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Interview: Answering the call for on-demand interpreting in ChinaThursday, 5th June 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (1)
Only a decade ago, the number of foreign visitors to China was but a fraction of the 132 million inbound tourists that visited the country last year – aside from a few intrepid business travelers armed with translators, the majority were students, teachers and backpackers winging it in a country with a notoriously difficult language. Fast-forward to 2008: leisure and business travel to China is booming, mobile phones services have caught up to developed world standards and the Olympics, which China is expecting to attract half a million foreign tourists, are two months away. One thing that hasn't changed is the significant linguistic obstacle the Chinese language presents visitors, especially Westerners. The challenges faced by foreign visitors to China have given rise to demand for instant, on-demand interpreting services, rather than hiring a bilingual guide who requires food, lodging and transportation and can become a significant expense on long trips. Hong Kong-based telephone interpreting service provider ChinaONEcall established its Kunming office in January 2007, entering the rapidly growing on-demand interpreting industry in mainland China. After a free trial period given to a group of beta-testers and then a gradual launch to the tourist and expat market, the company – which has operations in China, the UK and US - had its public launch to media and the international business community in London in October 2007. GoKunming sat down with ChinaONEcall Cofounder and Operations Director Greg Sinclair to find out more about this growing industry: GoKunming: Why did you found ChinaONEcall? Greg Sinclair: I've been coming to China for ten years, first teaching English in Qingdao in 1998, and while I am now reasonably able to hold my own in conversation I can still remember how difficult it is for someone who has just arrived and has no knowledge of Chinese. Despite huge developmental advances over the last decade and increasing numbers of English-speakers, a non-Chinese speaker is still hugely handicapped in trying to get by in China. My father found it particularly frustrating a couple of years ago when, after visiting me in Kunming, he got completely lost just outside of Shanghai. The only thing he had to help him was a mobile phone and my number. I managed to find out where he was and how he could get to where he needed to be by speaking to a passer-by who'd been handed my dad's phone. The panic was over but then we both thought this could be a really good idea for a business. GK: Who do your clients tend to be? GS: Our clients include business travelers, tourists, students and even expatriates - basically anyone who wants a little bit more freedom while moving around in China and doesn't want to rely on tour guides and interpreters or burden their Chinese-speaking friends with frequent calls for help. We also have a large number of customers who aren't in China or even planning a trip to China but want an interpreter for a conference call. We have access numbers in the US and UK so people can call us for either local rate or toll-free and we'll connect the call to the person they wish to speak to - for example a factory manager - and provide the interpreting service. We are also getting more and more clients wanting document translation by email rather than just interpreting and we also provide this service. In fact, there will shortly be a site dedicated to this at www.chinaONEtranslate.com GK: What do you see happening to the phone interpreting industry after the Olympics? GS: I'm not really able to speak for the industry as a whole but I assume, like us, they are very interested in the Olympics and are hoping to get a significant volume of business from that and other events in the future such as the Shanghai Expo 2010 and the Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou also in 2010. However our business model is not focused on one event or another. We anticipate our business as ongoing and indeed rising to cover what appears to be an exponential increase in business and leisure travel to China. Obviously it would be foolish not to tap into and take advantage of large international events such as the Olympic Games but equally foolish to assume that we can sit on our laurels because China is playing host to such a prestigious affair. GK: Many companies portray a phone interpreter service as something only used in emergencies, what kind of non-emergency calls do your staff receive? GS: It's true that there are situations where a service like ours can be a real lifeline in an emergency but thankfully these are not as common as some may believe. Of course we get customers who are in stressful and difficult circumstances and we've helped people out of some fairly sticky situations, which is why our staff are all taught useful conflict management and mediation skills, but we also get many calls which are not emergencies at all. People use us in all sorts of situations including haggling over souvenirs, changing money in the bank, and just chatting to strangers on a long train journey. We had one Australian who we helped arrange a date with someone he'd been exchanging smiles with over 36 hours on a train, although I've no idea how that eventually turned out. On the business side we had a British customer who was impressed with a jewelry shop in Lijiang. He took the shop's business card, gave it to his friend in the UK who imports jewelry and we set up a conference call. Some of this Yunnan