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Forums > Living in Kunming > Should you study Chinese?

I have been in China since 2004. I have property in my own right (as well as with my wife), a driving licence and car, bank accounts, and a job.
I have never very much passed survival Chinese. I am not proud of this, but it is a fact.

But I have nearly always worked in English speaking environments, and my Chinese wife speaks good English.
If I was on my own I could feel isolated, but then again, with all the expat bars and restaurants here, maybe not.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Should you study Chinese?

English is already spoken widely in China. But only by a small proportion of the population.

The average person you meet in China does not speak English.
The average person in France does not speak English, even if they did do it in school.
The average person in England speaks English, but no other language effectively.

Forget learning language as an investment in your future. Yes as a multi-lingual person you are more employable than a mono-lingual person. But there are limits.

For travelling, language is useful but not essential. How many travellers can speak the languages of all of the countries they have been to?

For daily life in China, you can get by with survival Chinese. Until something goes wrong and needs fixing.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Sat survey

Not me, I had to settle for Chinese language.

Something to investigate, you can pre-order On-star with some imported GM models in China, but it must be pre-ordered (no retro fit). I am not sure if Onstar has China mapping though. It might be worth investigating.

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The guys selling pelts usually arrive in late autumn, all over China. The ones I am thinking of look a bit like frontiersmen, with their fur hats and scrawny black beards. These guys sell dog pelts, they are often sprayed to look like leopard, tiger, etc.

There is a need for people to update knowledge bases

Darwin's Law of Evolution by Natural Selection (traditionally referred to as a "theory" to honor Darwin's original treatise, but now confirmed through observation and experiment) consists of five main tenets.
www.genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/Darwin.htm

Google of [Darwin's Law] will bring up many scientific websites.

The semantic argument that this is a theory and not a law is out of date.

@85 cents. The article says 'only relevant to new signs'. In other words traders won't have to pay for a new sign. But when a new sign is required it needs to be in Pinyin or English, in addition to Hanzi.

This sounds good to me. It will help me find places and improve my Chinese a lot. Why will it improve my Chinese? because I will recognise more words that I have learned in Pinyin (many more than I could in Hanzi) and recognising words will help my language acquisition.
If the words are in English it may also help local kids with their English, in the same manner as Pinyin would help me.

Making the road signs in Pinyin and Chinese was a good idea. It has helped me a lot in navigating the city. Extending the policy to shop signs can only add benefit. And nobody has to buy a new sign.

Reviews

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A reasonable choice of lumber that has improved over time. Fancy hardwoods like walnut, and mahogany are in abundance. There are some plywood and rubber-wood boards available. There are also some kiln dried imported softwoods and merbao available. Some of the lumber is very green, so look for the kiln dried if you need stable timbers.

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Echo everything said by others.
Breakfast great and the serve from 8am. Most other places say 9am and they still are not ready.
Sandwiches are cheap 22-32, and really packed full of filling. We got some sandwiches for a day out, the only mistake I made was ordering two, as this was too much. These are seriously good sangars, and they are wrapped in alu foil.

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In fairness to Metro, they are a wholesalers, and not really a supermarket. Hence the need for a card, which can be got around.

They have improved in the year I have been away. They now carry a more consistent range of imported foodstuffs and they also seem to have sorted out the mported milk supply.

They have a wider range of electrical appliances now, there is a coice of more than one toast. There is also a better range of seasonal non foods, like clothes, shoes, garden furniture and camping gear.