一步一个脚印

Briefing

You have been called to interpret for an English-Speaking Writer (ESW) and a Mandarin-Speaking Businesswoman (MSB). The writer is researching the company the businesswoman works for, as he is currently writing a feature on it for a finance magazine.

Listen to Dialogue

Mandarin English Dialogue #37 – Company Profile

Transcript and reference translation

ESW: First I want to say thank you for taking the time to see me today. I know you have a busy schedule. (首先我要感谢你今天抽出时间来见我。我知道你很忙。)

MSB: 哪里哪里。我们很荣幸能受到像您这样有名的杂志的采访。我们的总裁已经订阅了好几年你们的中文版杂志。(It’s my pleasure. We feel honoured to be interviewed by a such a famous magazine as yours. Our CEO has subscribed to the Chinese edition for years.)

ESW: Oh that’s great. Now, we’ve long followed your company’s rise to fame. And I’m sure you’re all very excited about the IPO next week. But where did it all start? (太好了。我们一直以来都在关注贵公司的成名经历。我敢肯定，你们一定对下周的首次公开发行感到十分激动。但是，你们是怎么开始的呢？)

MSB: 虽然我们现在的总部都在北京，我们最初是在呼和浩特开始的。现在我们在中国大部分的主要城市都有分公司，甚至遍布世界各地，比如多伦多、巴黎、吉隆坡等等。(Although our headquarters are now in Beijing, we originally started in Hohhot. Now we have branches in most of China’s major cities, as well as all over the world – in Toronto, Paris, Kuala Lumpur, and so on.)

ESW: So I understand it’s been a long journey for all of you. As the CFO, where do you see the company in, say, 5 years’ time? (这对你们来说一定是一次漫长的过程。作为首席财务官，你对公司未来5年的发展怎么看？)

MSB: 我们想继续尽全力发展我们的公司。目前我们有2万名员工。我们希望这个数字在将来可以翻倍。我们今年的总年收入是100万澳元。我们的目标就是让年收入翻三倍。(We want to continue to grow as much as we can. Currently we employ 20,000 people. We want to see that figure double. Our gross revenue was about $1 million this year. We aim to triple that.)

ESW: Online shopping has become very popular over the past decade. Now it’s certainly more than just a passing fad. But there is also a lot of concern about the future of bricks-and-mortar stores. What’s your view on this? (在线购物在过去的十年里变得十分流行。当然了，这不仅仅只是一个昙花一现的时尚。但是对于实体店的未来也充满了种种担忧。你对此的观点是什么呢？)

MSB: 我们公司知道这其中的挑战，这就是为什么我们一直以来都在瞄准网购市场。(Our company understands the challenges involved, and that’s why we’ve always targeted the online shopping market.)

ESW: Yes, and I’ve also noticed that your company has a solid web presence. But there have been rumours that you will discontinue your wholesale services, and focus only on retail outlets. Is that true? (没错，我还注意到你的公司的网上知名度挺高的。但是有一些传言说您将停止批发服务，将重点放到零售店上，这是真的吗？)

MSB: 这是我们在上次的年会上讨论过的。物流产业在过去的几年里发生了重大的改变，我们认为公司在零售业的盈利会更高。(That is something that we discussed during our last AGM. The logistics industry has changed significantly over the past couple of years, and we feel that the company would make more profit in the retail sector.)

ESW: Some commentators have said that, while your board of directors supports this move, your holding company has voiced strong objection to it. (一些评论员表示，虽然公司的董事会支持这项决策，但是控股公司却强烈反对。)

MSB: 这件事情还有待商议，请不要轻信非官方的信息。那我们下次再谈吧。(We have yet to discuss the matter. Please don’t so be so quick to believe the unofficial reports. Let’s discuss this next time then.)