For the industry context see "Phase One Closes with 189,000 Overseas Buyers — Phase Two Opens 23 October". This article is about what we actually did — not a strategy document, but three things we paid for over the past fortnight, with the cost and the delivery time attached to each.
First: translator capacity, from finding people to running a rota
Our previous approach to lesser-spoken languages was to find someone per order — find them, agree a price, align on terminology, all at short notice. An Arabic product catalogue took seven days from order to delivery, with three rounds of clarification in between. Phase Two opens on 23 October, and seven days does not work. So we converted the three lines into standing rotas: three Arabic translators (one Gulf branch, one North African branch, one dedicated proofreader), two Spanish (one Latin American branch, one European branch) and two Portuguese (one Brazilian branch, one dedicated proofreader). Every line has a proofreading seat as a hard requirement. Single-translator delivery in a lesser-spoken language carries too much risk; if one term is wrong, nobody catches it.
On cost, there is a practical problem. Arabic and Portuguese translators are scarce in China to begin with, and their rates rise by thirty to fifty per cent during the Canton Fair. We locked in the schedule two weeks ahead and negotiated a weekly rate rather than a per-character rate, so that clients ordering between 23 and 27 October are not exposed to spot-market pricing. That is also why we can give Phase Two clients a stable quotation.
Second: a home furnishings and building materials termbase, split by region
Phase Two is a home furnishings theme, and category vocabulary is highly fragmented. The same composite flooring uses different words in Brazilian and European Portuguese. The same density board follows different customary industry expressions in Gulf and North African Arabic. The same fire rating is expressed through entirely different systems under EU, US and Gulf standards. A single monolithic Arabic termbase would produce documents that any buyer in the trade would recognise as amateur work.
So we split the termbase by region: Arabic into Gulf and North African branches, Spanish into Latin American and European branches, Portuguese primarily Brazilian with European as a secondary branch. Each branch holds around 3,000 core home furnishings and building materials terms, with regional customary expressions and standard designations attached. Splitting has one immediate practical benefit — it is verifiable. After a translator submits, the proofreader compares line by line against the termbase of the same branch, flags any inconsistency in red and returns the file. There is no argument about whether a given word is right.
The third item is the lesser-spoken-language channel for certified translation stamps. This was harder than the first two. Few institutions in China can stamp Arabic or Portuguese documents, and customs authorities and embassies apply the same requirements to stamp design and translator credentials without exception. We have now got the channel working: Arabic stamped documents in 48 hours, Spanish in 36, Portuguese in 48, all delivered before the client flies home. One honest caveat — we do not accept stamp-only orders. The stamp means we are accountable for the content, and that is a line we do not cross.
Delivery rhythm: Phase Two is effectively a 24-hour battle
Based on Phase One's actual data, Phase Two client rhythm will be tighter. Across our 18 Phase One clients, MTPE post-editing averaged a twelve-hour first draft. In Phase Two, because buyer English proficiency is weaker and on-site communication relies more heavily on documents, clients will hand over material later — typically after the halls close, when they send through the revised quotation, needing it printed and on the stand before opening the next morning. That window is eight to ten hours.
Phase Two therefore runs a double shift: orders and terminology preparation during the day, delivery overnight. Arabic and Portuguese each keep one night-duty seat; Spanish keeps two, because client volume is largest there. This arrangement has to hold for ten days — five days of Phase Two, four of Phase Three and a buffer in between — and it is hard consumption for translators, so we have already reserved Phase Three capacity as well.
One lesson from Phase One worth repeating: a client sent a revision to a document translation forty minutes before the halls closed and wanted a Spanish version that night. We delivered, but because container type and material codes had not been confirmed in advance, another revision followed after opening the next morning. So the first item on our Phase Two client checklist is now: confirm container type, material codes and destination country first. Without those three, speed buys nothing.
Translator earnings and thresholds in lesser-spoken languages are in "The Window for Lesser-Spoken-Language Interpreters at the Canton Fair". For Phase Two multilingual documents, contact us to reserve a slot in the rota.