Читать книгу Prepare Yourself for China: The Visitor's Survival Guide to China. Second Edition. - Brian Hammond Bailie - Страница 4

Interpreters

I can’t emphasize it enough, China is not just another foreign country, it’s a whole other planet to the unprepared Westerner. Don’t wait until you arrive there to discover just how alienated you’re going to be. Unless your Mandarin is pretty good, without interpreters, I promise you’ll be seriously restricted.

Ideally you’ve already armed yourself with a phone-interpreter. Phone-interpreters are easy to use, at the end of your mobile phone 24/7, and can save you a lot of stress; save you from little problems becoming big problems, and they can save you money. For about the same price as cinema ticket, you can buy peace of mind, and travel with the confidence of a seasoned professional.

Personally, even with my years of experience, I’m uncomfortable travelling in China without an interpreter available at the other end of my speed-dial. Okay so this is a cinch for me because I have my own Chinese office staff to phone or text, but it’s worth checking out, and have it set up before you arrive. There are several good providers of phone interpreting services that you can book online before you travel.

I’m not trying to scare you, really, but I think it’s easier to learn from other people’s hindsight:

*I know an Australian businesswoman, freshly arrived from Pu Dong Airport, who hopped into a taxi for the (three-hour) drive to Hangzhou without taking advantage of the airport restrooms. Sure enough, before long she needed “to go”. However her language skills failed her in her moment of desperation, and the driver simply mistook her pleading and gesticulating as a need to drive faster. Unable to communicate her predicament, she arrived in Hangzhou a little ahead of time, soiled and deeply humiliated.

*I have a mischievous expat friend who thought it would be funny to play a prank on his American visitor who had recently arrived in China bitterly complaining about the dangerous way his taxi driver had delivered him. The American asked my friend for the Chinese phrase for “Slower, Slower.” But the prankster taught him the Chinese phrase for “Faster, Faster.” You can image the results: The faster the taxi driver drove, the louder and more desperately the American screamed, “Faster, Faster.” It wasn’t funny at the time, apparently.

*And, an Irish businessman I know was unwittingly drawn into an argument in the street over a stolen computer, and perpetrators accused the Irish guy of the offence, (he was to be their patsy). Unable to understand anything that was going on, he was arrested by the Chinese Police. The police demanded that he sign a document admitting to the crime, which he could neither read nor understand. He subsequently spent three months in a Chinese prison, until his family could arrange to buy his release.

Okay, so these are extreme examples of instances when it would have been very useful to be able to phone a friendly local, but you get the idea: interpreters aren’t just a luxury, they can prove to be essential.

There are two types of reliable interpreting systems:

•By-Your-Side,

•and Over-the-Phone.

By-your-side interpreters

This is great (for your ego), there is nothing to beat having your own personal guide to follow; however the cost is significant at about US$80 to US$150 per eight-hour day.

I’d recommend a by-your-side interpreter if you’re planning something like a specialized shopping trip or a business meeting, (in fact I’d demand that you acquire your own independent by-your-side interpreter for any business meetings or factory inspections if this is what you’re visiting for).

One drawback of a by-your-side interpreter is that they are by your side all day long, invading your privacy, wanting fed, listening to everything, knowing almost everything about you. If you enjoy your own privacy, this can be suffocating.

Another serious drawback of a by-your-side interpreter is if they are leading you to people and places where they know they’ll get a kick-back on anything you buy, or any deals you make. This is a really neat way for them to profit from your ignorance. As well as being led to their preferred contacts, you may find yourself invited to a Tea Party.

These Tea Parties have become a bit of a scamming cliché, but in case you don’t know, read on: You’ll find yourself in someone’s humble home, perhaps a frail old woman introduced as a special auntie. And you’ll be treated to a tea ceremony of sorts – all lovely and friendly. And once you’ve enjoyed the (average) tea and little old lady’s hospitality, you’ll be persuaded to purchase some of her “very special” tea. It isn’t special tea, and she probably lives in a swanky new apartment across the road. The price you are being asked to pay for the tea is extortionate, even by best-of-the-best quality tea standards. I sent my Claire off one afternoon with a new interpreter, and he cunningly tried this scam on her. Claire felt really embarrassed about refusing the old woman’s price for tea; and we quickly gave that interpreter the boot.

Over-the-phone interpreters

These interpreters can prove to be indispensable: almost always available on your mobile phone, and ready to answer your call when you need them.

Over-the-phone interpreting is such a simple system for visiting China with confidence, and it’s a system that’s also used by Westerners who live and work in China. I know several American and European expats who have lived in China for decades, who speak reasonably good Mandarin, yet they still depend on phone-interpreters for just getting about; the unexpected happens on a daily basis in China, and it’s very comforting to have a natural-born Chinese linguist on the other end of your phone.

The over-the-phone interpreter system is child-simple: when you have a communication problem, you simply speed-dial the service and an interpreter answers your call. You just explain to the phone-interpreter what it is that you want to communicate to the Chinese person you are with, and then pass your phone to that person, and your phone-interpreter will speak for you, and to you, and usually sort everything out for you.

Most of the time you’ll use your interpreter for simple questions and advice such as: telling your taxi driver where you want to go to; telling a shop assistant what size you wear; ordering your meal; finding your way about town; negotiating better bargains at the market; finding a bank or ATM; the list really is endless......

Phone-interpreters are priced by the second, or by the day.

The by-the-second system is just like using your phone at home, except you pay a credit to your account in advance, and each time you call the interpreters you’re charged about US$1.50 per minute. When you use up all your credit you need to pay them more money to continue the service.

The by-the-day system is also paid in advance, but the big advantage is that you pay a flat-rate per day, which will not vary, so that once you pay for it you can forget about additional demands for payment because there aren’t any – it’s a fixed budget that you know before you go. This system works out at about US$15 per day, regardless of how often you use the service.

If you know enough Mandarin to do whatever you are going to China to do, then the by-the-second system will possibly be the more cost-effective option.

If your Mandarin, is basic, (or less than basic), (or non-existent), then I’d recommend the by-the-day flat-rate system.

You’re right to think that calling a phone interpreter on your usual mobile phone is going to be expensive. But there’s a very simple solution for this: when you arrive in China buy yourself a SIM card and mobile phone from one of the thousands of specialist phone stores. A basic phone and SIM card is very affordable, and the calls on a Chinese network will cost you almost nothing.