What should I take with me?

[Lacey]

I am planning on visiting China in the late summer early fall and I am wondering what to take with me to help me communicate?  I have been reading books and learning the language with my friend who is going with me but I don't want to go over there and not be able to understand the basics.  Should I take a dictionary or will Google Translator be enough?

[eppie]

Google translator will just messed everything up.  :grin:

Better take this so-called "travelers dictionary" with you.  I have a Mandarin Chinese Dictionary for Travelers (Publisher: Barrons) that I find very helpful.  It's basically a phrase book and dictionary where you can find almost all of the frequent questions/phrases that you need when traveling.  Maybe you can find one in your local bookstore. 

[Baburra]

I'd recommend bringing along a traveler's dictionary as well instead. I don't think Google translator would prove to be very effective, as that's probably only mostly used for rough translations to get an idea of what's being said, but otherwise, it will most likely not be able to paint a good enough picture for some of the instances you need to communicate. I'm sure there is one or two free apps out there, so I'd just recommend finding those instead.

[Miya]

If you have a smartphone, you might want to try the pleco app. You don't even need to have wifi to use it so it might come in handy.

[Traveler]

Google translate is awful! Please don't rely on it, especially for longer translation. And when using any translator, always write as simply as possible. I don't recommend things like Rosetta Stone. It's more for extroverted people I think and it takes a lot of dedication. Plus, once you get to more complicated ideas, you'll need outside help anyway.

Get a good paper dictionary and textbook, and use an app like Scritter to study. I'm old fashioned. I keep language notebooks and don't use apps. Either one is fine, but most people will probably prefer apps these days.