Why need a GOOD interpreter when the majority of Chinese business people can or claim they can speak English?
1. Guaranteed transparency
It is not because most of the Chinese do not speak English very well enough but because foreign buyers do not speak Chinese. Some Chinese people may take advantage of the buyer’s inability to understand Chinese. In some cases, especially when you are looking for new suppliers, there are some information which the supplier asks the interpreter not to translate to the buyer. For example they may use components that are different from what they claim. But if you have an honest interpreter around you, you could grasp all the valuable information which otherwise could be missed by yourself alone, therefore winning yourself a better ground in the business negotiation.
2. Wider communication
With an interpreter alongside you, you can easily talk to anyone in the company, not just the sales, but also the engineers（to meet the technical requirement faster）, the marketing director or the boss (to get a lower price), or even people in the assembly line(to know the production quality). Because without an interpreter’s presence, the sales are not going to act as a compete translator, they are going to act with motivation to get higher commission, which is normally done by all intelligent sales.
3. Time-saving
Time is money. The majority of Chinese sales do not know much about the technical know-how or details behind a product, when you have a particular technical project, it takes you unbearably long time in getting across your detailed requirements to the sales and further to the engineers. But with an interpreter’s help, you can save more time in troubleshooting, thus meeting your deadline perfectly or even shortening your stay in China (saving your hotel costs and other expenses as well).
4. Hassle-free stay
An interpreter can tell you the most suitable hotel to stay, the fastest way to reach destinations in your itinerary, the best food that suits your tastes, the best stalls or shops to purchase electronics, necessities or gifts, the best-known tourist attractions to visit, etc.
A good business interpreter should be more than a disinterested bridge builder or a language tool, and he should never unethically steal profit in between, instead he should act as a loyal and honest representative of the client (the buyer) who defends the client’s interests as much as possible and speaks for the client as if he is a assistant or even a colleague and friend of the client.
However, the interpreter should not exert pressure on the supplier, on the contrary, he should be ready to be a good friend and assistant to the supplier, he works together with the supplier to identify the detailed requirements from the buyer and work out the best price and terms to win the order, therefore the supplier is also happy with the interpreter’s presence. With such a kind interpreter’s sincerity to push the two parties together, the supplier is more ready to offer the suitable products with best price, quality and service to the buyer.
