A colleague once told me that a good indicator of economic confidence was the number of construction cranes on the skyline. If he’s correct, Beijing is feeling good about its prospects, very good in fact.

According to figures recently published by the Associated Press, China’s economy grew at a blistering 9.4 percent in the first three quarters of 2005 alone. Yet a pan-European business poll by parcel firm UPS revealed that almost a third (31 percent) of UK business leaders do not consider Asia to be an important trading or production market.

To ignore the headlines predicting the ‘awakening of the Dragon’ would be commercial suicide: the world economy is undergoing a revolution as a China-led Asia returns to its historic role at the centre of affairs, according to the Financial Times’ Martin Wolf.

Few of us receive emails in Chinese, but I saw one last year which translated into: “I’d like to spend a million pounds with your company”. A good excuse, I thought, to spend January in Beijing talking to business representative organizations and growing companies who want to trade with the west. There were things I know now which I didn’t know when I boarded my plane from London to Beijing to meet my Chinese contact which everyone wishing to do business in China should be aware of. Let me explain.

There were no berths available on the night train from Beijing to Xian (famous for its terracotta army but fast developing other industries) but we soon found ourselves settling down to sleep as one suddenly came available. A few days later we dined in a restaurant which was so busy that there was a queue for tables but strangely we had been directed past the queue into a private dining room.

Not long after my arrival in Beijing I’d mentioned a long standing back injury was troubling me after my flight. The next day I was ushered past the waiting patients to be x-rayed immediately by one of the City’s leading orthopedic surgeons. No money changed hands. The currency exchanged was based upon Guanxi (Pronounced “GWAN-shee”) which literally means “relationships”. In practice, “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”. The exchange of favors.

My host, a local businessman whose family has lived in the same area of Beijing for centuries, runs several successful restaurants. He has Guanxi in abundance and I have lost count of the number of times his standing has made things happen which would have been impossible without his network. If you trade with China, or would like to trade with China, underestimate Guanxi at your peril.

It works at all levels from social engagements through business and into officialdom. Western corporations often place great emphasis on efficiency and financial performance as a guide to whether or not to trade with other entities. In China, a much higher importance is put on personal relationships. You do not need to be big and powerful to forge successful business relationships with Chinese executives but you do need establish the personal contacts first.

My advice is not to rely on formal written communications but wherever possible to talk to prospective contacts on the phone (using an interpreter if required) and, if at all possible, arrange to meet in person as soon as you think you have a mutual interest in trading. Return flights from London to Beijing are around 400 UK and once there, accommodation is cheap.

Time spent getting to know your potential partners will pay dividends down the line. Unless your hosts speak English well, consider hiring a face-to-face interpreter to avoid confusion and help initial meetings run smoothly. Their local knowledge of the City will also be invaluable as Beijing is huge.

My time in China was extremely productive. London Translations Limited, has announced an agreement with Beijing Sagive Translations Company Limited, one of the most respected and experienced translation firms in China. This will provide a crucial language ‘bridge’ to enable trade between our two countries. Crucially they will provide an English to Chinese service and we will translate Chinese into English.

Incidentally, I never found out how exactly we managed to get seats on a fully booked train but my host did mention that the wife of a comedian whose show was being played on TV in our carriage works at the train company and the comedian himself regularly eats in his restaurants!

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Chinese translation is not an easy job as the Chinese language involves more than one form of letter system i.e., simplified and traditional. Translators need to keep in mind that if their document is to be used in Mainland China, then the translations should be done in simplified Chinese. But if the translations are to be used outside Mainland China, traditional Chinese should be used.

Today, there is a huge demand of Chinese translators due to the boom in the Chinese economy. So, if you are proficient in both English and Chinese, you can become a Chinese-to-English and English-to-Chinese translator and seek a job in legal, commercial, technical, medical and many other fields. There are many types of Chinese translators and some options that you can explore according to your credentials are:

Chinese literary translators: If you have good knowledge and understanding of both Chinese and English literature, you can become a Chinese literary translator. This job basically involves translation of novels, books, work of fiction, poems, odes, sonnets, ballades, plays, dramas, autobiographies, etc. from English to Chinese and vice versa. Literary translators are in great demand in colleges, publication houses and they can also work as freelancers with commercial translation agencies.

Chinese legal translators: If you have command over both English and Chinese language, and knowledge of American legal terminologies, then you can easily become a Chinese legal translator. Legal translators need to be very professional as it is a critical job and involves translation of legal documents such as, statutes, bills, contracts, agreements, bonds, treaties, etc. Chinese legal translation professionals need to deliver authentic, professional and accurate translations as a slight error can lead to a lawsuit or serious consequences. Chinese legal translators can get top jobs in both private and government sectors.

Chinese medical translators: If medicine is your major and you are linguistically sound at Chinese and English language, you can become a Chinese medical translator. But, a word of caution here is that medical translation demands 100% accuracy and has no room for errors. So, if you have thorough knowledge of your subject and have excellent linguistic skills, you can render medical translation services to hospitals, medical equipment manufacturers, pharmaceutical firms, clinicians, and researchers seeking translation services. The job of a Chinese medical translator involves translating medical manuals, medical books, transcripts, prescriptions, packaging labels of medicines and medical equipments, etc.

Chinese technical translators: If you have knowledge of any of the following subjects, such as computers, aeronautics, robotics, electronics, machinery, IT, logistics, defense, engineering, etc. and specialization in Chinese and English language, you can easily become a Chinese technical translator. The job profile involves translation of websites, manuals, instructions, and other text related to the specific field.

You can also join private or government organizations which have trade relations with China and need translation services for translating their day-to-day manuals, privacy policies, management strategies, etc. As China has gained entry in World Trade Organization (WTO), your career as a Chinese translator can flourish.

If wish to pursue a career of a Chinese translator, but do not know Chinese, log on to www.fastlearningchinese.com and learn Chinese from the experts. Their Fast Learning Chinese program is designed by expert language teachers in China. The program is suitable for business professionals and individuals alike. You can definitely widen your job options by learning Chinese from this school as they ensure that you know Chinese well at the end of the program.

 

 

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Whenever you are targeting a regional market it is important that you can communicate to the audience in a language that they are familiar with. This is aptly applicable for the Chinese region as most of people speak only the native language and are not aware of the global business language of English. Internet seems to be the most affordable and the quickest option to reach out to them and if you want to grab their attention it is crucial for you to get Chinese website translation done.

However getting Chinese website translation done will only help the Chinese people understand the offer that you have for them however in order to drive the people to your site it is important for you that you can have effective keywords included in the text of your website. In this way the website will be able to rank well on the various search engines and get visitors to view your offer. When you have the Chinese website translation done in a professional way, the translator would include the relevant keywords in Chinese. This will help the website to rank well on Chinese search engines like Baidu as well. Baidu is extensively used by the Chinese audience and if your website rank well on it you can be sure that you’ll be able to grab a lot of Chinese viewers.

When you opt for Chinese website translation you have to be sure that the company or individual doing this for you are highly experienced and an expert. The reason for this being that Chinese is a very complicated language, and since, you are not aware about the language you might not be able to proof read it or correct it. In this way you are entirely dependent on the English-to-Chinese website translation service provider.

Also once you have your Chinese website translation done you can start looking at other aspects of effective Internet marketing for the Chinese audience. The key here is getting as many links as you can get because for a search engine like Baidu it is the number of incoming links that decide the ranking of your web page on the Internet.

To sum it up it can be said that your entire Internet marketing campaign in China is dependent on your Chinese website translation activity, if you are able to get it right you will be able to make a lot of money with the attention you get from the Chinese population.

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