Jason Yang’s 3 days interpretation experience with German Client in SZ, GZ, and DG..
Recently I received a very friendly, strong-minded German client (hereafter we refer to him as Mr. R). I acted as his English Chinese interpreter during his stay in Shenzhen and accompanied him 3 days visiting suppliers in Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Donguan. Below, I am very glad to share my interpretation experience with everyone that interested.
Mr. R is a very successful business man with innovative ideas and inspiration, also an adventure tourist with great courage and living skills in wild field and a man with lots of stories. He was born in South Africa, and brought up in Spain where he spent his childhood, while got his German citizenship after living one in Germany and moved and settle down in USA for his business and travelling. He could speak excellent English and Spanish, good German, and bit of French. 7 years ago, he made a great fortune through one of his very successful products, and earned all money for the past 7 years travelling cost and expenses. He has been traveled to all the 7 continents and explored more than 115 countries with his own eyes. He liked to travel by train, bus and boat as it is the best way to look up and down of each land. He took a lot of fantastic photos in each country as he used to be a professional photographer (where you could find on the his website www.overlandblog.com ).
Through Google by searching “Shenzhen interpreter” he found one of my Shenzhen freelance interpreter friend’s websites, while my friend is engaged with another client. Therefore I, Jason Yang was recommended to him. I write him a email immediately in the night. and got his reply in next morning. He asked me to call him around 11 am.. I called on time several times, but nobody answered the phone. So I asked the reception desk left a message for him from me. About 4 pm, one call came into my mobile without number displayed. I said to myself it probably from Mr. R.. We greeted with each other and he said sorry for missed my call, wants to discuss with his visiting purpose and schedule. I promised to meet him face to face at his hotel lobby. He is very satisfied of my action. When I arrived at the hotel, I made a call to him, he came down from room and told me that he wants to find a luggage handle manufacturer in China and hope I could help to organize appointments and arrange the order of meeting with his selected suppliers from Alibaba. I checked his list and set the first 2 appointments with the suppliers in Shenzhen for the first day.
First day in Shenzhen- 2 luggage and Suitcase Factory Visited:
We met at the hotel around 8 am, and took the metro to Luohu bus station, where we transferred for the bus leading to the first factory located in Shiyan, Baoan district. About 1 hour bus trip later, we reached the factory, the salesman led us to their sample room and we checked about the samples, the sample is not bad, but after we went to see their workshop found none luggage or suitcase is being produced on their production line only some small nylon wire is under production. We questioned about this, the salesman said the luggage is produced in other factory. We request to have a look, he replied that not convenient. So, we given up and headed for the next one in Ailian, Longgang district.
After we reached there by metro, it is almost 12:30, so we decided to go for a lunch first and visit them after 2 pm. as mot of the companies in China resume to work around 2 pm after lunch time. We found a clean western style restaurant near the metro station and ordered 2 sets of Chinese meal, both of us enjoyed it very much. After the meal I called the contact lady, she came to take us to their factory. Once we entered their factory, it disappointed us again. Very small one and with just one luggage to show us as a sample and the quoted price is even more expensive than the retailing price. What’s worse, the products that under production is alto totally different from what their websites shows. Therefore we didn’t want to waste more time there and back to hotel by metro. The first day was totally not successful trip at all. So I decided to found some more professional and bigger supplier for him.
