The Traveller's Guide to Learning Chinese in China

A trip to China is the best Chinese lesson you'll ever get. Every taxi ride, menu and street sign is real practice, and people are usually delighted when a visitor tries a few words of Mandarin. You don't need to be fluent to get a lot out of it: a few weeks of preparation, a set of survival phrases for each situation and the right apps on your phone will make the trip easier and turn it into weeks of immersion.

This guide covers what to learn before you go, phrases for getting around, hotels, food, shopping and directions, how to read the signs and menus you'll meet, and how to keep learning while you're there. For the word "tourist" itself and basic sightseeing vocabulary like 景点 (jǐngdiǎn, scenic spot) and 门票 (ménpiào, entrance ticket), see our post on how to say tourist in Chinese.

Key Takeaways

• Before you go, learn pinyin and tones, numbers, and 30-50 phrases you'll actually need, and practise saying them out loud
• Learn phrases by situation (transport, hotel, food, shopping, directions) and a dozen common sign characters
• Set up mobile payment, offline translation and maps before you leave, because many Western apps don't work in mainland China

Before You Go: What to Learn and Set Up

Even a month of short daily sessions makes a real difference. Focus on these, in this order:

• Pinyin and tones. You'll be saying names of places and dishes from day one, and a wrong tone can make a word unrecognisable. Our guide to tones in Chinese covers the four tones and the tone changes.
• Numbers. Prices, room numbers, platforms, times and phone numbers all need them. Learn to say them and to recognise them when spoken quickly.
• 30-50 survival phrases, grouped by situation (the lists below are a good start), plus polite basics like 你好 (nǐ hǎo, hello), 谢谢 (xièxie, thank you) and 不好意思 (bù hǎoyìsi, excuse me / sorry).
• A handful of characters for signs: entrance, exit, toilets, men, women, metro.

Knowing a phrase on paper isn't the same as getting it out when a taxi driver is waiting. Say every phrase aloud until it comes without thinking. The Chunking Chinese fluency trainer is built for exactly this: it gives you an English prompt, you say the Chinese chunk, and it scores the tone and pronunciation of each character. For the words you'll read and hear, Mandarin Mosaic's HSK 1 and 2 lessons teach everyday vocabulary through short sentences with audio, and you can add your own phrase list as custom sentences.

A few practical things to sort out before you fly, at the time of writing:

• Payment. China runs on 扫码支付 (sǎomǎ zhīfù), paying by scanning a QR code. Alipay and WeChat Pay both let visitors link a foreign Visa or Mastercard, with no fee on payments up to ¥200 and a 3% fee above that. Set one up at home and carry a little cash as a back-up.
• Visas. British citizens can visit mainland China visa-free for up to 30 days under a scheme running to the end of 2026, and many other nationalities have similar access. Travellers from 57 countries can also use the 240-hour (ten-day) visa-free transit policy if they're flying on to a third country. The rules change often, so check with the Chinese embassy before you book.
• Apps and internet. Google services, WhatsApp and many other Western apps are blocked in mainland China, so download offline maps and translation packs before you leave (more on apps below).

Our guide to living in China goes into payments, visas and apps in more detail.

Survival Phrases by Situation

Learn the phrases for the situations you'll actually be in. Short is fine: Chinese speakers are used to clipped, practical requests, and 请问 (qǐngwèn, excuse me, may I ask) at the start makes almost anything polite.

Getting around

• 我要去这里。 (wǒ yào qù zhèlǐ.) I want to go here. Say it while showing the address on your phone, ideally written in Chinese.
• 地铁站在哪儿？ (dìtiě zhàn zài nǎr?) Where's the metro station?
• 这路车去机场吗？ (zhè lù chē qù jīchǎng ma?) Does this bus go to the airport?
• 一张去上海的票。 (yì zhāng qù shànghǎi de piào.) One ticket to Shanghai.
• 在这儿停一下。 (zài zhèr tíng yíxià.) Stop here, please.

Useful words: 高铁 (gāotiě, high-speed train), 火车站 (huǒchē zhàn, railway station), 出租车 (chūzūchē, taxi), 机场 (jīchǎng, airport).

At the hotel

• 我想办理入住。 (wǒ xiǎng bànlǐ rùzhù.) I'd like to check in.
• 我预订了一个房间。 (wǒ yùdìngle yí ge fángjiān.) I've booked a room.
• 几点退房？ (jǐ diǎn tuìfáng?) What time is check-out?
• Wi-Fi密码是多少？ (Wi-Fi mìmǎ shì duōshao?) What's the Wi-Fi password?
• 空调坏了。 (kōngtiáo huài le.) The air conditioning isn't working.

Have your passport ready at check-in: hotels register foreign guests' passports.

Eating out

• 有英文菜单吗？ (yǒu yīngwén càidān ma?) Do you have an English menu?
• 不要辣。 (bú yào là.) Not spicy, please.
• 我对花生过敏。 (wǒ duì huāshēng guòmǐn.) I'm allergic to peanuts.
• 这个是什么？ (zhège shì shénme?) What's this?

Many restaurants now have you order by scanning a QR code on the table (扫码点餐, sǎomǎ diǎncān), which is easier if you can read a little. Our guide to how to order food in Chinese has the full set of restaurant phrases, from measure words to spice levels and paying.

Shopping and paying

• 可以用支付宝吗？ (kěyǐ yòng zhīfùbǎo ma?) Can I use Alipay?
• 能刷卡吗？ (néng shuākǎ ma?) Can I pay by card?
• 我看看。 (wǒ kànkan.) I'm just looking.
• 有大一点的吗？ (yǒu dà yìdiǎn de ma?) Do you have a bigger one?

