For visitors who travel to China , the language barrier is likely to be the biggest obstacle , in shanghai , the local speaks Shanghai dialect , a wu phrasebook/wu dialect, is the language of the streets and very different from Chinese mandarin. In addition ,Shanghainese speakers have a particular accent when speaking Mandarin. Mandarin is heavily tone -based and speakers from Beijing can easliy be understood ( most textbooks are based on their accent or an approximation),Shanghainese speakers , as the second-language learners of Mandarin themselves, have appropriated some of the features of the Shanghainese language into their mandarin. While in other language this would not be a problem, the slighest shift in pronunciation can make it much more difficult to understand , the best thing to do so is say " shuo man yi dian " which means " speaks a little slower".