Is English Sufficient?

emailalias wrote:
Is English enough in the big cities of China, Korea, and Japan? Is it rather
a case of much of Europe, where some people speak a bit, but generally it is
a myth that you're fine if you know English?

Actually the best language to use in all three of these countries is
Swedish. They can't get enough of that language there! Go in talking
like the chef from the Muppets and even if you aren't actually speaking
a language you'll be mobbed by people wanting to help out.

Always Wondered.

www.freewebs.com/travel-deals

Oooooh. I see. Spam troll. Then ignore what I said above.

John W.

emailalias wrote:
Is English enough in the big cities of China, Korea, and Japan? Is it rather
a case of much of Europe, where some people speak a bit, but generally it is
a myth that you're fine if you know English?

Actually the best language to use in all three of these countries is
Swedish. They can't get enough of that language there! Go in talking
like the chef from the Muppets and even if you aren't actually speaking
a language you'll be mobbed by people wanting to help out.

Always Wondered.

www.freewebs.com/travel-deals

Oooooh. I see. Spam troll. Then ignore what I said above.

John W.

"emailalias" wrote in message
...
Is English enough in the big cities of China, Korea, and Japan?

Enough for what? In big cities you can always find someone who can
understand English enough for you to go on tours and get around. But you
won't be able to have a conversation with local citizens or buy stuff at
non-tourist stores, at least not without getting the tourist pricing.


Is it rather
a case of much of Europe, where some people speak a bit, but generally it
is
a myth that you're fine if you know English?

Always Wondered.

www.freewebs.com/travel-deals

"Daniel" wrote in message
...

"emailalias" wrote in message
...
Is English enough in the big cities of China, Korea, and Japan? Is it
rather
a case of much of Europe, where some people speak a bit, but generally
it
is
a myth that you're fine if you know English?

Always Wondered.


IMHO you cannot get by with only English anywhere in PRC. There is
virtually 100% inability to understand English in all major cities in
China,

That's ridiculous. In Shanghai and Beijing the English speaking ability has
gone up dramatically.


and I make myself understood with non verbal aids. In the meanwhile I am
practicing my Mandarin.

I see difficulties ahead for Beijing for the Olympics in 2008 unless hotel
staff and taxi drivers go on a crash course to understand very basic
English
phrases.

They are putting on a crash course just for that.


Airline checkin staff come in no better with only a really
rudimentary understanding, but at least a little better than average.

But thats only my opinion.

Daniel
Shenzhen

Is English enough in the big cities of China, Korea, and Japan? Is it
rather a case of much of Europe, where some people speak a bit, but
generally
it is a myth that you're fine if you know English?


Japan: I have a friend who lived in Osaka for a year and didn't speak a work
of Japanese - she did ok.

China: taxi drivers in Beijing are made take courses (as was mentioned) and
have to knowledge of x number of phrases to retain their licenses in
preparation for the olympics

Korea: you are apparently ok in Seoul, but everywhere else would be
difficult - hell, it's difficult in some places speaking Korean!
Understanding people from Busan can be hard (native speakers have told me
this as well - one of of them being a tutor of mine - so it's not just me!).
Otherwise, there are an awful lot of young people taking English lessons in
Seoul and also travelling overseas to learn in a country [here in Australia
there are many Korean students].

But in regard to being fine with English.. I think it's true to an extent..
Most places across the globe that have experienced some level of tourism can
understand basic stuff, but beyond that you'll need to delve into their
language (with exceptions obivously being much of Europe where English is
compulsory at school from being 6 years old or so)

I think it's obviously more accepted to actually make attempts in their
language (and more than just hello and thank you)

Andrzej

Is English enough in the big cities of China, Korea, and Japan? Is it
rather a case of much of Europe, where some people speak a bit, but
generally
it is a myth that you're fine if you know English?


Japan: I have a friend who lived in Osaka for a year and didn't speak a work
of Japanese - she did ok.