Second day in Guangzhou- 4 luggage and Suitcase Factory Visited:
Second day, we decided to visit the suppliers in shiling, huadu, Guangzhou. So I checked the supplier list he offered me and sourced another 2 more for our option. As the distance from Gauangzhou is not short, and our visiting schedule is a little tight, so I called Mr. R at 6:12 and reminded him to come to Shenzhen North Railway Station before 7:30 and meet at ticket office, so that we could catch the second earliest bullet train at 7:55 AM from Shenzhen to Guangzhou at 8:23 AM. When I arrived there it is about 7:03 am, didn’t found him appear, so I made a call to hotel and asked reception desk to get through his room, but nobody answered, then I know that he has already being out. So I keep waiting for about 20 minutes, he come down from the metro escalator. We went to the ticket office to buy the ticket, but the clerk said the Top 3 earliest ticket have all been sold out, so you only could buy the 9:00 ticket. We couldn’t wait that long as almost 90 minutes wasted, so we decided to adopt the solution of paying upon arrival. So we passed the security checking and talked our situation with the gate keeper. She refused to listen anything of what we say and insisted us to buy the ticket of later train. Yet, we still didn’t give up. And what’s benefit to us is that some Chinese friends are also faced with this problem and were negotiating very hard with the gate keeper. Finally the gate keeper allowed us to pay upon arrival. We are very happy about that. After half an hour we arrived at Guangzhou South Railway Station. After that we went to the ticket office for the ticket of 8:50 Bullet train from Guangzhou South to Guangzhou North, yet the clerk told us that the ticket selling is stopped 20 minutes before train departure and we have to wait for the 10:30 one. As you know, we are never willing to wait so long and waste so much time as we need back to Shenzhen after today’s visit. So we tried the same way as we came from Shenzhen one more time, the entrance gate keeper stopped us again saying it is police, cannot get on board. While after 2 minutes explanation and begging, she allowed us to pay upon arrival too. So we are very appreciated to the clerks’ flexible working way.
After we arrived, the first luggage handle factory picked us up from station and showed us their showroom and factory we are impressed by their products and their professionalism. And also their hospitality and kindness and found everything is satisfactory. After the factory patrol tour, they invited us for a good lunch. We expressed our sincere gratitude to them. Next, we went to 2 backpack and handbag factory, they are also professional and produce high quality items. We finished these 2 very quickly and headed for the last one Luggage factory. They are famous for soft material luggage. and price are also preferential, what’s more important is that they provide OEM and ODM service for many big brands and the workshop management ensure everything in order and under control. So they are also candidate for our potential supplier. After these 4 visits, we felt it’s time to back to Shenzhen. The factory driver sent us to railway station and this time as we are not in hurry, we bought tickets and back to Shenzhen by Bullet train around 8:30. It is really a fruitful and tight day, but both client and me are happy. From this day that I want to remind all: that if you have visitor to see in Guangzhou from Shenzhen, that you’d better set out at early morning and better booking the bullet train ticket online in advance. And to avoid too small factory, you could hire a interpreter to inquire basic information before going or sourcing suppliers from the Industry association listed companies.
Third day (Final Day) in Dongguan and Shenzhen, 3 luggage and Suitcase Factory Visited:
On the third day, we decided to see a very big luggage handle company in Tangxia, Dongguan.We set out at 8:00 am from hotel to Luohu Bus Station, take the direct bus from Shenzhen to Tangxia, Dongguan and taken a taxi to their factory. About 1 hour later, we arrived at their showroom. Plenty of luggages handle designs and models flied into our eyes. We are impressed by their products and company. We don’t have too many questions and finished it quickly. Next company is a luggage factory close to this one, driver dropped us at the gate of the factory. Salesman came out to show us around their factory. Their factory OEM for a big British brand and they have both hard luggage and soft luggage. This factory is also big and well organized. We would definitely cooperate with them in future too. After the tour, they invited us to lunch and we enjoyed a lot. As it is around 2:00 pm.and it is not convenient to take a taxi, they asked a private Honda Car for us and we take it to the third one also final one, which is located in Songgang, Baoan district. We arrived after 40 minutes, and went in this factory, there is an Japanese customer negotiating business in the showroom. Their major products are ABS and PC Luggage. We found their products are not bad; but the price is too expensive compared with those we visited before and they are not seemed too much interest at us. So we take a bus to metro station and back to hotel. Clients said he is very satisfied with my interpretation service and insist to make a short video of me to advertise and marketing for Jason Yang Shenzhen interpreter’s good service. I practiced several time and then passed. We said goodbye to each other, and he headed for tourism in Guangzhou.
From these 3 days experience, I realized again how important it is for interpreter as us to arrange appointments with factory in the most reasonable order, pay extra attention to traffic information and handle it in a flexible way and select suppliers with a certain scale, also see the factory workshop with your own eyes.
Thanks and Best Regards
Jason Yang at Shenzhen
Aug-11-2012
on 2012-08-11 09:03:00 Tags: Shenzhen Interpreter, Shenzhen Translator, Madarin Interpreter Shenzhen, Chinese Interpreter Shenzhen
