.
- 你会说英语吗？— nǐ huì shuō yīngyǔ ma? — do you speak English?
- 请帮我 — qǐng bāng wǒ — please help me.
- 我不舒服 — wǒ bù shūfu — I do not feel well.
- 医院在哪里？— yīyuàn zài nǎlǐ? — where is the hospital?
- 再见 — zàijiàn — goodbye.
- 没有关系 — méi guānxi — it does not matter / no problem.
Show, do not say
The single most useful habit in China is to stop trying to pronounce things and start showing screens. This works because the person you are talking to can read, even when you cannot.
- Screenshot your hotel name and address in Chinese before you leave each morning.
- Save the Chinese names of every place you plan to visit, in a note you can open offline.
- In a taxi, hand over the phone with the address rather than saying it.
- In a restaurant, point at what the next table is eating. This works better than any phrase.
- Keep your passport photo page and visa page as screenshots too, in case you need to show them quickly.
Translation apps that work here
The quality gap between apps is smaller than it used to be, but the offline behaviour differs and that is what matters when you have no data.
- Download the offline Chinese pack for whichever app you choose, before you travel.
- Camera translation is the killer feature — point it at a menu, a sign or a form and read the overlay.
- Voice translation works well for short exchanges and poorly in noisy places; type instead when you can.
- Chinese apps are often better at Chinese idioms and dish names than Western ones.
- Have two apps installed. When one misreads something, the second usually fixes it.
Numbers and money
Numbers come up constantly — prices, platform numbers, train times, room numbers. They are the highest-return thing to learn after hello and thank you.
- 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 — yī èr sān sì wǔ liù qī bā jiǔ shí — one to ten.
- 十一 is eleven, 二十 is twenty, 一百 is one hundred — the system is regular.
- 两 (liǎng) is used instead of 二 when counting objects, as in 两个 (two of something).
- The money unit is 元 (yuán), written as ¥. In speech people often say 块 (kuài) instead.
- Prices are usually written in digits, so reading numbers matters far more than hearing them.
Reading a menu
Menus are more approachable than they look once you can recognise a few characters and know the structure.
- 肉 (ròu) is meat, 牛 (niú) beef, 猪 (zhū) pork, 鸡 (jī) chicken, 鱼 (yú) fish, 羊 (yáng) lamb.
- 素 (sù) means vegetarian, 汤 (tāng) is soup, 面 (miàn) is noodles, 饭 (fàn) is rice.
- 辣 (là) is spicy. 不要辣 means no chilli; 微辣 means a little.
- Many menus have photos — the fastest path is to point.
- QR-code ordering is now standard in mid-range restaurants. The page is often Chinese-only, so camera translation earns its keep.
Etiquette worth knowing
Small things that signal respect, and a couple of things to avoid.
- No tipping. It is not expected in restaurants, taxis or hotels, and offering it can cause mild confusion.
- Queue-jumping happens; the response is to hold your ground rather than to escalate.
- Give and receive business cards and small gifts with both hands.
- Do not stick chopsticks upright in rice — it echoes funeral ritual and is considered bad luck.
- On escalators, stand right, walk left.
- Avoid discussing politics, and avoid bringing up Taiwan, Tibet or Xinjiang as conversational topics.
- Public shushing, spitting and loud phone calls are common; none of it is aimed at you.
If you have to make a phone call
Phone calls are the hardest part of the language barrier because there is nothing to point at. Where possible, avoid them.
- Use in-app messaging instead — DiDi, WeChat and hotel chat all translate automatically.
- Ask a hotel front-desk staff member to make the call for you. This is a normal request and they will usually agree.
- If you must call, open with 你好 and then 我不会说中文 — it sets expectations immediately.
- For official questions in English, 12367 answers around the clock in Chinese and English.
Frequently asked questions
Is English widely spoken in China?
Not widely, but you need less than you think. Trains, metros, airports and chain hotels are designed for visitors, with bilingual signage and English ticket machines. The real gaps are taxis, small vendors and pharmacies — the off-script moments.
Which translation app should I use?
Install two before you travel and download the offline Chinese pack for both. Camera translation is the feature you will use most — point it at a menu, a sign or a form. Chinese apps are often better at dish names and idioms than Western ones, so when one misreads something the second usually fixes it.
Do I need to learn Chinese characters?
No. Nouns plus a number plus a gesture covers most transactions, and twenty phrases carry a trip. What matters more than speaking is showing — keep addresses and destinations written in Chinese characters on your phone.
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