A challenge almost any company entering an international market will be faced with is translating its marketing materials, product and service documentation, and other documents into language of target market. Depending on your requirements, there are basically three options:

• You can do translation yourself or have someone in your company do it. • You can find and hire a different translator for each language. • You can hire a translation agency.

To make this decision, you will have to consider several factors, including your abilities and resources, your needs, and cost.

Your Resources Do you, or does someone else in your company, have ability to do translation? If you require a translation into Spanish, for example, and you have a Spanish-speaking employee in your company, it is tempting to simply assign him or her to perform translation services. However, there are several factors to take into account:

1. A translator is more than just someone who speaks two languages. A translator has to be perfectly fluent in both languages and will usually translate from her second language, source language, to her mother tongue, target language. It is of great advantage if she lives in country your translation is intended for. She needs to be familiar with topic that is translated and have excellent writing and editing capabilities in target language. Consider this: When you have your marketing material written, do you simply choose any person who speaks English? Or do you select someone with excellent writing skills – and still have text proofread by a second pair of eyes? You should have same demands for your potential translator. So does your German, French, or Spanish employee have necessary writing skills in her first language? If, however, you have such enormous requirements for translation into one single language that you can employ one translator full-time, this might be most economical option. Just make sure that you have necessary expertise to choose a competent translator. Remember: this will be only person to perform all your professional translation services. If you are dissatisfied with work this person is doing, it will not be easy to switch translators. Also, you will probably still want to have someone else proofread translation, just as you probably had someone proofread your original texts.

For centuries, China has played a leading role in civilization, excelling in arts and sciences. China, a land of beauty and fascination, attracts adventurous travelers all over world.

Below is a brief introduction about China's geography, population and economy

Official Country Name:

The People's Republic of China

Government: The National People's Congress

Geography:

China is world's third-largest country, after Canada and US.

Population: 1.26 billion (July 2000)

Area: 9,600,000 sq. km

Coastline: 14,500 km

Capital City: Beijing (12 million population)

Languages: Official Language: Mandarin Chinese or Putonghua, based on Beijing dialect. Other Languages: Seven other major Chinese dialects, Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka.