Pic: By Ricardo Stuckert/PR (Agência Brasil [1]) [CC-BY-2.5-br], via Wikimedia Commons



Will translation rescue London businesses from the morass of the UK economy? A report today by the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry shows a difficult last few months for London business, but concludes that part of the solution is reaching out globally to growing economies.

Most of the key performance indicators for London’s businesses fell in the third quarter of 2011, according to the LCCI’s latest Quarterly Economic Survey. London businesses saw sales and orders in both domestic and export markets fall significantly.

The report [.pdf] notes confidence figures at an individual company level remained relatively steady in Q3, but confidence in the UK’s economic situation fell drastically.

Interviewed on the BBC, Colin Stanbridge, Chief Executive of the LCCI, said, “London business have to get out to places where economy is growing.”

He commented further on these results:

“There are economies beyond Europe experiencing huge surges in consumer demand, not least in Brazil, China and Russia. The business community and the government must work together to harness these opportunities for UK firms.”

An unusual tourist destination for Chinese tourists in the UK is revealed by the Metro today. The Clarks shoe museum, in the small Somerset village of Street, is hoping for coaches full of tour groups.

Stephanie Cheng, managing director of China Holidays, thinks that Chinese tourists “will definitely come here to the home of Clarks and the shoe museum”. Clarks have been making footwear since 1825, and it has gained popularity in China.

Cheng comments “Clarks shoes are a phenomenon in China, their quality and design are famous. When Chinese people come to England, they find the price is comparatively low and they buy for the whole family, perhaps five to ten pairs.”

It’s hardly news that the Chinese economy is growing, and some individuals are becoming wealthy. Only last month, the Chinese economy became the second largest in the world, surpassing Japan. It is predicted to become the single largest economy in the world before 2020. Only today, a Guardian blog highlights some of the incredible figures (and risks) behind this enormous growth: “China plots world domination and an almighty shopping spree”.

Against this background, the number of Chinese visitors to the UK can only increase. Chinese tourists are certainly a group that are being newly looked at by many serious luxury brands, hotels, visitor attractions, service providers, and so on.

Returning to Somerset, the local County Council and Tourism Association have been working hard at building links. Cllr David Hall said: “The Chinese are now recognised as being bigger spenders than the Arabs, Russians or Americans and their visit will give a tremendous boost to Somerset’s economy and local employment.”

At WorldAccent we’ve undoubtedly seen an increase in publicity requiring Chinese typesetting. After all a exhibit leaflet or information on a website can be created in key languages such as Chinese quickly and for a relatively small outlay. However you can’t help but wonder how many attractions, services and companies are still caught in the old world view, seeing China as source of affordable manufactured goods rather than a source of well off visitors and consumers.

To help this process on its way, WorldAccent has produced a free download of 4 shop information signs in Simplified Chinese for shops and visitors’ attractions. You can download and print the PDF with signs in Simplified Chinese for Open, Closed, Toilets and Special Offer. Feel free to pass it on, but please link back to here as a credit if you do.

Pic: © Bob Collins, Courtesy Museum of London



An exhibition of “London Street Photography” opened last week at the Museum of London. It provides a fascinating glimpse of London life throughout the last 150 years, using street photography largely from the museum’s archive that has not been widely exhibited before.

London Street Photography brings together the work of almost 60 photographers. Some of the interesting inclusions are by the less well-known ones, including the first female photojournalist to work in the UK.

From the faded blurry images at the beginnings of the new technology of the camera to the sharp colourful images taken with digital cameras today, we can examine fleeting moments captured in London’s streets. Though the photography styles and technology have changed dramatically, it struck me that there are common threads throughout the decades. Images show people’s changing looks and lifestyles, areas changed and rebuilt. But they also show the consistently multicultural character of London.

I was struck by the scenes of Chinese New Year – a celebration we captured with some of our own images this year in London’s Chinatown. Also captured are Portuguese community celebrating football victory, along with images of everyday street life and occasional tensions such as hippies and skinheads crossing paths in the late 1960s.

The exhibition documents the city through times of change and conflict – highlighting the importance of photography in providing us with a connection to the past.

The museum has also recently launched a London iphone app which shows you glimpses of London’s past as you move around the present day city:

“Streetmuseum gives you a unique perspective of old and new London whether you’re discovering the capital for the first time or revisiting favourite haunts. Hundreds of images from the Museum of London’s extensive collections showcase both everyday and momentous occasions in London’s history, from the Great Fire of 1666 to the swinging sixties.”

Both the app and the exhibition are well worth a look in my opinion.

The “London Street Photography” exhibition is free and runs until 4 September at The Museum of London, 150 London Wall, London EC2Y 5HN.

Chinese New Year in London.

This work by WorldAccent Translation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Those born in the Year of the Rabbit are believed to be tactful, talented and trusted. This works on a 12 year cycle, so other Years of the Rabbit include 1999, 1987, 1975, 1963 and 1951.

I hope you have remembered to give your home a good clean before the New Year! It is traditional to do so to sweep away bad luck, however you must to do that before the New Year. Supposedly you must not sweep again in the first few days as this may sweep away the good luck brought in by the New Year.

Red is associated with New Year, and people often redecorate windows and doors in red to welcome in the new year.

You can also give out packets of lucky money to children. This is a way of distributing luck. The red packets decorated with gold are known as “Leisee”. You can find other fun activities online for children to do at home including making paper bunnies specially for the Year of the Rabbit.

