[pvnew]

A friend of mine is going to China on vacation in a couple of weeks and he keeps asking me if there is anything he can buy for me. I don't believe there is, but I thought I would ask for everyone's advise. Should I have he buy anything or not?

Thanks,

Patty

DTC 3/17/2005
LID - still waiting on date

[Lissa]

...I wouldn't have him get anything I could think of...but checking out diapers and formula availability in stores might be nice information to have.

[caseymunn]

I have a friend from Hong Kong who now lives in the states, and I was asking him if there were electronic handheld Chinese/English dictionaries where you could type in a word or phrase in English and it would pronounce it and spell it in Chinese. He said they are impossible to find in the US, but they are common in China and not terribly expensive. I would personally LOVE to have one of those to learn a bit of Chinese before we go and also to take with us to translate. Perhaps your friend might see if he could find one for you. My friend has been trying to teach us some simple Chinese (like numbers) but it's difficult because in Hong Kong they speak Cantonese and throughout most of China they speak Mandarin. (Although they do speak Cantonese in Guangzhou.) Keep that in mind if you do start studying up on the language!

[AmoyGirl]

Yes, the handheld electronic Chinese/English dictionaries are very popular in China. When we lived there all of the college students had them, as did many foreigners who were learning Chinese. You can get a basic one for about $30-50, or a more advanced model that would also allow you to enter in characters (as opposed to just spelling out the romanized words) for around $100. The more advanced model might be useful for translating menus in restaurants, street signs, etc., but a basic one would also be very helpful for someone who doesn't speak Chinese. If you are interested, tell you friend that any major department store should have an electronics counter selling electronic dictionaries.

Morgan
Bio son Aidan 6/17/04
Waiting to turn 30!

[Sean&Shan]

Great idea, I would not have thought of it!!!! I had a 5 language one last time in Europe and loved it- used it constantly (except in Germany where the menu items were too long!!!!)
Love this forum- tons of awesome ideas