Trouble with hiring Translators in China
Trouble with hiring Translators in China
Working with translators is a fact of life
for foreign business executives in China-even the most
accomplished Mandarin-speaking expats need a true linguistic expert for some
types of negotiation.
Thus, our 40 interviewees offered the
following advice on finding and using translators.
Danish furniture business owner Simon
Lichtenberg warns of the challenges of finding a qualified interpreter in China:“If you use a foreign translator, he may not understand
the Chinese well; if it's a Chinese translator, he may not catch the English nuances."
His solution has been to develop his own Chinese skills to the level where he is fluent. “You get
so much closer by speaking Chinese. I do everything in Chinese. I speak
Chinese to my son."
Brazilian distribution entrepreneur Winston Ling
comments that it was only after his Mandarin skills improved that he began to
recognize mistranslations. “Learning the language
helps. I just started to speak it a year and a half ago. Before that, I had
to have an interpreter all the time”. He tells of an instance when he hired a
translator for a business deal. “I used a PhD student to translate many of the
presentations I gave-I
did it in English, and she translated
into Chinese. At the beginning, I didn't speak Chinese. Some years later, when my
Chinese was okay, we did a presentation in Suzhou and I asked her to come along. While I
was presenting, I realized that she wasn't saying this and that. She was summarizing
way too much, but I didn't know that in the early years."
Gaining the ability to assess the quality
of translations is only possible for those who can invest years of
study into speaking fluent Chinese. For those who need to rely totally who not only on a translator, consultant/entrepreneur Nicolas Musy advises
finding a translator who not only has excellent language skills but, more
importantly, is also committed to understanding and helping you and your company. “My
Chinese partner supported me as an interpreter in the beginning. He's not a
professional interpreter, actually, but you need to
have a person that is more than just an interpreter. You need a person
who not only understands what you want to do and what you want to say, but also what
it means in the circumstances, and who can also give you his opinion and advice."
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