Mr Wu says “Yes”

von Frank A. Gupta

Even though I have been travelling to China for several years now, my Chinese language skills are still pretty much limited to saying 你好 (hello), ordering a 冰镇啤酒 (cold beer) and saying 谢谢 (thank you). Therefore, it is essential for me to rely on translators who help me to get around.

But I think I’m not the only one in the Western world who has this handicap.

Last month in China during the Chinaplas exhibition in Guangzhou – which by the way became the second largest plastics tradeshow after “K” and larger than “NPE” – I had an experience that very much reminded me of the movie “Lost in translation” with Bill Murray.

I was sitting with my translator at the booth of a Chinese company and tried to introduce myself, our company, and the various magazines we publish to the general manager of this company. So I said: “Good morning Sir, may I introduce myself? My name is Frank Gupta and I’m the editor-in-chief of the International PU Magazine.” So my translator started…

After 1 minute I started to wonder what she was telling him, after 2 minutes talking I was getting a bit nervous, but
after 3 minutes she blessedly finished. Now my indirect dialogue partner started….

When he ended after approximately 5 minutes I was quite anxious to know what it was all about.

So my translator started: “Mr Wu says: Hello and Yes!”

Oh… well… Should have guessed… But what again was the part in between Hello and Yes???

We seem to lose more in translation than we imagine.

Perhaps when our German bankers asked the Greek government if they were still in financial difficulties they did not ­realise that “Nee“ in Greek means “Yes“ and not “No” like in German…
During a recent trip to India, it was obvious that some first time visitors to the country did not understand that a head shaking does not mean “No” but can mean “Yes, I have got your point” or “Yes, but I don’t really have a clue”. It only ­depends on the intensity of the head shake. So body language also needs translating sometimes.

Body language being an important part of national traits was recently researched by Ikea and they found that even the way we sit reflects our nationality. As a result, the company has started to design furniture for specific national sitting habits!

So… sit back, relax and enjoy this issue of the PU Magazine.

Best regards

Frank A. Gupta