Do you think we are going through a seemingly never-ending crisis? What about having a good laugh? Chinglish, a new hilarious Broadway play by David Henry Hwang, is a good way to cheer you up.

It tells the story of Daniel, an American businessman who moves to China because he wants to quickly start a business to boost his family’s ailing sign-making company. The title of the play refers to those famously funny translations found in China, where you really risk being lost in translation, as we have already blogged about in the article Want Your Business Never Lost In Translation?

The play is set in Guiyang, a “small” city of 4.3m inhabitants in south-west China. The performance is in English and Mandarin with English supertitles. Western and Chinese cultures are very different, and people are often puzzled by foreigners’ behaviour. Peter, the British consultant and translator of Daniel, explains to Daniel the concept of guanxi (personal connections). In fact, Guanxi, hierarchy and face, the three musts of Chinese culture, are of paramount importance when you want to do business in China.

In the play, the audience witnesses a Chinese interpreter mangling communication between the American businessman and Minister Cai, a Chinese government official. “We’re a small, family firm” turns into “his company is small and insignificant; ” “I appreciate the frank American style” becomes “He enjoys your rudeness.”

Chinglish’s mistranslations make us laugh, but make sure that when you are doing business you don’t make blunders. Choose a reliable translation service provider. Choose SanTranslate .