“Carl, I want to ask you something.” In the afternoon, when it was close to the end of work, Emma called Carl to the office, asked Carl.
Carl nodded, gesturing Emma directly to say.
“I wonder how well Your French is. How is your spoken French? Can you do a French interpretation?” Emma asked directly.
Carl was stunned, and then asked, “Why do you ask so?”
“Here it is the thing. We held a meeting this afternoon and studied the conditions given by Aril Group, I felt it may work. You know I went to the group headquarters, asked the opinion of headquarters leadership, they think it is practical, so, I decided to fly to Paris on Wednesday to talk about cooperation with Aril Group.”
“This is the first overseas five-star hotel and the largest overseas investment of our company, with an investment of over millions of dollars. It is a very important investment for both our group and our company, so I want to sign this contract as soon as possible.”
“The problem is that our original French translator is not available, so I need a translator, not just a text translator, but a simultaneous interpreter. I wanted to ask if you could do it. I’d like to ask you to do me a favor. I think you’ll come with me anyway, right? If you can do it, I’ll save one of our staff money, and at the same time you’ll save me the trouble of finding a translator. It is urgent, and finding a simultaneous French interpreter in such a short time is quite troublesome. Can you do it?” Emma directly asked Carl.
“Wednesday? When is the ticket?” Carl asked directly.
“Tomorrow night we fly to Hong Kong, and then the day after tomorrow morning fly directly from Hong Kong to Paris. If you can do it, I will ask Linda to confirm the number of people and book the tickets, but you have to think well, this is a simultaneous translation, which is very demanding. And this investment is very important to me, so…” Emma was interrupted by Carl before she could finish.
“Well, I’ll have a look at Frost when I get off work and talk to the nurse. Pay some money in case there is not enough.” Carl directly said, and then walked out of Emma’s office.
“Well, can you do it or not?” Emma looked at the back of Carl and shouted. Then she was stunned, it seemed that Carl has answered her question.
Carl drove a car with Emma to go to the hospital, but the nurse did not allow them to go into the intensive care unit and asked them to come in the next day. The payment window has closed. Carl found responsible nurse and told her that he need to go abroad and hoped her can take care of Frost. He also left his mobile phone number to the nurse.
“Carl, are you sure you have no problem? Of course, I don’t mean that your French is not good. After the translation in the morning, I have fully believed your level on French. However, simultaneous translation is not the same as text translation, which requires training. I think, if you are not quite sure of yourself, I think I’d better look for a translator. Of course, I don’t mean to blame you at all, I…”
Emma didn’t know what to say, she felt wrong to say anything. She was unconfident when Carl left her office, after all, this investment project was too important, and Carl was just a self-study, certainly he had not done translation before. If investment was ruined because of this, it’s really not worth the cost. Therefore, Emma was thinking about looking for a professional translation, after all, she still didn’t believe Carl.
“I know what you mean, and you don’t have to say sorry to me, but you’re going to leave tomorrow, even if you look for a professional simultaneous interpreter and ask he or she to follow you to France tomorrow afternoon, I think it’s very difficult, almost impossible. Senior French translators in China are so busy that it’s almost impossible to match their schedule without making an appointment in advance.”
“I think I have no problem on translation. When you are in contact with the other company for the first time, you can’t directly talk about the cooperation once you met. There will always be a meeting. If I really can’t at that time, you can find others. If the group has a Chinese translator, that will be good, if not, you can ask them to hire a translator in Paris, or you can go to Paris University to an international student to do translation, some of them are good at French.” Carl lightly said.
After hearing that, Emma considered it reasonable. She thought it was complex, in fact, the problem was really so simple. This was the first time she felt that Carl was very smart, not as dull as his appearance.
Emma nodded and said, “What you said is reasonable.”
The next morning, Carl was still waiting for Emma at the door in car, but Emma said to him after she got into the car, “I don’t go to work this morning, go to the commercial street.”
Carl was looking at Emma strangely, and then drove the car to the commercial street. In his impression, Emma was a woman who worked very hard. This was his first time to see Emma go shopping at work times.
“We are leaving this afternoon, so I’ve arranged a morning holiday for everyone going to France, myself included.” Emma seemed to feel Carl’s curiosity, she explained.
Carl nodded but said nothing.
Carl parked the car, and then Emma went directly to a high-end shopping mall. Carl was still two or three meters behind her.
Emma walked directly into a men’s clothing store, choosing clothes. Carl thought she was choosing clothes for her father or a friend.
While Carl was waiting at the door, Emma shouted directly to him, “Carl, come in.”
Carl was stunned, and then went in.