How good is Ranma at Speaking, Reading, Writing English?

[Sheylenna]

I've read in Fan fics- Anything from he couldn't do it even if his life depended on it to he is so good you couldn't tell that he wasn't Native. I also read somewhere that in one of the canon stories her correct Hinako in class, but that could be totally off, anyway, Just how good is he?

[Pale Wolf]

Well, one case that stands out was the test grades arc with the Principal. Ranma was tasked with translating a set of instructions from English, and did so without any difficulty, in the slightest (well, except in following the instructions, since they were a command to kiss the Principal).
Never did say what he got on the tests, though.

[Tovath]

The reason there is such a big difference in fanfics is we don't know where Ranma went on his training journey, so they make it up.
Pale Wolf What Volume is that I don't remember reading that part.

[Zwzn]

We know Ranma gets passing grades in school. Ranma likely is at least as good as the average Japanese student. The fact he never seems to study seems to point to him being able to learn things easily.
Ranma may know some Chinese. I personally think some of the flash backs are dubed in Japanese. I have no proof to back this up though.

[WG_Writer]

His english skills do seem above Hinako's either way, but his Chinese seems to be lacking... given everything else, he probably has enough to read important signs, but since the shampoo intro arc where she shows the book of laws and he can't read it, it does point to a lack of proficiency.

[Zwzn]

His english skills do seem above Hinako's either way, but his Chinese seems to be lacking... given everything else, he probably has enough to read important signs, but since the shampoo intro arc where she shows the book of laws and he can't read it, it does point to a lack of proficiency.

I was talking about spoken rather then writen chinese, and he likely learned most of it after he met Shampoo.

[lwf58]

I can't recall any point in which Ranma is able to speak Chinese. When Shampoo first appears, her Japanese is very poor, and she reverts to using Chinese on several occasions. Ranma doesn't understand any of it, and the Tendos use a dictionary to figure out what she's saying. Almost all of the other Chinese nationals who come to Nerima seem to speak excellent Japanese, so the issue of Ranma learning the language never crops up, IIRC.

[Zwzn]

I can't recall any point in which Ranma is able to speak Chinese. When Shampoo first appears, her Japanese is very poor, and she reverts to using Chinese on several occasions. Ranma doesn't understand any of it, and the Tendos use a dictionary to figure out what she's saying. Almost all of the other Chinese nationals who come to Nerima seem to speak excellent Japanese, so the issue of Ranma learning the language never crops up, IIRC.

It was in the dragon wisker arc. In a flash back Ranma takes a large bowl of dragon wisker porridge from someone one out in the seemingly middle of nowhere. The guy who made it starts to talk to Ranma. I guess I'm assuming the guy who seems to live out in the middle of nowhere was in China, and would have started at least with what was locally the most common language. This may be like Ranma riding a big cat when Mousse had all that duck water. It seems to me that pretending to be incompetent is something Ranma may do a lot.

[lwf58]

Or, more likely, it's assumed that the person who made the soup was speaking Japanese.

[bissek]

There are multiple Chinese dialects, which vary by the region of China that they originally came from- Han (the most common), three variants of Mandarin(Peking - the primary version, Nanking, and one other), and possibly more. The variations carry over into the written Chinese as well. A person fluent in Peking Mandarin would not be able to casually read or converse in Nanking Mandarin, though there are enough similarities to work out a translation if one thinks on it.
It's possible that Ranma knows a Chinese dialect, which the whisker cook also knew, and that the Joketsuzoku (spelling?) uses a different dialect. Given the fact that the whole Jusenkyo region is isolated from the rest of China by virtue of the fact that nobody in their right minds wants to go there, it's quite feasible that their version of Chinese evolved in a different way than that of any other Chinese dialect, making a totally new version that isn't really known by anyone who isn't Joketsuzoku, Musk, or Phoenix.

[EdenB]

With the soup person, I always assumed it was the standard anime excuse of they all speak the same language even if they're in different parts of the world, unless it's part of the plot that they don't.
Unless it was in the manga (which I've only read bits and pieces of) they never seem to explain why any of the Chinese characters seem to be able to all speak Japanese perfectly, apart from Shampoo.

[Bliss]

Given that the written language in China is more or less standardized, with discrepancies mainly arising from those that live in the far west (the Tibetans, and the Hui people write in a more 'arabic' looking script) or in the GuangDong province (the people in Hong Kong still write in Fan Ti or Traditional style), everyone else is required to write in Jian Ti or Simplified style.
As for speech, if Ranma did speak Chinese, it was most likely Pu Tong Hua, which is supposed to be the universally spoken common tongue. Of course there are various different dialects based on region, ethnicity, and even what city you're from, but for the most part everyone should more or less understand Pu Tong Hua. Although with the isolation of the Amazons and such, it's likely that if they don't need to maintain contact outside of their province that they don't speak Pu Tong Hua.
*shrugs* All of this is irrelevant since the main question was about Ranma's profficiency with English.

[Zwzn]

With the soup person, I always assumed it was the standard anime excuse of they all speak the same language even if they're in different parts of the world, unless it's part of the plot that they don't.
Unless it was in the manga (which I've only read bits and pieces of) they never seem to explain why any of the Chinese characters seem to be able to all speak Japanese perfectly, apart from Shampoo.

Cologne was married to Happosai
Mousse was working in Japan in a circus
I seem to remember a flashback by Mousse in wich Shampoo talked in her native language the same way she did Japanese. I can never seem to find the flashback.

[claymade]

Cologne was married to Happosai

When was this mentioned? First I've heard of this.

Mousse was working in Japan in a circus

To get at Ranma the second time. But he speaks it well even in their first encounter, before there's any evidence that he's joined the circus. (And really, one wouldn't expect him to be running around Japan if Shampoo was back in China.)

[Zwzn]

Cologne was married to Happosai

When was this mentioned? First I've heard of this.

I don't recall it being out right stated, but in the love pill arc it seemed implyed they had at least a romantic relationship. We also know Happi was good enough to rob her village blind. It is why he had the love pills.

Mousse was working in Japan in a circus

To get at Ranma the second time. But he speaks it well even in their first encounter, before there's any evidence that he's joined the circus. (And really, one wouldn't expect him to be running around Japan if Shampoo was back in China.)

I may have missremembered when things happened.
I've always assumed the group of Chinese acrobats he was working with came from his village.
It should be noted that the book of laws Shampoo carries has a Japanese translation in it. This would imply to me that at least at one time a lot of Japanese came to the village.