First of all, I would like to thank Yuki for introducing this old client of hers to me, and then I would like to thank Yuki for letting me put together my thoughts, which will be great memories and experiences in the future.
Let's start with the results, the customer felt okay and normal (after all, it is a long time customer of Sister Snow), and the customer's customer - is an industry leading mega-customer - and their wives, they all think I did a good job very well (they are able to understand part of the English), and the customer's supplier - is a global monopoly sales - also praised me. And the client's supplier - who is a global monopoly sales - also praised me to the sky. Although my brain was tired from working overtime until 10:30pm, I was happy to bring the task to a successful conclusion.
The dry stuff is on the back burner, I'll talk about my feelings first haha. Every time I have an experience like this, I feel lucky and grateful to have confidence again and firm my footing and direction. Especially as I am a non-English speaker and non-famous school, such feedback is very fulfilling. I know people who are interpreters from various backgrounds. One of them, Dada, who is doing very well in Shanghai, graduated from a petroleum college in Hangzhou (probably majoring in mechanics), and not only is he very good at English, but he is also doing training and investment, all of which are doing very well. I also know a famous school of English specialist girl, between New Castle and NYU chose the latter to go to study MTI; New York is full of talent and opportunities, she is doing all kinds of high-profile simultaneous interpretation and internships on weekdays, but also run their own network of small radio stations and school clubs after school. would be far down the list. Schools and certificates can certainly help you, but they are by no means the only way in the world.
Here are the details, the dry runs, of the sessions I did this time.
I asked the client for information beforehand. The client sent me the English information of their agent brand, and I found the Chinese version from their official website to cross-reference. As a kind of industrial products, the catalog inside is very complicated, the terminology is also very professional, so there are a lot of need to memorize, so I made the mistake No.1 - read them the whole thing, made detailed notes and excerpts, the terminology of the cross-relation written in the book and then go to remember. Why is it a mistake, because when I arrived at the client's company that day I realized, no! There! Zoning! Heavy! Point! There are 32 pages in English and nearly 20 pages in Chinese, excluding the typesetting, I took 6 pages of notes - but then how to memorize, in the end, can only roughly have an impression, it is impossible to memorize, and it is very easy to get confused. When I arrived at the company, the client said to me, "Read the first 14 pages in English, we don't have an agent in the back, and even if we did, it's not very important". Of course, I memorized the content of the previous so that I am still familiar with these products, and fortunately in the customer waited for foreigners more than half an hour, so that I can hurry to strengthen the details. But next time, please be sure to read once more after asking the customer some questions, do not just bury your head and memorize! This will save you time, but also more fully to prepare.
The usual process I go through to prepare is to look at the client's official website, then look for peer sites and industry information. -Then I realize that there are so few manufacturers that make this product, either not exactly the same product line. The foreigner's company makes the highest-end products, and there really isn't much information to compare and add. And for our client, a domestic manufacturer, the competition is not this globally dominant European producer, but other domestic agency manufacturers. I also asked the client about this in advance, and the client said that a Qingdao-based manufacturer was competing with them for agency status in the Chinese market. Mistake No.2: Focusing too much on the information itself and not asking for more names and interests. The client also had major customers in China, as well as other competitors, and there were complex relationships between them and between them and the vendor. I would have been much more comfortable if I had asked the client ahead of time for their names, status and character relationships. Of course I'm grateful to the clients, they were very nice to explain it to me, after all, they are all decades old insiders. Also if you have time please check out the recent big trade shows in the industry as the client will most likely be going to them, so will chat about that.
Understanding trade claims. For this kind of almost monopoly product agency sales, the agent will be more concerned about whether the delivery period can be shorter, the manufacturer can help to meet the customer's needs, as well as the price, payment period, etc. can be more favorable; while the manufacturer is concerned about how they can maintain a stable production, shipments and relatively low inventory, and hope that the agent to maintain a stable, ongoing orders - -Not big orders, but fixed orders with cycles.
Emotional intelligence. We as translators focus on making our clients happy, right? I wear contact lenses, makeup, and dresses with high heels. Behavior and mannerisms, walking with chest out and head up, entering the elevator and pressing the door, holding the door and waiting for everyone to come in are the basics. And after all, is to talk about business, sometimes the atmosphere will be a little awkward, we can take advantage of the cold when appropriate to say a few words, such as asking about the competition of several peers, ask the foreigners like our tea, ease the atmosphere. Customers joke when I will hurry to catch and translate it, translate the joke to be fast and accurate ah, do not wait for you to translate the joke are cool.
As for English, the foreigner is an Austrian who is a native speaker of German, has no accent, speaks in a clear and organized voice, and is easy to translate. I think we can use Duolingo to learn some small languages when we have time, so that we will know the specific pronunciation of some sounds in some languages. During the meal, we talked about various topics, from this year's economic situation, to the refugee crisis in Europe to the origin and processing of tea and coffee, the role of tea and so on, which can be more attention on a daily basis.
In short: ask a lot of questions, ask carefully, ask both sides of the role of the status and purpose, as well as the names and relationships of other parties involved; the surface relaxation, the actual ears perked up at any time ready; keep the image. When you have time to eat quickly, do not eat particularly difficult to chew, heavy flavor or will stick to the teeth of the food, do not eat too big mouth, after eating leaves and saucy food to be low-key mouth rinse, this is the basic cultivation.
Here's some more face time.
- Please smile, it will make others feel good. When you smile, please look in the mirror and practice to get the right smile angle.
- The makeup, blush and eyeshadow, are not as effective as foundation eyeliner or the like, but they are great for improving your face.
- I have a limited aura, my previous taste in clothing is always particularly casual, I feel unable to hold what color and style. this time in the formal occasions, I will be cautious to choose dark cold system + try to dress, but you can be appropriate to add a little bright color bottom or accessories, and so on. Then the aura of this kind of thing is to rely on the cultivation, more to see different types of books and movies, listen to different types of music, do sports, outdoor activities, slowly cultivate it. And, like Xue said, buy yourself some nice things, and you'll be in good shape.
- Hairstyles are important too! To keep it dry, I tied my hair up, so I could get a whole lot of gel and a little combing and be much more refreshed.
- Makeup is a matter of practicing, dressing is a matter of trying every day, and grooming is a matter of insisting every moment. Not that we have to spend much time on external beauty, we can be diligent, at least go out with a pleasant appearance. We can at least through persistence and hard work, so that they and others see that they are a serious life, love themselves, such a person not only let others respect, but also show respect for others.
It's a long way to go, so let's all try to change up and get serious about being ourselves and becoming a better version of ourselves.
