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Q: Can people survive in China without learning Chinese?
Is it easy to have a normal life without knowing Chinese?
for sure can.... i am 9years here without learning chinese....
Top cities... no problem what so ever..
middle and lower level cities... can mamage... and its interesting... and it can inturn get you nice friends who step in as temp translators and then continue friendship..
Villages etc... will be a little difficult... but hardly any foreigner goes there...
Hong Kong? No problem!!!!
derek:
Just got back from Hong Kong for the 2nd time and I had no problem at all re: communication
No, I tried to yell 'Watch out!!' to an Electric Scooter but i didn't know the words so he just ran straight over me......damn it.........I should've learnt Chinese.
Hard,even in Shanghai,most people in resurants can't speak English.And amny of them don't have English menue,often the expensive ones have English menus.
Victoria1987:
hehe,shopping is tough also,cas most sales can't speak English also.My American teacher used to take me together for shopping,lol
You can survive, but it makes for such a limited experience and a goldfish bowl life. I also think it's kind of embarrassing to be here for a really long period of time and to have clearly made no effort to learn the language.
You can. Close to 6 years now and Im doing fine. I know a few key words/phrases that get me by. Mind you, Ive been living in Shanghai and Beijing so its a little easier.
I imgaine it would be very hard in smaller cities though....
It's amazing how you come to discover how little language you need to get by comfortably. That's nothing to do with language acquisition, but a comment on how much crap we needlessly speak in conducting boring activities in our home countries. It's also great to be on a bus or train and not understand a single, solitary conversation about who's having what for dinner that night.
Of course you can,many Chinese can speak English after you learn some simple chinese you life will become more convient
You could but at the risk of answering a question with a question, why the hell would you want to?
You COULD survive slamming your penis in a car door, but I still don't think it's a good idea.
Yes you can....however........I sometimes wonder how things would be different if I could speak and understand what the heck they are saying....then I have a drink and forget about it.
Not knowing the language is definitely limiting the experiences of living here. Thanks for answers!
Sure you can but everything takes more time and money.
