"Many travelers to China and Taiwan rely on talking electronic devices equipped with English-Chinese and Chinese-English dictionaries that actually do the speaking.
Talking dictionaries can serve as a translator when haggling with a street vendor in Guangzhou, or giving directions to a taxi driver in Shenzhen."
I wish they had it back then... back in 1998 when I was sent to Beijing, China for work. There were days wherein I had to go somewhere alone. I was prepared, mind you. I had all the important words memorized and my Mandarin phrase book always on hand. Useless. It was like I was talking to them in Latin, judging from the question mark on their faces.
The problem was, no matter how hard I tried, my pronunciation of the Chinese words I learned were not correct. The taxi driver couldn't even figure out my hotel name when I told him.
Should you be heading off to that part of the world soon, I suggest you take USA Today's advice and buy any of the rated e-Translation devices. If you missed it, it's that box on the upper left side of the article.
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