Can I get by in China speaking only English?

Yes, comfortably, if your phone is set up. Outside of international hotels and airline staff, assume zero English — but camera translation handles menus and signs, voice translation handles conversations, and most daily transactions (metro, Didi, scan-to-order restaurants) need no conversation at all.

Does Google Translate work in China?

The app works if you have roaming/eSIM data (which bypasses the firewall) or if you download the offline Chinese pack before arrival. On local Wi-Fi or a Chinese SIM without a VPN, the online features are blocked — so download the offline pack regardless.

What's the best translation app for menus in China?

Camera translation in Google Translate or Apple's built-in Camera/Translate works well on printed menus. For scan-to-order QR menus on your own phone, take a screenshot and translate the image, or use WeChat's image translate. Results are imperfect but more than good enough to order confidently.

How do Chinese people typically communicate with foreigners?

Via phone screens. Locals will often open their own translation app and speak into it, or type. Don't be shy about doing the same — passing a phone back and forth is completely normal social behavior in China now.

Should I learn any Chinese before visiting?

You don't need to, but ten phrases repay the hour it takes: hello, thank you, this one, how much, too expensive, don't want, where is the bathroom, check please, I can't eat spicy, and numbers 1–10 with finger-counting. Pronunciation doesn't have to be perfect — context does most of the work.

Surviving China Without Chinese: Translation Tools, Phrases & Menus

The language barrier in China is real — English penetration is low even in Shanghai — but it’s also the most over-feared part of a trip. Modern China is built around screens, QR codes, and apps, which means most interactions are transactional rather than conversational. Here’s the toolkit, in order of how often you’ll actually use it.

The toolkit

1. Camera translation (used 10× a day)

Point your camera at menus, signs, museum labels, product packaging:

Google Translate app — download the offline Simplified Chinese pack before you fly (Settings → Downloaded languages). Camera mode then works with zero connectivity. With an eSIM/roaming connection it works online too (why roaming bypasses the firewall).
Apple Translate / iPhone Camera — iOS translates Chinese text natively in the Camera and Photos apps; quality is now comparable to Google for menus.
Accuracy reality check: dish names translate weirdly (“husband and wife lung slices” is beef in chili oil, and it’s delicious). Translate for ingredients, not poetry.

2. Voice conversation mode (a few times a day)

For pharmacies, ticket counters, taxi drivers, hotel issues: open conversation mode (Google Translate or Apple), set English↔Chinese, and hand the phone back and forth. Two etiquette notes: speak in short sentences, and hold the phone toward the other person — locals are completely used to this dance and will often grab their own phone to reply.

3. WeChat’s built-in translator (for ongoing relationships)

Inside any WeChat chat, long-press a Chinese message → Translate. Hotels, tour guides, and Didi drivers all communicate via chat; this turns every text exchange bilingual. WeChat also does image translation: send yourself a photo of a sign and long-press it.

4. Pleco (for the curious)

The serious Chinese dictionary app, free tier is plenty: handwriting input lets you draw a character you see; the OCR add-on reads characters from your camera. Optional, but travelers who like understanding why the menu says what it says love it.

Menus and food, specifically

Restaurants increasingly hand you no menu at all — you scan a QR code on the table and order from your own phone, which complicates camera translation (you can’t point your camera at your own screen). Solutions, in order:

Screenshot the QR menu pages → translate the screenshots in Google Translate’s image mode or Photos.
Look for picture menus — extremely common, and pointing works fine.
The phrase “你有英文菜单吗?” (Do you have an English menu?) occasionally pays off in tourist areas.

More depth — including dietary restrictions and delivery apps — in the food guide.

The 15 phrases worth memorizing

Tones matter less than guides claim when context is on your side. Approximate pronunciations:

English	Chinese	Sounds like
Hello	你好	nee-how
Thank you	谢谢	shyeh-shyeh
This one	这个	jay-guh
How much?	多少钱	dwor-shaow chyen
Too expensive	太贵了	tie-gway-luh
Don’t want it	不要	boo-yaow
Where’s the toilet?	厕所在哪	tsuh-swor dzai-nah
Check, please	买单	my-dahn
I don’t eat spicy	我不吃辣	wor boo chir lah
No meat	我不吃肉	wor boo chir roh
Water	水	shway
Beer	啤酒	pee-jyoh
Yes / OK	好	how
No problem	没事	may-shir
Sorry/excuse me	不好意思	boo-how-ee-suh

Numbers: learn 1–10 (yī, èr, sān, sì, wǔ, liù, qī, bā, jiǔ, shí) and notice that locals signal 6–10 with one-hand gestures — vendors will flash them at you.

Offline survival kit (prepare before departure)

Offline translation pack: Simplified Chinese (not Traditional — that’s Taiwan/Hong Kong).
Hotel name + address in characters, saved as a screenshot and a note.
Screenshot of any dietary restriction in Chinese (see food guide for ready-made lines).
Your embassy’s address and emergency line, in both languages.

What no app fixes (honest section)

Handwritten signs and stylized calligraphy defeat OCR; ask a young person — they’ll translate via their own phone.
Regional accents can confuse voice mode; typing always works.
Phone battery death is a language emergency. Carry a power bank; rentable ones (orange/green cabinets everywhere) sometimes refuse foreign-payment accounts.
Deep conversations don’t happen through a translation app. Smiles, patience, and showing genuine effort with your five phrases carry enormous goodwill — visitors are still met with notable warmth and curiosity, especially outside the megacities.

Bottom line: with one offline pack, one screenshot habit, and fifteen phrases, the language barrier shrinks from terrifying to mildly entertaining by day three.