English can be a problem
in Beijing. English will
be spoken in all the
main hotels, large restaurants
and larger shops. Taxi
drivers are not good
at English and normal
practice is to ask the
hotel staff to write
down your destination
in Chinese. Do make sure
you carry with you the
hotel card in Chinese
to return. Many restaurants
have picture menus and
includes the fast food
ones where the picture
menu will be given to
you.
Mandarin (or known as
Putonghua) is the national
language of China, Cantonese
is spoken in Guangdong,
and Hakka is used in
northeastern Guangdong.
Chinese uses tones and
incorrect tones change
meanings of words.
