A cultural hyphen

In their quest for common understanding, interpreters are natural observers of society. “I try to look at the society in which I live from various angles, such as religion, which holds a very important place here. Then everything becomes easier to understand for me,” said Li.

For his part, Chen maintains constant relations with local government offices to stay informed of specific administrative rules. “In a nutshell, to better communicate with the people in the countries where we work, we need to observe more and think more,” said Chen.

At the same time, interpreters also have a responsibility to local people, to remove some of their doubts and help them better understand China. “I answer a lot of questions on China and the Chinese on a daily basis, and I keep them up-to-date of what’s going on over there,” said Chen.

“I am convinced that younger generations will communicate much more easily and understand each other better. In the meantime, I try to bring my humble contribution to this cause by serving as a kind of ‘cultural hyphen,’” he added.