You can also tell your father that all the announcements for train boarding at the Shanghai station are made in English as well as Mandarin, and the board listing the upcoming trains switches between Mandarin and English. The train station in Nanjing does not do announcements in English, but he can go up to the desk in the "soft seat" waiting area, show the clerk his ticket, and they will let him know when to head up on the platform. The upcoming train board is all in Mandarin, but the train numbers and times are in "American" style characters, so he will be able to figure out when his train is expected on the board.

He should also know that all soft-seat tickets have assigned seating. On the ticket he will find a set of 2 numbers - the first number is the train car number, and the second is his seat number.