Durch Jacques Timmers

Die meisten „taten und nicht“ beratende Bücher erklären Ihnen daß, dem, das Sie müssen doppelseitige Geschäft Karten (Lose von ihnen!) holen beim Reisen nach China für Geschäft. Das ist nur zu zutreffend! Aber geben Sie mit acht, was auf der chinesischen Seite gedruckt wird!

Die chinesische Seite Ihrer Karte wird, in einem hübschen wichtigen Umfang, festzustellen wie ernst Sie durch Ihre chinesischen Wirte genommen werden.

Da ein gut vorbereiteter Reisender Sie bereits das Ritual kennen, nicht Sie? Selbstverständlich werfen Sie nicht unvorsichtig ein Bündel Karten zu den Kerlen auf der anderen Seite der Tabelle. Sie werden, beim Stehen herauf und mit einen hellen Bogen, Ihre Karte mit beiden Händen zu überreichen. Sie stellen sicher und kontrollieren wieder doppelt, zeigt diese Ihre Karte die chinesische Seite und die nicht Oberseite - unten aber, so daß Ihr Gast wird, lesen sie.

Sie erlernen hoffnungsvoll, den Trick des Magiers zu erarbeiten, um Ihre eigene Karte mit beiden Händen darzustellen und Karte Ihres Wirtes mit jenen gleichen beiden Händen gleichzeitig anzunehmen (!). Und dann starren Sie höflich entlang dieses Papierstreifens für wenig an, während und heraus versuchen zur Abbildung, die Erscheinen sein Name zerteilen und die Erscheinen sein Titel zerteilen. Sie worden stellen fest, daß er Ihnen eine benutzte Kinokarte ebensogut gegeben haben könnte… Alles in allem, dieses klingt nicht zu schwierig, es?

So ist dieses das Teil, das Sie erlernen können sich. Aber lassen Sie uns einen Schritt von diesem Punkt zurücknehmen: wie organisieren Sie wirklich, um Ihre doppelseitigen chinesischen Geschäft Karten zu erhalten?

I mean, how will you actually find a decent Chinese name for yourself? How does the job title that you worked so hard for all your life, adequately translate into Chinese characters? And is this important at all? Well, you bet it is!

Do you want a Chinese name to sound as closely as possible like your western name? It definitely may have the practical advantage that your host will address you in a way, in which you will recognize that he means you. But there are some loopholes. First of all, the pronunciation will be quite different in Mandarin as opposed to Cantonese. So, what part of China are you going to? And secondly, no matter how normal and respectable your name may be in your own language, a purely phonetic translation may cause a hilarious effect to your hosts.

Let’s for example assume that you are a member of the influential German family Thyssen, and the Chinese print shop converts this into the characters that mean “tú zì”. At best your will politely suppress a giggle about your family name “rabbit”, but they may as well have a hard time not to laugh about the other meaning of a “tú zì”, which is a not-very-friendly nickname for gay people. So, some diligence in this process is not a bad idea.

OK, maybe your Chinese name shouldn’t really sound like your real last name, but maybe it should just express the meaning of your last name. That may be interesting if for example your last name triggers an association with old gentry. Like Marquise de Calebas, or Graf Von Rheinufer. But some of you may not have such noble family backgrounds, and even so, will you trust funny web-sites like www.yourchinesename.com on this? Maybe it will turn out great, but perhaps you should think twice.

The next hurdle is your first name. Yes, many Chinese people do have a western first name these days, but mainly for their western friends. And indeed, some western first names, like David (”Dá Fèi”) or Michael (”Mái Kè”) have a generally accepted phonetic Chinese version. But again, you’d better give it a thought, and your first name may give you a choice between various phonetic equivalents. One may express your wisdom, one may emphasize your ambition, or your power, or your kindness, but some may be a lot less flattering than that. Check first!

The single one most important thing is your title. Way more important than your first name. It’s so important that you always have to use your host’s title when addressing him in a conversation. If Mr. Wang Lao-Hu is the manager, then you will say Wang Jing-Li (literally: Wang manager) to him in your meeting, not just Mr. Wang and definitely not call him Lao-Hu in public.

When it comes to translating your title, please forget about anything phonetic. Here it is the status and the level on the hierarchy ladder that matters. Are you self-employed without any staff? Then you may still have to be “chairman and president”. And should you be a senior manager, or an assistant director? One warning: never ever lie on your title. Sooner or later it will be found out and you will lose face forever. But some titles do not translate one-on-one and if there are different equivalents for your title in the sense of a glass which is half empty or half full, you may just as well choose for the option that sounds better.

So, it is very important that the person, who does the translation and writes the characters for you, discusses this with you and knows what he or she is doing. Therefore, you may want to reconsider it once more, before you ask the lady of the Chinese takeaway at the corner to help you get your new Chinese identity. And the Asian guy at the print shop may not necessarily be the person to pick the Chinese equivalent if you are a “deputy director for corporate governance”.

For determining my own Chinese name and title, I am quite lucky: I can rely on my teacher where I started my Chinese lessons a few months ago. Apart from teaching language and calligraphy, she advises on things like this as a side-job. She will tell me the choices, give me advice, and after I have chosen, she will put the Chinese characters to my name, title, the company name and address. And the cost will be reasonable, which is also a good thing, because having a Chinese name doesn’t make me less Dutch!

So, what I will get from her by e-mail is the well-considered Chinese name and title, written in Chinese characters in electronic format, and that’s it. Only then it will be the time to go to the print shop, and I will be able to tell them exactly what to print onto my cards. This will be non-negotiable.

You have no idea how comfortable it feels. Yes, I am already looking forward to my new “glass half full” name and title…

Jacques Timmers, Horizon International Consultant Ltd.