Asking for directions and help

• 请问，厕所在哪儿？ (qǐngwèn, cèsuǒ zài nǎr?) Excuse me, where's the toilet?
• 远吗？ (yuǎn ma?) Is it far?
• 一直走，然后往左拐。 (yìzhí zǒu, ránhòu wǎng zuǒ guǎi.) Go straight on, then turn left. 往右拐 (wǎng yòu guǎi) is "turn right".
• 你能说慢一点吗？ (nǐ néng shuō màn yìdiǎn ma?) Could you speak a bit more slowly?
• 能再说一遍吗？ (néng zài shuō yí biàn ma?) Could you say that again?
• 我迷路了。 (wǒ mílù le.) I'm lost.

You'll hear 哪儿 (nǎr) in the north and 哪里 (nǎlǐ) in the south; both mean "where". Remember the third-tone rule: two third tones in a row become second + third, so 哪里 is said nálǐ and 左拐 is said zuó guǎi.

Reading Signs and Menus

In big cities, metro, airport and railway signs are usually in English as well as Chinese. Shops, restaurants and smaller towns are another matter, so a dozen characters go a long way:

Menus rarely show pinyin, and many have no English, but dish names are often built from a few predictable parts: a cooking method, a main ingredient and sometimes a cut or flavour. Learn these and you can make a good guess at most dishes:

• Ingredients: 鸡 (jī, chicken), 牛肉 (niúròu, beef), 猪肉 (zhūròu, pork), 鱼 (yú, fish), 虾 (xiā, prawns), 豆腐 (dòufu, tofu), 鸡蛋 (jīdàn, egg)
• Staples: 米饭 (mǐfàn, rice), 面 (miàn, noodles), 饺子 (jiǎozi, dumplings), 汤 (tāng, soup)
• Methods and flavours: 炒 (chǎo, stir-fried), 烤 (kǎo, roasted / grilled), 蒸 (zhēng, steamed), 辣 (là, spicy)

So 番茄炒蛋 (fānqié chǎo dàn) is tomato stir-fried with egg, and 宫保鸡丁 (gōngbǎo jīdīng) is kung pao chicken, 丁 meaning diced pieces. For anything you can't work out, a camera translation app will do the rest.

Using Your Trip as Immersion

The biggest benefit of a trip is the sheer amount of Chinese around you. A few habits help you make the most of it:

• Start every exchange in Chinese, even if it switches to English or pointing. 我在学中文 (wǒ zài xué zhōngwén, I'm learning Chinese) usually earns you patience and a slower reply.
• Talk to people with time to chat: taxi drivers, shopkeepers in quiet moments, hostel staff and people in teahouses and parks.
• Keep a note of new words and sentences you hear or see on signs, and review them in the evening. This is sentence mining with a real context attached, which makes the words easier to remember.
• Listen without pressure. Announcements on trains and the metro repeat the same phrases, so by the end of a week you'll understand more of them.

Mandarin, or 普通话 (pǔtōnghuà), is understood almost everywhere in mainland China, though many people speak a local dialect at home, and accents vary a lot by region. Don't be discouraged if you understand a Beijing taxi driver less well than your textbook audio. Our post on Chinese dialects explains the main differences.

Apps That Help on the Trip

• Translation: Google Translate's online service is blocked in mainland China, so download its offline Chinese pack before you go, or use Apple's Translate app or Baidu Translate (百度翻译, bǎidù fānyì). Camera translation is the quickest way to read a menu.
• Dictionary: Pleco is the standard Chinese-English dictionary app. It's free, works offline and has handwriting input, so you can draw a character you've seen on a sign and look it up.
• Maps: Google Maps is unreliable in mainland China. Apple Maps works well there because it uses local map data, and most locals use Amap (高德地图, gāodé dìtú) or Baidu Maps.
• Getting around: DiDi (滴滴, dīdī) is the main ride-hailing app, and trains and hotels can be booked on Trip.com or the official railway site, 12306.
• Paying: Alipay (支付宝, zhīfùbǎo) or WeChat Pay (微信支付, wēixìn zhīfù), set up before you leave.

Check each app's current English support and foreign card options before you travel, since these change often.

Good Places to Practise Mandarin

Anywhere in mainland China will give you practice, but some places make it easier:

• Beijing: the standard pronunciation is based on Beijing speech, though locals add a lot of 儿 (r) endings. Teahouses, parks and the hutong lanes are good for unhurried conversation.
• Xi'an: the food streets of the Muslim Quarter (回民街, huímín jiē) are perfect for practising food words and numbers.
• Chengdu: famously relaxed, with teahouses (茶馆, cháguǎn) where people sit and chat for hours. The local Sichuan accent takes some getting used to.
• Smaller cities and towns: fewer people speak English, so you'll use more Chinese whether you plan to or not.

In Shanghai and Guangzhou you'll hear Shanghainese and Cantonese alongside Mandarin, and in Hong Kong the main language is Cantonese, so they're less immersive for Mandarin practice, though Mandarin is widely understood.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much Chinese do I need to travel in China?

You can travel with none, using translation apps and pointing, but even 30-50 phrases, numbers and a few sign characters make daily life much smoother and conversations far more likely. A month of short daily practice before the trip is enough to get there.

Can I get by with English in China?

In big-city hotels, airports and on the metro, mostly yes. In taxis, small restaurants, markets and smaller towns, often not. That's where your phrases and a translation app matter.

Should I learn Simplified or Traditional characters for a trip?

Simplified. Mainland China uses Simplified characters; Traditional characters are used in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Is a trip a good way to learn Chinese from scratch?

A short trip won't teach you Chinese on its own, but it's a great motivator and a brilliant way to put what you've studied into practice. You'll get the most from it if you arrive with the basics and keep reviewing what you pick up when you get home.

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