Pointing works for buying water; it doesn't work for returning a wrong order, haggling a taxi fare, or telling a pharmacist your symptom. The realistic setup: a translation app for the 80% of cases, and a real Chinese speaker for the 20% where it matters. Keep your hotel's name in Chinese on your phone lock screen.
Tencent Translate and Baidu Translate run locally; Google Translate often fails behind the firewall. Download offline language packs before you fly.
Screenshot your hotel name and address in Chinese. Show it to taxi drivers and at the front desk instead of pronouncing it.
For menus, items, or a broken thing, show a photo. A picture crosses the language gap faster than a translation app.
When the app isn't enough, a China-based person can call the shop, pharmacy or driver and explain in Chinese, then tell you the result in English. China On-Call does this on WeChat 13368344745.
Tencent Translate and Baidu Translate work well and run locally; Google Translate is often blocked or slow. Install one and download offline English-Chinese packs before you arrive.
Screenshot the hotel's name and address in Chinese from its listing or map app, and show the photo to the driver. Pronouncing a Chinese address rarely works.
For simple buys, pointing and a translator app are enough. For explaining a problem (wrong order, allergies, returns), a Chinese speaker on the phone is far more reliable — China On-Call provides this on WeChat 13368344745.
Yes. A China-based helper can speak to the other party in Chinese and relay it to you in English — useful with hotels, pharmacies, delivery or a confused driver. China On-Call offers this on WeChat 13368344745.
Add China On-Call on WeChat — a real person in China who makes the call you can't, then tells you what happened in English.
Go to China On-Call