I’ve just downloaded baidu but it’s in Mandarin and Google search translate works but it will take me forever to search for anything.
Do the locals speak English and can I trust them? In general what’s the best way to navigate if I am lost? I have a Google phone and I know that in China Google is banned.
I’m going to try to refresh my Mandarin knowledge but knowing my memory…
Use gaode map (amap), which is owned by alibaba. Locals may not know where you are going exactly as Shanghai is a huge city.
We were required to learn English when we were in middle school and in university. In the past decade, students in the university cannot get their graduation certification without passing some English exam.
After graduation, we do not have the circumstance to practice our English and may forget it at all. So if you speak to some youngsters, they may understand you more or less but just too shy to talk more（myself included）, if you type it on your phone, they may understand well.
Anyway, with some translator APP I think it would not be too difficult to navigate here.Gaode map is extremely useful.
Get an Airalo sim, it works for all blocked apps. My friend had it in SH for 10 days and had no problems accessing all outside apps.
Get Google fi, no need for vpns and worked flawlessly. Locals in the service jobs usually don’t speak any English. I could use Google translate. Generally the street names have English in the touristy areas.
I would highly reccomend using Amap (高德地图) but its all in chinese
Lots of people in Shanghai speak English and yes they are trustworthy. Most people will help if you just walk up to them.
I had a lot of friends with google play store phones that ended up just buying another Chinese cheap phone like a xiaomi or something bc there are just so many things you can’t do with a google based phone (apps you can’t download, services you can’t use).
If you are gonna be here for a while I might consider either buying a cheap xiaomi or switching to iPhone. you can use an iPhone bought in china anywhere in the world just fine (I bought mine here and use it back in the states when I go home) only thing is it doesn’t have esim which makes traveling a little more annoying
Gaode generally works well when typing in pinyin
Petal maps is the Huawei APP, is available on the Play store, and is in English. Probably the best English Map for Android in China.
Google map with VPN works pretty well, as its navigation algorithm is far superior. But since some bullshit concern about national security China is the only country in the world that put some artificial errors on satellite map, so the satellite map tend to have a bias of several hundreds of meters(the terrain does not match the road markers).
For public transport you can use the mini apps in Alipay.
1、目前海外手机卡开通漫游可以顺利使用谷歌。可以提前安装VPN以备不时之需。github有可信赖的免费的软件。
2、上海本地人大多都比较和善，值得信赖。最近，老外来上海的越来越多，你可以和他们交流。
3、高德地图、百度地图、腾讯地图是最流行的三款APP，但似乎都没有英文。华为的花瓣地图支持英文，可以尝试。
4、中国年轻人很多会说英文，不必担心你的普通话难以交流。
Either that or a Hong Kong SIM with cheap roaming in China.
Oh no I’m going to be in trouble 
I might just print a piece of paper with all Chinese phrases I’d need Vs English translation and point at that
Ohh is iPhone cheaper in china?
Ironically no, even though they don’t need to ship it halfway across the world it is actually a 100-200 dollars more in China than the US because of the VAT