With the COVID-19 spreading through the world it was only a matter of time before the virus spread to the Netherlands. I was asked to help with the SEO for a new mouth mask start-up.
About the start-up
This start-up had made a deal with some Chinese distributors and wanted to sell Chinese certified masks to Dutch health related companies such as hospitals and retirement homes. It was my job to work on the website’s SEO and to make SEA advertisements.
The company used boxes to pack either 30, 10 or 5 masks. However, these boxes were from China and therefore had Chinese characters all over them, making its contents impossible to read if you do not know the language.
Using Google Translate?
They wanted to use a translating system like Google Translate to translate the writings on the box into both English and Dutch, yet these translations sometimes didn’t make sense at all.
Luckily for me, having learned Mandarin for six months, I knew that the Baidu translating app was far more accurate then Google Translate.
Baidu is better
Even though I do not possess enough knowledge of the language, I knew enough characters to use Baidu translate. When translating the boxes out of curiosity I discussed the writings of the box with my supervisor, he asked if I would mind using Baidu to translate the writing to English and Dutch.
Which is how I changed my job from being a SEO employee to being a translator for the company. My SEO position was eventually given to someone else and as soon as I was done with the translations I was let go.
Looking back
However, I really liked to step outside of my comfort zone and I am happy with the work I did do for this company.
My translations were eventually used to design a new box for the masks, both in Dutch and English and these boxes (with MY translations!!!) can currently be founded at supermarkets and other stores!
You never know when a skill could be useful and appreciated so keep practicing! It has been over a year that I came back from China and I never stopped practicing my Chinese because you never know when you need it next 🙂
