China and the Translation Tussle

The market potential of China has drawn in foreign investors for years but it is becoming gradually more difficult to enjoy a profitable portion of the economic pie. This is principally down to China’s steadfast desire to promote home-grown champions over their foreign counterparts – damaging the conventions of WTO conventions and promises in the process. This hurts many British businesses – especially those within the highly competitive insurance sector – and subsequently creates a desperate survival situation where one shouldn’t exist.

However, such a state of affairs does exist and it is barely advantageous to dwell on the reasons why. British companies must seduce China, just like it has seduced its incoming investors. Incorporating scrupulous translation services is a sure way to appease cultural tensions. Interpreting services are widely used by Western businessmen, and they are a magnificent way to gain insight into every nuance that appears in the business environment, but there must be a craving to go further. Outward translation showings – such as document and website translations - should be commonplace in order to negate accusations of cultural ignorance. These are simple steps that every Anglophone Western businessmen can take to guarantee an easier developmental avenue in China.Chinese companies are quickly becoming competitive in the arenas of quality and prestige – areas traditionally held in steadfast fashion by Britain and the US. The fact that China can produce services and products, that are of such high quality, at a lower cost means that integrating with business in this part of the world and surviving the process of doing so, is absolutely vital for any Western multi-national keen on surviving in the current, harsh economic climate. Search more about interpreting services.

Chinese businessmen have incessantly made an effort to increase their English speaking capability in order to contend with their Western counterparts at the negotiation table. This is an undervalued approach when viewed from the Western side. Full and all-encompassing translation services are chiefly used in a one way manner (Mandarin-to-English) without due regard for the cultural impact this can have over a prolonged period of time. How can we have sympathy for British and American businesses when they do not take the appropriate translation measures? We actually shouldn’t have any sympathy because failure falls squarely at their door. It’s time these companies realised the error of their ways and took responsibility for their translation strategies. Continued success depends on such humility.