Lost in Translation?

China is certainly one of the most difficult places I have travelled. The language barrier is definitely the biggest barrier and even taking a year's Mandarin course at Kings College London did not prepare me for the troubles I was to face in ordering food, travelling by train, or just asking directions to the toilet. Not many people speak English, if you go to a restaurant, a shop, train station - I would be surprised if anyone does. Even when I stayed at a 5-star hotel in Shanghai - to my amazement and frustration, no one spoke English. And nobody understood the little Chinese I did know. The thing is with China is that if you get the tones wrong - they will not know what you are saying and they won't even try to make head-or-tail of what you are trying to get across to them. They just refuse point-blank not to comprehend anything you say causing a lot of frustration.

Mandarin class - Spanish, French, Canadian, Korean, Kazakstan, Swiss, Japanese, Russian, and me

So as I did not want to starve, be lost any longer or be without a toilet, I signed up to study Mandarin at the Beijing Culture and Language University in Wudaokou a district of Beijing for 5 weeks. Classes were taught Monday to Friday, 8am - noon, so afternoons and evenings were left for siesta, practising the language with the natives or other students, eating the local cuising and visiting the city. I really enjoyed my time in Beijing, I met so many interesting people from around the world wanting to improve their Chinese skills. I was in awe of all these "laowai" (foreigners) speaking fluent Mandarin and ashamed that I myself (of Chinese origin) could not. However, my Mandarin skills improved in leaps and bounds during my time there and by the end of the course I felt I could order in restaurants and give directions to taxi drivers. Of course I didn't actually know what they were saying back to me but I will persist with learning the language and hopefully I will one day be able to understand them. The trouble with the language is that there are many ways of saying the same thing and people will tell you that you are saying it wrong when it is actually right. Ah the joys of learning Mandarin!