Thank you very much for your trust, Mr. Song. Since I have worked in foreign trade before, and I have done business accompanying translation many times during my freelance translation period, this type of translation is kind of familiar to me.
The customer gave a more complete introduction of the company and product information, which saved me a lot of trouble in the preparation work. The client is a pressure vessel manufacturer, belonging to the chemical equipment industry. Years of experience in patent translation has brought him into contact with the terminology of various industries, and since the same industry is often contacted again and again, the preparation of the industry background and terminology was relatively smooth.
I arrived an hour early in the morning because I had traveled a bit far and couldn't grasp the time. After arriving, I reviewed my knowledge and then met with the plant leader and briefly explained the process. The leader was very nice and reminded me not to be nervous.
A group of eight people, three foreigners and five Chinese, came to the customer's factory for factory inspection. The five Chinese had no problem communicating in English and were all engineers in the industry; one of the foreigners was very good in Chinese.
First, we were introduced to each other in the meeting room, then a video about the factory was shown, followed by a meeting, followed by a tour of the factory, followed by a discussion on a few specific issues when we came back from the factory, followed by lunch. By the end of lunch, around 15:00, my translation work was over.
To summarize: the Chinese factory had little experience in foreign trade and was not well prepared for the factory inspection, so it was not an easy and pleasant meeting. As an interpreter, I did my job seriously, regardless of the atmosphere. One regret is that I didn't feel I played a big role because the other party's professionalism and English ability were very high.
