My 2 month trip to China for IBM in the summer of 2011 was such a great experience. I'll probably write about it more in future posts. One of the things I totally underestimated was how the language barrier would effect daily business between me and my customer (large telecom equipment provider). At the same time I was totally amazed at what efforts would be taken to eliminate this as a factor in getting work done.
Learning English in China is huge as is illustrated by this billboard I ran into. My picture didn't quite come out but it says "Better English, Better Life". The majority of people under 30 in China know some English. When they do business outside of China, English is the language of choice. While I was there, many people I met wanted to practice their English with me. But in reality, there was a much smaller percentage of people that had a full English game that I could effectively communicate with. Some people could understand you, but not speak it. Others could only write it, and so on.
My entire project was based on meeting several technical teams all over China, learning about how they work by asking lots of probing questions and listening, and then negotiating with and guiding teams to better outcomes. It's 95% verbal and written communication!!!
So something I gave absolutely no thought to a week before leaving was now of utmost concern, translators and interpreters. I'm not sure if those are the same words, but I define them as this:
Interpreter - someone who can get you through a verbal discussion
Translator - "I'll have that document back to you in English in about an hour."
Interpreters at the client I was at get scheduled from a pool. Sometimes you get a good one and sometimes you are going to have a long day. For the larger meetings, the translator uses a wireless device where he/she talks into a mic and I have an earpiece on so I can hear the translation. So in one ear I hear the Chinese chatter and in the earpiece it’s all being interpreted in English. It’s really hard to get used to, and it takes an extra amount of concentration to filter out the Chinese and concentrate on the English from the translator. In addition, some translations need extra clarification, so I need to interrupt and ask for clarification. And then who do you look at? Reaction has me looking at the person I’m listening to (the translator), but respect would be to pay attention to the person speaking and giving the right body language feedback. So basically my head was spinning off my body.
And now a "retro-post" from my email log to family and friends:
Euro In-triper 7/25/2011
Today was my first day at the Shanghai office. About 5 people met me in the lobby to help me get checked in. They each introduced themselves to me, most of them used alternate English names. So each said their name, and what they do at the company.
“Tom, Development.” “Kit, QA.” “Randy, Test.” Etc. Then one woman who was speaking in a super soft voice said “Kay, I m a euro in trip eur”.
I replied, “Sorry, can you repeat?”.
“Yes, Bruce, Ima euro intriper” she said.
I replied, “Hi Kay” – I had not a clue what she did, but how important could that detail be?
Then the next person said his name and some long sentence in Chinese. Kay asked the man a few things in Chinese, and it went back and forth for a few seconds. Then Kay turned to me and said. “He is in charge of Test across multiple products, so Randy and others work in his team”. But she said it in a very broken English way that was hard to understand.
Then it hit me! I replied to Kay – “Ah, YOU are my interpreter”
Everyone laughed and I said to myself, “I’m screwed today!”. I was right – Kay was very nice, and a good "translater", but not so good interpreter. I struggled all day.
Tell me about your stories of mis-interpretations!
entertaining
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