jewelry is now being sold in London. Of course emergencies happen and our staff are ready to help but most of the time it's really about having the freedom to create and take advantage of opportunities that the language barrier can sometimes make impossible. GK: What are the major opportunities and challenges for the phone interpreting industry in general? GS: Again, it's difficult to speak for the whole industry but from our point of view we see a rising opportunity in the domestic market. We are already talking to Chinese firms that receive a lot of western visitors, particularly in the export and hospitality industries, and have some exciting partnerships in the pipeline. There is also a growing market of Chinese people visiting English-speaking countries and while this is, at present, mostly in tour groups or with face-to-face interpreters it is starting to change. Chinese people in, for example, the US can call our toll-free number to get an interpreter to help them communicate with English speakers. So the whole setup can work just as well in reverse. Challenges include helping people who speak English as a second language or people who have quite strong regional accents. Our team is trained in listening to different accents; one of them has even spent a year in Newcastle, England which to my mind has one of the more difficult regional accents for a non-native English speaker to understand. Another perceived challenge is the rise of electronic translators, some of which are dedicated devices and some of which are software based and can be downloaded to a smart-phone or PDA. I say perceived challenge because at the moment these really can't be compared to having a human-being at the end of the phone line and despite huge advances in technology, true artificial intelligence and electronic interpersonal skills are some way off, if indeed possible at all. Another possible challenge is the rise in foreigners learning Chinese and Chinese people learning English but again I think we are a long way off this trend affecting our industry. GK: Why did you choose Kunming as your base for mainland operations? GS: That's a question I get asked a lot. Apart from the fact that I was living here already and am recently married to a Kunming girl, it's actually a great place to set up a business. You don't have the huge expenses associated with running a business on the coast and because it's a university town there are actually a large number of highly educated and ambitious graduates. Of course it's easier and quicker to find staff in Beijing or Shanghai but the first-tier cities have significant staff retention problems. It takes us a little bit longer and a little bit more effort to find the best people here but we know that having trained them they are going to stay with us for the long haul and have opportunities for promotion within the company. Financially it makes sense too – I'm proud that we are one of the best employers in Kunming – it would be harder to offer such attractive packages to employees in Shanghai. Finally, from the customer's perspective we could be anywhere in China. Our 400 phone number costs no more than a local call from all over China and our team is very well-traveled and knowledgeable about all of the business and tourist destinations in the country. GK: What is the strangest or most memorable call ChinaONEcall has received? GS: That's a tricky one, some of them are probably too sensitive to mention here. However, we once had someone in the US who needed to talk to his Chinese mother-in-law in Canada to arrange a surprise party for his wife. So the call went from North America to China and back to North America again via an IP calling card service. What should have been a very cheerful phone call turned into a screaming row as the wife overheard the conversation and got angry that her husband was secretly talking to her mother. ChinaONEcall can be reached at 4006 88 66 99 Tags: Asian Games, ChinaONEcall, Greg Sinclair, Guangzhou, interpreting, Olympics, Shanghai, telecoms, tourism, translation, UK, US, World Expo Auguste François, Yin Xiaojun and Kunming at the end of the Qing DynastyThursday, 29th May 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Like most other Chinese cities, Kunming has been racing toward abstract ideas such as 'modernity' and 'development' via extensive demolition of the remaining older parts of the city to make way for gleaming high-rises filled with offices, apartments and retail space. First-time visitors to Kunming, be they Chinese or foreign, have to put a real effort into finding the few older parts of the city that are still around. Until 1952, Kunming was a walled city – the wall and its gates are long gone, but their existence still echoes today in place names like Xiao Ximen (小西门, 'Lesser west gate') and Beimen Jie (北门街, 'North gate Street'). There are also less obvious connections to the wall, such as Qingnian Lu (青年路, 'Youth Road'), which was once Kunming's east wall. The city government in 1952 ordered hundreds of young people to tear down the wall and use its bricks to make a new road running north-south. To show its appreciation for the young people that demolished the east wall, the city government named the new street after them. With the wall out of the way, Kunming began marching toward a future in which for several decades development trumped culture heritage. History is one of the primary contributors to any city's character, with older physical structures offering the most palpable connection to the past. In 2008, almost all of pre-1949 Kunming has been razed to clear a path for modernity. On some levels this could be considered