Bread & Butter of PR

I spent a lot of time writing during this internship such as writing media releases and a SMS blast but what interests me more was preparing posts for the hotel Sina Weibo account. For your information, Sina Weibo is a popular Chinese microblogging website.

Quick fact: The China tourists market compromises 40% of Sabah tourism which explains the setting of Sina Weibo account.

Hyatt Regency Kinabalu official Weibo. Even though this account is established around 2 months ago but it garnered a very positive number of fans. 

Statuses or posts updated introducing about Sabah attraction, hotel's promotion and/or hotel's selling point.

What I have to do is: 

1. Write 3 English posts either about the hotel’s selling point, Sabah’s attraction and activities in the hotel, outside or around the hotel. 
2. Proof read of posts by my supervisor and Director of Sales and Marketing.
3. Translate the posts into Chinese. 

I was bit thrilled by this task because it really tests my language capability. At that time, I was glad that I did my Chinese language education since elementary school till O-Level. 

I tried my best in doing the translation such as choosing the right words and terms to convey the right feeling, thinking in a tourist’s perspective do I feel interested to visit Sabah and stay at the hotel and I edited it for several times. In fact, I do Google a lot in finding more adjectives and idioms on Chinese websites!

Although it’s just 3 sentences or posts to be translated, but because of the diverse expressions that can be used by the language itself, and to meet up 140 characters limitation, it is hard! Furthermore, it is impossible to translate every English word to Chinese.  

The art of Chinese language is deeper than you thought (or perhaps any other language as well!). 

Thank God that my translation was edited and refined again by a international China associate who is working in the hotel as well (I couldn't bear to see my writing being posted with my not-so-top Chinese translation!).

It is always an advantage to master one or more languages because who knows it might help your company in marketing communications to different market group of different language. In this context, since the company targets the China market, hence it is important to learn Chinese in use of conversing with tourists and also issuing official communication notice in Chinese such as room notice or announcement.

As writing is the bread and butter of PR, language should be also considered as one and in my opinion, it is the life and art of PR because whether the reader feels interested or not, it depends on how you write it. 

Chung Yee Vun Elaine

16091427