'Welcome to take Beijing taxi'

Get in any one of Beijing’s 67,000 taxis, and you’ll hear English right away.

“Welcome to take Beijing taxi,” a disembodied voice says, “and your advice on our service is appreciated.”

Unfortunately for tourists who don’t speak Mandarin, it is a recording that offers the greeting, not the driver. My experience after nearly five years living in Beijing is that taxi drivers who can speak any English are few and far between.

Taxi drivers are supposed to be able to speak basic English by the start of the Olympics on Aug. 8. And I have gotten in a taxi or two where the driver was actually practicing with tapes, and quickly pressed me into service as a teacher for the length of the ride.

So those arriving for the Games and planning to use taxis would be well advised to have an address in printed Chinese to hand to the driver.

The positive side is that after thousands of taxi rides, I can say that only once did a driver try to rip me off. He had tinkered with the meter and I noticed it immediately coming in from the airport. Another plus: taxi drivers invariably have correct change to give you. For those familiar with travel elsewhere, say Latin America, you will know the experience of driving around with a cabby trying to find change for the equivalent of a $10 bill.

Restaurants are a different story. Most Chinese restaurants that cater to foreigners have menus with photos and provide names of dishes in both Mandarin and English. Moreover, the city government has standardized the English names of the 2,425 most commonly eaten dishes.

In case tourists get lost, the city has set up 56 information kiosks staffed by people who can speak English.

According to yesterday’s South China Morning Post, the city government says 5.5 million people in Beijing can read and speak basic English.

I was recently in the new international media center at the Olympic Village and was quite impressed, so I’m posting a few photos.

Comments

[A B]

Ripoffs by Taxis in Beijing and Shanghai are exceedingly rare.

You can also use a stored value card (with a chip in it) in Taxis and the Subway.

[wz]

Thanks for your service as an English teacher.

[Junhui]

Hah, Chinese people love to use people to learn new things.

There is a saying "san ren xing bi you wo shi ye" Within 3 walking people, one most be my teacher...Better translation; there is always something to learn from someone...Good job Tim ;)

When I was in Shanghai; we talked to the driver in Chinese, they actually got into political talk. I don't know if anyone else here has had that experience before. But it was interesting to say the least. (We tried to do this in English with other drivers, it didn't work...)

I have yet to be ripped off while riding a Taxi; and if I have, the cabby did a good job because I didn't notice or was too inebriated to notice.

[A B]

Tim,

Thank you for the interesting, and fun articles on your blog.

Likewise for doing a good job covering China.

Your regular readers know there have been some touchy times, like during March, and we appreciate how you have stayed the course with fair, accurate, unbiased coverage.

Let's have a hand for Tim!

[xueling]

Not to quibble, but I believe the first part of the disembodied Beijing taxi greeting is "Welcome to take Beijing taxi."

[Tim J]

You are right, Xueling. I just fixed in the blog entry. Thanks for correcting.

[Stan]

Agree with AB...Kudos to Tim.
Did I just agree with AB?..Oh full moon last night!

[MT]

Great job Tim. I really enjoy reading your blog. I guess we don't say this often enough.

[flyingsparkle]

My advise would be if you travel to asian countries (say: China, Japan etc) have a interpretor with you. Someone knows the language and the culture makes you avoid a lot of problems. Otherwise, it would likely to be horrible experience.

[Therese]

My favorite part about riding in Mainland taxis is talking with the drivers. Those in Beijing were always the most chatty, IMO, especially on politics. I met a few in Shanghai who were chatty on politics (one of whom knew more about Chiraq than I did), but most were more intersted in sports, entertainment, and the housing market. In Hong Kong, the cab drivers are so professional (or unwilling to speak with someone with only a basic ability in Cantonese) that I am always shocked when one does speak, though usually it's to comment that my Mandarin is better than theirs when I forget the Cantonese name of a place and say it in Mandarin.

I've only been in an attempted skimp once, and it was the same as above -- guy messed with the meter, so I argued wtih him and left the cab at an intersection, jumping into an empty cab that was nearby. The second driver was amused and good times were had in the awful Beijing traffic.

[Kudzu Fire]

some good news out of Beijing. a pleasant diversion

[Wilbur Varela]

How curious to see all these self congratulatory messages about the upcoming chinese political rally pretending to be an international sporting event. Who are the imaginary "visitors" that will be filling these cabs?

[Pffefer]

Varela,

Political rally? Why don't you ask the US and Mexico to boycott such a political rally?

[Dan]

Worst thing about Beijing taxi drivers is that they don't know where anything is. I find this more true of Beijing than anywhere else I have ever been, including other cities in China.

[A B]

There is a way around the lack of knowledge.

Get yourself clear directions in Chinese, in big characters that they can read.

Second, have your phone handy so they can talk to someone at the destination and give them real time directions.

Finally, for the geeks, get a GPS unit programmed with directions, and have them follow it.

Good luck.

[FOARP]

Note to Americans: Please don't tip the taxi drivers! Otherwise they will expect all foreigners to do this!

[Tim J]

Thanks for the kind words, friends. A blog is a very subjective vehicle. I try to spot things that I would not write in news stories but strike me as interesting, and I attempt to mix serious topics with less serious ones. I also, on occasion, write on topics that would assume a greater knowledge of China. At other times, like this topic, I assume almost no knowledge. Lately because of the Olympics, I've been tilting toward the little or no knowledge end of the spectrum.