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Brush up, Beijing!

2018/9/11 9:52:06   source:Global Times

With the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing approaching quickly, the city is again making sure to be as accessible as possible for the athletes and guests from all over the world that are expected en masse for another historic sporting event.

To raise its international image, the city has launched a public contest to eradicate street signs from "Chinglish," the Global Times reported in March.

Also, the city took action to make more and more services available in the English language. For example, an English counter at the ticket office at the Beijing Train Station is already in service.

In July, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning announced that it will make emergency hotlines available in multiple languages. Expats and tourists will be able to call the ambulance in English with the help of a third-party operator, the South China Morning Post reported.

Nonetheless, can Beijing keep up with other global metropolises like Tokyo or New York regarding international mindedness and accessibility for foreigners? Metropolitan has talked to both foreign and local visitors to the city and some foreign residents to get a feel of how they would rate Beijing's image of being an international city.

Praise for Beijing

Marine from Paris, France, is on a stop-over in Beijing on her China round trip and was quite surprised about its cosmopolitan environment.

"Beijing is more international than the rest of China, taken into account that I have not seen Shanghai or any other big cities," she said. "It's interesting to see a more diverse population of different nationalities here in Beijing."

South African national Keegan, who works as an English teacher in Beijing, says that Beijing scores "very close to nine" on a scale of one to ten when it comes to internationality.

Kais from Canada gives Beijing a seven out of ten.

"There are many foreigners here compared to other Chinese cities," he explained.

Srdjan Stamenkovic from Serbia gives Beijing a seven out of ten.

"There are many street signs in English, which is okay," he said. "It's not so easy to get lost in Beijing."

Grace, from Miami, Florida, in the US, said that Beijing's different areas determine how international the city is.

"We live in a very 'Chinese' area, Fengtai," she said, "and no-one speaks English there."

Hence Grace uses a translation app to converse with the locals in her neighborhood.

"But in the areas, Sanlitun and Guomao, it is very easy to get around and a lot of people speak English," she added.

Shanghai more international

There's been an age-long rivalry in China between the two metropolises, Beijing and Shanghai. People say that Shanghai is more "Westernized" because of its international settlements that were present in the late 19th and early 20th century. Today, many think that the city is more open and international minded than Beijing, said a Shanghainese surnamed Wu who was on a business trip to Beijing.

"Beijing is more traditional than Shanghai, while the culture in Shanghai is more inclusive," he said.

However, Huang Qingsong, an architect from Beijing, feels that Beijing has caught up with Shanghai over the recent years and is becoming more and more international, managing to attract foreign residents that are interested in immersing themselves into Chinese culture.

"The biggest difference between Beijing and Shanghai is that foreigners living in Shanghai speak English, but foreigners living in Beijing speak Beijing dialect," he said.

Chinese language a major obstacle

"When I first came to Beijing, everything was difficult, from opening a bank account to exchanging money and finding an apartment," Stamenkovic said. "Once I downloaded WeChat life became a lot easier."

According to Keegan, the language barrier is the number one difficulty for tourists in China. Even though apps can help out with that, it is still a challenge to get around, do shopping and order food for those who don't master Chinese.

But he sees the Chinese language as a welcoming challenge that makes life in China interesting.

"We are coming from our countries to China, so who are we to change them and their language," Keegan said. The language barrier is exactly what constitutes the China experience, he added.

"It could be easier, but then it wouldn't be as fun as it is," she said.

Chelsea Leigh Jones from the UK thinks that difficulties for foreigners start when they arrive at the airport, where the only people that could speak some words of English were the drivers of unregistered taxis that try to lure the naïve tourists into their overpriced transportation vehicles. In other countries, there were people at the airport giving you directions and helping you translate, she said.

"Now when you go to Beijing airport they have a security camera which flashes to make sure that the taxi drivers are registered, which makes you feel much safer," she said.

Monica, an English teacher from Macedonia, believes that the cultural differences can make it hard for foreigners to access local life in Beijing. That's not something she thinks Beijing should change, though, because it's what makes them unique.

"We are here the guests, so we should adapt," Monica said.

Canadian Kais has lived in Beijing for two years, but he still struggles with how crowded the city can feel at times, the traffic jams and that it can be difficult to catch a cab.

More tourist offices, fewer stares

To help tourists and new residents better navigate in Beijing, Chelsea suggests that the city opens up more tourist offices where they could turn to and ask for help.

"Maybe when they arrive at the airport they could have something printed out with a couple of translations to help them get by when they first arrive. I think they'd feel very welcomed," she said.

Marine feels that Chinese could open up more towards foreigners. "We feel a lot of curiosity from them when they look at us. We get a lot of stares and people want to take selfies and photos with us. Sometimes it's a little irritating."

Other than that, Marine hopes that the locals could improve their foreign language skills "to handle communication with foreigners better" since she feels lost sometimes when trying to converse with the locals.

Not everyone is happy with her suggestion.

"If all Chinese could speak English, [then] English teachers would soon have no job," Monica said.

Gao Yiwen contributed to this article.

Posted in: METRO BEIJING

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