true progress as many of Kunming's older buildings were built of earth and lacked simple amenities such as plumbing. That said, some may argue that wholesale demolition of a city comes at a psychological cost. "I feel that many Chinese people have no faith," Kunming native and private photo collector Yin Xiaojun (殷晓俊) told GoKunming. Yin has spent the last 10 years researching a collection of photos by Auguste François (1857-1935), who served as French consul in south China between 1896 and 1904, during which he spent several years in Kunming and elsewhere in Yunnan working on obtaining a concession from the local government to build the rail line from Vietnam to Kunming, which was then known as Yunnan-fu (云南府). "Many of us are looking for where we've come from and where we're going," Yin said. "Through the extensive photography of Auguste François, we can discover where we've come from. His photography is the earliest, largest and most complete collection of photographs documenting Chinese society at the end of the Qing Dynasty"
Over the last ten years, Yin has researched his entire collection of François' photographs, comparing them to documents from the Yunnan provincial government's archives as well as translations of François' memoirs. In order to make the photos more useful in a historical context, he has spent the last decade ascertaining the subject, location, social background and photographer. After acquiring 1,241 François photographs and motion pictures via purchase and exchanges with French cultural organizations, Yin held his first exhibition of 360 photos from the collection in Kunming in 1997 at the Yunnan Provincial Museum. More than 250,000 people bought tickets to take a look at Kunming at the start of the 20th Century, setting an attendance record for a single exhibition at the museum that still stands today. Subsequently Yin was invited by 44 mainland cities to bring his collection to their top museums – he chose four: Beijing, Xi'an, Zhengzhou and Chengdu. In 1999 he ceased exhibiting the photographs because he felt a need to find out as much as he could about each shot's story. Fast-forwarding to today, Yin says he has completed his research and is preparing several projects related to the François photo archives. In October of last year, he traveled to the locations of all the François photos to document the current conditions of the places François shot more than a century ago. His travels took him to Singapore, Hong Kong, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan and Shanghai. He is planning on using the then-and-now photos in a new book he began writing this year. Yin said he would also like to organize a new exhibition of François' photos highlighting the massive change in China over the last century. His end game, however, is to build a museum that displays the collection permanently. GoKunming thanks Yin Xiaojun for providing a sample of photos from the François archives to share with our readers. Over the coming months we will publish 25 photos and their stories every Wednesday. We hope that the photos will help bridge the gap between Kunming's distant past and its dynamic present. Contact Yin Xiaojun: His ten years of researching the François photos behind him, Yin Xiaojun is open to discussing possible cooperation with individuals and organizations interested in the collection. Yin can be contacted at yinxiaoj(at)public.km.yn.cn. Auguste François image: Association Auguste François Tags: Auguste François, Beimen Jie, Guangdong, Guangxi, history, Hong Kong, photography, Shanghai, Sichuan, Singapore, Xiao Ximen, Yin Xiaojun, Yunnan-fu Hope during dark times: Witnessing the earthquake's aftermathSunday, 25th May 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (1)
Editor's note: The following is a special report by Jo Egil Tobiassen, who visited the disaster zone around Wenchuan County in Sichuan last week. Nearly two weeks has passed since the earthquake in Sichuan. The pictures rolling over the TV screens throughout the world do not lie. The disaster is a tragedy which cannot be explained by words. The death toll has passed 60.000 and keeps rising. Millions have lost their houses and family members. But after spending a week in the disaster area one feels not only great sorrow but also great admiration for the people in the mountains of Sichuan. If one talks to the survivors, observes the rescue workers and listen to the words spoken about the future, the darkness is brightened. In Yingxiu, a small town in Wenchuan County - the epicenter of the earthquake, we were invited to dinner by a handful of survivors. Everybody around the table had lost one or more family members and everybody had lost their house. Still, they would already talk about the future: "Come back in some months and we will give you a house to sleep in." "Yesterday we sat around this table and cried together. We agreed that although we are only simple 'laobaixing', common people - we have to be strong and look forward." "We know the government is going to give us money to reconstruct our houses and lives, but we will refuse to accept the money. There are other people who need it more." Who could possibly need the help more than people from Wenchuan? As we were eating an aftershock suddenly shook the ground. I jumped to my feet ready to run and take photos. The others hardly noticed it and smiled at my inexperience. "Such a small earthquake!" they laughed. Minutes later a group of soldiers started carrying body bags past our table. They were coming from the local middle school around the corner. The bodies inside the bags were children. Again the hosts of the dinner seemed unaffected.
