Talk to Shanghai colleagues in Chinese

Setting the scene

The situation occurred a few months before UK lockdown (Covid-19). It concerned a UK-based chemical company which was due to post a Director to their busy principal East Asian office in Shanghai.

This was in preparation for the Director’s first stay in China, so inclusion of Chinese cultural and social norms was crucial also.

The Director needed to speak and be understood in the target language at a basic level, also meet and greet employees, to be accepted culturally in business, and understand key written information/signs.

They knew this would produce much better cultural trust, cooperation and loyalty with the Chinese team at all levels of seniority, by NOT relying solely on English.

The Google Translate app was helpful at pronouncing individual general words but was unable to deal reliably with any complex sentences or company-specific details.

Languages and level involved

Mandarin to basic level, specific to company.

Challenges faced

• Cultural pitfalls and using the language with confidence.
• Pronouncing the terms accurately and using tones clearly.
• 1-1 required.
• Time and commitment involved to get to the desired level.
• Knowing how to interact and how to avoid causing offence.
• Commercial and cultural native-speaker teaching expertise and suitable materials available.

The Solution

• The customer contracted SEL Business Languages (SELBL) who have a national database of professional language trainers.
• A duration balancing time against tailored course and available budget was agreed to achieve the objectives.
• One of our team of local, PGCE-qualified commercial Mandarin language trainers delivered in a face-to-face, 1-1 setting.
• For continuity, the customer was happy to also learn via laptop and video-based remote sessions.
• The secondment was postponed due to Covid19 but connections in Mandarin were maintained via Zoom (business account) in preparation for travelling to China later.
• The training package entailed direct contact time with a 1-1 language trainer in hours, progress continuously reviewed, and dipping into online-based sentences with CD- and book-based grammar exercises.
• The target language was absorbed and retained by regular practice in basic pronunciation, sentences and chat.
• In this way the customer continuously builds a solid working knowledge by putting in steady and regular hours, by deliberate trial and error with the language trainer and by practising with appreciative slower-speaking colleagues in the workplace.

At SEL Business Languages we have a vast network of professionally qualified language trainers experienced in a wide range of scenarios, commercial and social. Get in touch to discuss your requirements.