Giving out a red envelope of lucky money during Chinese New Year celebrations in London.

This work by WorldAccent Translation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Here in London there are major celebrations of New Year, the largest outside Asia. There were several events taking place on 3 February and the following weekend.

However, London’s biggest celebrations didn’t take place until Sunday, 6th February. The now traditional colourful spectacle started at midday with events around Chinatown in Soho, Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square. The large crowds got to see processions of colourful dragons, firecrackers, dancers, acrobats, packets of money being handed out and splashes of red everywhere. And it was free!

For the latest information, keep an eye on View London and London Chinatown.

Here are more of our pictures from London’s Chinese New Year celebration:

Giving lucky money to children.

This work by WorldAccent Translation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Child with red drum at Chinese New Year in London.

This work by WorldAccent Translation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Women holding paper dragons at Chinese New Year in London.

This work by WorldAccent Translation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Street scene at Chinese New Year in London.

This work by WorldAccent Translation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Tempting street food on display during Chinese New Year in London.

This work by WorldAccent Translation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Something for everyone on Chinese New Year stall: Red, Rabbit, Refreshments!

This work by WorldAccent Translation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Campaigners employ red toy rabbits during celebrations of Chinese Year of the Rabbit in London.

This work by WorldAccent Translation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

London street with Chinese New Year lanterns.

This work by WorldAccent Translation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Shoppers look at stall during Chinese New Year celebration in London.

This work by WorldAccent Translation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Boy plays with paper dragon during celebrations of Chinese New Year in London.

This work by WorldAccent Translation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The pictures on this page were taken by Angela Stapleford on behalf of WorldAccent at London’s Chinese New Year celebrations on 7 February 2011. You are free to reuse these images, so long as you do not alter them. You must attribute WorldAccent Translation and include a followed link to http://www.worldaccent.com/chinese

These works by WorldAccent Translation are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

You can see more of our photos on our Flickr set of Chinese New Year, London 2011

Research on these cultural differences, carried out by a team largely from Glasgow University, showed that East Asian observers found it more difficult to distinguish some facial expressions.

“We show that Easterners and Westerners look at different face features to read facial expressions,” said Rachael Jack. “Westerners look at the eyes and the mouth in equal measure, whereas Easterners favour the eyes and neglect the mouth. This means that Easterners have difficulty distinguishing facial expressions that look similar around the eye region.”

Interestingly this difference in focus is also reflected in emoticons – the textual portrayal of a writer’s mood commonly used in emails and text messages.

Western emoticons primarily use the mouth to convey emotional states, e.g. : ) for happy and : ( for sad. Eastern emoticons use the eyes, e.g. ^.^ for happy and ;_; for sad. So a quirky brochure design that revolves around a smiley in English might need a total re-think for the Chinese translation.

The final word on this goes to the research team, who wrote:

“In sum, our data demonstrate genuine perceptual differences between Western Caucasian and East Asian observers … From here on, examining how the different facets of cultural ideologies and concepts have diversified these basic social skills will elevate knowledge of human emotion processing from a reductionist to a more authentic representation. Otherwise, when it comes to communicating emotions across cultures, Easterners and Westerners will find themselves lost in translation.”

Naturally London will be the scene for several New Year celebrations, including a parade, stalls and dances in central London on Sunday 1 February. Last year’s celebrations saw 50,000 people attend the grand parade and welcoming ceremony in Trafalgar Square. At WorldAccent, we have been busy with various posters and adverts expressing clients’ new year wishes – mostly written in Traditional Chinese for a UK audience.

Once the celebrations are over, what might this Year of the Ox bring us? The Ox is thought to signify prosperity but through fortitude and hard work.

Furthermore, according to tradition, the Ox is never extravagant. One contemporary interpretation of this facet is that an Ox is nervous of living off credit cards or being in debt. In the on-going credit crunch, perhaps this will truly be the year of the Ox?

First the good news. State schools in the UK are starting to offer a much broader range of foreign languages than the traditional French or German. Since 2005 the number of schools offering Mandarin as an option has increased from 2% to 14%, while Italian has increased from 7% to 18%. The availability of Urdu, Russian and Arabic has also increased.

With China’s growing influence in the world, making Mandarin available as a foreign language option can only be a good thing. And learning it from an early age is no bad thing either, as some people find it difficult to adapt to the Mandarin pronunciation later in life.

Many also find it difficult to get to grips with the writing system which uses individual characters for particular words or concepts. The examples featured in the Chinese GCSE specification (PDF) I looked at were written in Simplified Chinese, as one would expect for people learning Mandarin with an eye to interacting with mainland China (or more correctly the People’s Republic of China).

This at least reduces the number of characters that need to be learned, although there are still thousands!

And it is interesting to note that many Traditional Chinese characters seem to be gaining currency even in the PRC as the influence of Hong Kong is felt.

There is a down side exposed in the CiLT report though. Although the decline in foreign languages in our schools has bottomed out, this summer saw just 44% of Key Stage 4 (ie 16 year old) pupils sit a language GCSE. Compare this to France where the teaching of English is compulsory up to age 17.

Although many schools are taking up alternative qualifications to GCSE to tempt pupils to learn languages, we still lag some way behind many other EU countries.

My daughter is currently going through the process of chososing her GCSE subject and to try to ensure she takes at least one foreign language I will be directing her here – 700 reasons why it is good to learn another language.