China: taxi drivers in Beijing are made take courses (as was mentioned) and
have to knowledge of x number of phrases to retain their licenses in
preparation for the olympics

Korea: you are apparently ok in Seoul, but everywhere else would be
difficult - hell, it's difficult in some places speaking Korean!
Understanding people from Busan can be hard (native speakers have told me
this as well - one of of them being a tutor of mine - so it's not just me!).
Otherwise, there are an awful lot of young people taking English lessons in
Seoul and also travelling overseas to learn in a country [here in Australia
there are many Korean students].

But in regard to being fine with English.. I think it's true to an extent..
Most places across the globe that have experienced some level of tourism can
understand basic stuff, but beyond that you'll need to delve into their
language (with exceptions obivously being much of Europe where English is
compulsory at school from being 6 years old or so)

I think it's obviously more accepted to actually make attempts in their
language (and more than just hello and thank you)

Andrzej

On Wed, 8 Sep 2004 08:08:42 +0800, "Andrzej"
wrote:

Japan: I have a friend who lived in Osaka for a year and didn't speak a work
of Japanese - she did ok.

I think it's pathetic to live in Japan for a year and never learn even
one word of Japanese.

China: taxi drivers in Beijing are made take courses (as was mentioned) and
have to knowledge of x number of phrases to retain their licenses in
preparation for the olympics

Good luck speaking English to Beijing or Shanghai taxi drivers. And I
realize it's off-topic (European, of course), but I wonder how
Budapest is now for people who speak neither Hungarian nor German. In
1994, it was pretty difficult, and I did my best to learn a little
Hungarian. Despite pronunciation difficulties, it was very helpful.

Michael

If you would like to send a private email to me, please take out the TRASH, so to speak. Please do not email me something which you also posted.

Pan wrote:



Probably so, but don't expect the shopkeepers or taxi drivers you do
business with to speak any. Learning some of the local language is
always a good idea wherever you travel, but learning some
survival-level Chinese is particularly important.

Michael


What phrases did you wish you had learned beforehand? Did you ask on
Peter Hadley's list? Which guides worked for you?

Bob Myers wrote:
"Miguel Cruz" wrote in message
...


I'm going in a few weeks, and I don't know a word. Can anyone recommend a
crash-course? Preferably something available over the internet, since I
can't always find every book here.


Miguel should get the Chinese characters down for his ethnic background
because locals esp. taxi drivers (all over the world) will get a kick
out of it. He should get a Chinese/English dictionary and point to
relevant entries.
He needs the names of places and food and not to be overcharged on the
street. No lie, the first useful words for most people is "pien" as in
cheat as in don't cheat me when you quote that price and "pien" as in
cheap as in can I get that cheaper. I think he can just carry those
characters around. And what's probably going to happen is that he's
going to find nice locals or fellow foreigners to help him out.

On Wed, 08 Sep 2004 05:47:06 -0500, the renowned
(Miguel Cruz) wrote:

Pan wrote:
Probably so, but don't expect the shopkeepers or taxi drivers you do
business with to speak any. Learning some of the local language is
always a good idea wherever you travel, but learning some
survival-level Chinese is particularly important.

I'm going in a few weeks, and I don't know a word. Can anyone recommend a
crash-course? Preferably something available over the internet, since I
can't always find every book here.

miguel

You can probably pick up a few sentence patterns from LP or whatever.
Chinese grammar is relatively simple. Sam's Club has some cheap ($20
US) multimedia CD-ROMs that will help with Mandarin pronunciation and
vocabulary (but not so much sentence patterns).

The final arbitrator is always the written language (in characters).
If you're doing anything like buying train tickets at the railway
station, write down your destination in Chinese characters, and
compare the ticket after you get it. Oh, and always check the origin
on the ticket too, I got bitten by that once- it originated in another
city 1.5 hours. Soft class sleeper too. There are a lot of Pinyin
signs in China, but they almost never show the tones.

It's probably too much for you at this point, but this is a good link
for more in-depth learning:

http://www.mandarintools.com/ (flashcards etc.)

Have a great trip!
Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
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