Helping Chinese guests
The business of running a hotel is all about hospitality and making your guests feel welcome. The Holiday Inn Express Manchester Airport welcomes visitors from all over the world, and Chinese visitors are increasing in number as parties of tourists come to enjoy Premiership football, make a stadium tour of Old Trafford or the Etihad Stadium, play golf or shop in Manchester.
Many of the Chinese visitors staying at the Holiday Inn Express may not have visited the UK before, and they may also not be too confident in their English skills. The Economist magazine in 2011 quoted an American teacher and blogger in China, Tom, who stated that English classes in China are extremely poor, and the teachers themselves are not fluent in English. Rather the developing students’ ability to produce sentences of their own, rote memorisation is the standard practise, and this does not build confidence in using language overseas.
As a result, even though most of China’s population may be learning English, at least in theory, in practical terms they are not well-equipped to communicate on a visit to Manchester. Having Chinese translations could help. Holiday Inn Express wanted to help its Chinese visitors to feel at home in their hotel, and contacted Accutranslate to translate a welcome letter and their menus into both Mandarin and Cantonese.
Chinese translation
Accutranslate was happy to help “We feel that using the customer’s language in International business is only polite – after all, you want the people you are dealing with to feel at ease. By taking the trouble to translate their menus and welcome letters Holiday Inn Express Manchester Airport presents a much more welcoming face to its Chinese guests” says Andrea Nicholls of Accutranslate.
Chinese translation to help your customers
By taking even small steps to show customers, suppliers and partners overseas that you are thinking of their comfort, and putting them at ease, UK businesses can develop much stronger and more personal relationships. If you’d like to discuss simple ways of using translation to develop your relationships with overseas clients, give Andrea and the team a ring on 0800 466 1335 or email at info@accutranslate.co.uk