Chinese Language

Chinese Translation

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Chinese Translation sample:

Tutti gli esseri umani nascono liberi ed eguali in dignità e diritti. Essi sono dotati di ragione e di coscienza e devono agire gli uni verso gli altri in spirito di fratellanza.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Chinese Speaking countries

People's Republic of China (Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan), Singapore.

Business Chinese phrases

• Basics
• Time
• Telephone
• Food

Chinese Business Etiquette

• Meeting

Handshakes are popular but wait for your Chinese counterpart to initiate the gesture.

Most people should be addressed with a title followed by their last name. If a person does not have a professional title simply use "Mr.", "Madam", "Miss", plus the last name, never refer to someone as "comrade."

Negative answers are considered impolite. Answer "maybe", "I'll think about it", or "we'll see" instead of a blunt "no".

When your Chinese counterparts politely say "Not a big issue" or "The problem is not serious", they usually mean "There are still problems".

Terms such as "Red China", "Mainland China", and "Communist China" are to be avoided. Just "China" will suffice.

Official policy in Chinese business culture forbids gifts. The gesture is considered bribery, an illegal act in the country.

• Peculiar quirks

"Eight" is deemed as one of the luckiest numbers in Chinese culture. If you receive eight of something, consider it a gesture of good will.

"Six" is considered a blessing for smoothness and progress. "Four" is taboo because it means "death".

Other numbers such as "73" meaning "the funeral" and "84" meaning "having accidents" should be avoided.

Giving tips is generally considered an insult in China.

• Eating

During a meal, 20 to 30 courses can be served, so try not to eat too much at once. The trick is to tuck in a sample of each dish.

Scorpions, locusts, snake skin, dog meat and blood are considered premium delicacies.

Leaving an empty dish is perceived as if you were not given enough food: a terrible insult to the Chinese.

Leaving food untouched will also purport offence. Even if you find a dish unappealing, try a small portion just for the sake of politeness.

Building a personal relationship ("guanxi") during your business is very important. Part of this involves participating in the strong drinking culture that exists in the country.

Sometimes, the Chinese enjoy testing the ability of a foreigner ("lou wai") to handle alcohol, especially "er gua toe", a powerful booze that might be compared to airline fuel. A good practice would be to eat something beforehand.

• Negotiation

Being late for an appointment is a serious offence in the Chinese business culture.

The best time for scheduling an appointment is April to June and September to October.

Many Chinese workers take a break between 12:00 and 2:00 pm. Almost everything 'shuts down' during this period, from lifts to phone services.

Speak in short, simple, jargon-free sentences. Pause frequently.

Printed presentation materials should be only in black and white. Colours are to be avoided.

"Saving face" is an important concept to bear in mind. Causing embarrassment or loss of composure can be disastrous for business negotiations.

People are expected to enter the meeting room in hierarchical order. Chinese will assume that the first foreigner to enter the room will be the head of the delegation.

Be patient, accept that delays will occur and do not mention deadlines.

When the meeting is finished, you are expected to leave before your Chinese counterparts.

You may have to go back several times to achieve your objectives. Chinese businesspeople prefer to establish a strong relationship before closing a deal.

A detailed guide to the Chinese language, giving information on its: alphabet, dialects, translation, web charst codes.

Everything you need to know about the Chinese language:

• Language code: it
• Charset: ISO-8859-1
• Geographical Location: In Europe, Italian speakers live in Italy and Switzerland. Immigrant groups in 27 other countries also use Italian. These countries include Argentina, Australia, United States, Germany, Venezuela and Brazil.
• Dialects: There are many dialects of Italian, nearly one per city. Some of the dialects are so different from the standard form, that many linguists would consider them to be separate languages.
• Currency: In Europe, most Italian-speaking countries use the Euro although Switzerland, has its own national currency, the Swiss Franc.

Chinese

Standard German or 'High' German is the main written form used everyday. It is the most common, with slight differences in Swiss German. Other written variations include Canadian French and African French.

If you are needing a translation, the probability is that you will need Standard German as this is used as the International variation in Commerce. Only on the occasion where you text or translation in the form of advertising or marketing is specifically for a given region/area outside Germany, eg: Switzerland, Luxembourg would you use a local variation. Although there is very little differnece (see below).

Standard German is used in other countries and regions, besides Germany:

• Austria
• Liechtenstein
• Luxembourg
• Switzerland

Swiss Italian

The map to the right shows the Italian speaking part of Switzerland (Southern Switzerland). For more information on the languages spoken in Switzerland, click on the map

Written Italian is used in Southern Switzerland, with little difference to normal Italian. When spoken there is a slight difference in dialect, which is only noticeable to Italian speakers.

Canadian French

Canadian French and Standard French differ little in the written form. It is dominant in Quebec where it is the dominant language (see map). Canadian French uses some verbs used in Standard French in 1700's as well as some anglicisms, a sign of the influence English has had. These differences are due to Quebec's isolation from France in terms of distance and commercial links since the 1700's. USA has always had strong commercial links.

 

African French

French, although the most widely spoken of any language in Africa, is normally a second language, with the dominant language being the national native language. Although some classes (middle-upper) in Tunisia, Algeria and Morroco speak it as a first language or are bilingual (French/Arabic).