And he was correct. The soldiers, the volunteers and the health workers pour into Sichuan by thousands. Risking their own lives and health they try their best to rescue and help as many as possible. Over 200 rescue workers have already died on rescue missions. It was impossible not to be impressed by their effort. That same night we observed a battalion of rescue workers from Shanghai pull a living man from a collapsed building. It had been more than a week since the earthquake. Among the workers was a 20-year-old volunteer who had found the man. The young volunteer had spent the last 24 hours inside the building talking to the trapped man, convincing him to try to stay alive. It was not the first person he had found and rescued. Ever since the earthquake he had walked the valleys searching and finding survivors. The last thing he told us was that he would go and find more. Jo Egil Tobiassen is a Norwegian student occasionally living in Kunming. He covered the Sichuan earthquake for the Norwegian media. GoKunming thanks Jo for this contribution. If you would like to contribute to GoKunming, please contact us with your story idea via our contact form Tags: Jo Egil Tobiassen, Shanghai, Wenchuan earthquake, Yingxiu Shui On announces 5 billion yuan investment in Shangri-la tourism projectThursday, 31st January 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)According to Chinese financial media reports, Shui On has signed an agreement with the Diqing government to develop a plot of land with a total area of 17.73 million square meters – 9.96 million square meters of which it is designating 'protected areas' – into a 'holiday and leisure area'. The development project, which currently has a planned building area of 760,000 square meters, will be surrounded by a ring of 3.49 million square meters of undeveloped land as a buffer between it and the outside world. Shui On, known best for its high-end office, residential and commercial projects in Shanghai, Hangzhou and other mainland cities, has been making steady inroads into the Yunnan market. In September of 2007, the company co-signed an agreement with the Yunnan government in which the two parties vowed to work together to develop Yunnan's bountiful tourism resources. The developer has already signed agreements for major developments on Dianchi's north shore in Kunming as well as in Dali's Haidong New District. In addition to Shangri-la, Shui On has also expressed interest in development projects in Lijiang. Related articles: Property giant Shui On moving into Yunnan HK Developer sets sights on Kunming Tags: Dali, Dianchi Lake, Diqing, Hangzhou, Lijiang, real estate, Shanghai, Shangri-la, Shui On Land, travel
With Chinese New Year just around the corner – this year it lands on February 7 – China is preparing for a major surge in domestic travel. At the beginning of next month, millions of students, soldiers, workers and businesspeople throughout the country will meet up with family and friends to celebrate the end of winter and the coming of spring. More than 22 million air passengers are expected to fly China's skies this holiday - which is known in China as Spring Festival. The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) has announced that it might add temporary domestic flight routes to handle the spike in air travel. CAAC said it will 'strictly control' air traffic in Kunming's Wujiaba International Airport plus other major airports in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu to ensure everything goes smoothly during the holiday. Air travel may be increasingly popular with Chinese travelers, but the majority of people returning home will get where they're going via China's extensive rail network. China's Ministry of Railways is expecting nearly 179 million rail travelers – almost the population of Brazil – this holiday season. The ministry is adding 311 trains to the normal national rail schedule to absorb the increase in travelers. Kunming's main rail station is anticipating a major influx in ticket buyers this month, to address the demand for train tickets it is building 40 temporary ticket windows in front of the station. The windows will sell tickets 24 hours a day beginning Wednesday of this week and lasting through the holiday. Aside from increased travel, the Chinese New Year season is also a time for higher food and drink prices as a large percentage of China's billion-plus population spend the holidays focused on eating and drinking. This year rising food prices are putting more pressure on holiday budgets than usual. Even beer as well as baijiu and other traditional Chinese wines spirits are feeling the bite of inflation as alcohol prices in China are experiencing unprecedented price hikes, blamed on rising costs for grain, coal and transport. Image: clzg.cn Tags: Beijing, CAAC, Chengdu, Chinese New Year, Guangzhou, Shanghai, trains, travel Although it may not be apparent to any Kunming residents who have walked the bustling streets of the city recently, today is the fourth day of a ban on car horns within the second ring road, according to a Dushi Shibao report. Following the lead of megacities like Shanghai and even other cities in Yunnan such as Yuxi, the Kunming municipal government has banned the use of car horns within the second ring road (二环) in all situations except for emergencies. In an emergency situation – such as prior to a likely collision – cars are allowed to sound their horns no more than three times, with each toot lasting no more than half a second. Violators will be fined, although it is unclear how much the fines will run. As Dushi Shibao noted, and as anyone in downtown Kunming during the last few days has experienced, the no-horn rule has yet to have any effect upon Kunming drivers, who are far from horn-shy. According to police, the initial phase of the no-horn rule will be focused on 'educating' Kunming drivers, after which the fines will begin to be doled out. Editor's Note: This site is pleased to see that the city government appears to be acknowledging the growing problem of noise pollution in Kunming. We applaud and support the decision to restrict horn usage to emergencies only. Tags: car horns, Shanghai, Yuxi Smooth Operator: Chinese domestic rail freightMonday, 5th November 2007 ~ Matthew ~ Link ~ Comments (2)Having recently decided to return to "the real China", I was faced with the task of moving several years worth of accumulated stuff from Shanghai to Kunming. A trip over to the rail station in Shanghai found me some answers. China Railway Express Limited is the state-owned company that runs the rail freight network. On top of this, there are a number of smaller service providers who run the mini-vans to collect your stuff, and provide the labour to pack it up. Guys from these companies hang out at the China Railway Express office, touting for business. One of these guys, Mr Liu, talked me through the procedure, and gave me his number.
For the express Shanghai-Kunming service, which takes three days, the fee is 5.5 kuai per kilogram. There's no 'size' component to the pricing. Fluids (and presumably dangerous goods) are not allowed. My bike (in a bike-bag) was accepted without problem. At the Kunming end, the mini-van driver called the number I'd left, and delivered the stuff direct to my Kunming address. Liu's fee was 70 kuai, the corresponding mini-van fee at the Kunming end was 30 kuai. Door-to-door delivery of 200kg of stuff for 1200 kuai, all-in - to my mind, a bargain. Tags: logistics, Shanghai, trains, travel |
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