Since a political advisory body in Guangzhou in southern China proposed that TV stations should broadcast their prime-time shows in Mandarin instead of Cantonese in the run-up to the Asian Games there in November, protest voices have been increasingly raised, with rallies in Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

Although Mandarin, also known as Putonghua, was declared China’s official language in 1982, there are around 70 million Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong, Macau and China’s southern Guangdong province, and is widely spoken in overseas Chinese communities around the world so it’s easy to see how this recommendation could be taken as an attack on a long-established, widely-spoken language.

Mandarin language lessons became compulsory in schools in Hong Kong after its return to Chinese rule in 1997 and an increasing number of professionals began to learn the dialect after the handover as Hong Kong’s business links with the mainland have grown.

Whilst it’s understandable that the Guangzhou authorities might be keen to ensure that their region benefits as fully as possible from the opportunities presented by the Asian Games by ensuring that media coverage is widely accessible, it would be a great shame if this were a step on the way to the disappearance of Cantonese.  With that, it would only be a matter of time before other dialects such as Hakka and Shanghainese which also add greatly to the richness of Chinese culture also vanished. 

In the UK we are familiar with campaigns to keep traditional languages and dialects from around the country alive and, at SanTranslate, we would like to know that Cantonese will also continue to be spoken by future generations.  It is a lovely dialect that easily allows for the expression of emotions similar to the way that body language can communicate an underlying emotional component to a conversation.  For example, simply by adding the word “ga” – which corresponds to the English “isn’t it?” or “it is!” you can convey some subtle nuances.

Whilst Cantonese can present its own challenges in interpretation – especially in formal situations such as in court – we would hate to see this powerful dialect disappear.

If your business is based in the East Midlands and you’re thinking about trading with India or China, then EMITA’s half-day workshop on 7th October in Nottingham is not one to miss.

The event will include:

• insights into the next 5 years for the Chinese and Indian markets;
• a business case study;
• an exploration of the challenges that businesses can face when trading with China and India – and recommendations for overcoming them;
• advice on how to develop long term relationships with partners and customers in China and India.

For more information and to register for the event, visit the EMITA web site.

This morning saw David Cameron live streamed from the Serpentine Gallery in London talking about the government’s plans for a new UK tourism strategy (you can read a transcript here). A number of times he mentioned the significance of the Chinese tourism market and the impact it could have on UK tourism, saying:

“Currently we only have 0.5 per cent of the market share of Chinese tourists. If we could increase that to just 2.5 per cent this could add over half a billion pounds of spending to our economy and some sources suggest this could mean as many as 10,000 new jobs. Currently we have 3.5 per cent of the world market for international tourism.”

Cameron also acknowledged that getting a tourism visa from China is far from simple and straightforward and talked about streamlining the process with a view to helping achieve the aim of increasing Chinese visitors to the UK.

Chinese tourists come to the UK for a variety of reasons from their interest in UK heritage to the shopping opportunities, presenting many types of UK business with the chance to benefit from some of that extra half a billion pounds.

Tourism businesses which are serious about attracting the Chinese visitor can make themselves more attractive by communicating in Chinese, whether by translating their marketing material or including Chinese in the audio resources at tourist venues and SanTranslate can help with translation and interpretation, as well as provide vocal artists for voice overs. The more authentic these are, the better your Chinese visitor’s experience will be and the more they will recommend your services to others.

A web presence in Chinese will be a great help too. It’s worth bearing in mind that Chinese web users have different search habits to UK users so it’s best not to make assumptions about what will work. At SanTranslate we understand Chinese search habits and trends so talk to us to make sure that your Chinese language web presence is fully fine-tuned to attract the Chinese tourist market to your business.

The East Midlands-China Business Bureau is inviting East Midlands companies and education institutions a one day event to gain insight into the business opportunities in China for 2010.

Withspecialist information on Shanghai World Expo 2010, China’s Fiscal Stimulus programme, the East Midlands Market Visit to China in October 2010 it’s an event not to be missed if trade – or are thinking of trading – with China.

The afternoon will include break-out sessions on protecting your IP; setting up in China; market research and choosing the right partner; and communicate effectively with your Chinese partner.

Date:   25th June

Time:  09:00 – 15:00

Venue:  Holywell Park, Loughborough University

Price:  Free for East Midlands business and organisations

For more information about the event, call   0115 947 1766 .

EMITA, the East Midlands International Trade Association, is running a workshop on Thursday 8th July giving businesses 25 tips to improve their international web marketing.  Web marketing expert, Susan Hallam, will be sharing ways of using search engines, social media and advertising to increase the number of visitors to your web site and improve the conversion of visits to sales.

Undoubtedly, this will all be valuable information to help you trade internationally via the web, something we’re quite big fans of ourselves.  But don’t forget one crucial thing – not everyone uses English.  If you’re getting serious about trading globally you might want to consider having your website translated into your target language(s).

If you’re planning on getting your web site translated into another language, it’s worth talking to us at SanTranslate – because we could be able to make the process much more streamlined than other translators.

This is because we have in-house web site expertise that means we are able to translate directly into CRM systems such as Kentico, Drupal and WordPress, rather than send our clients translated copy in Word which they then have to have input into the site themselves.  This takes a whole stage out of the process of developing a translated web site, meaning your international web strategy gets up and running much more quickly.