China’s burgeoning industrial and business strength has created a growing market for quality Chinese language news and business information. The Financial Times has recently invested in the expansion of its zhongwen.FT.com website (now chineseft.com), a move intended to leverage the FT brand and the Chinese site’s existing solid reputation to gain a leadership position in the international media market in China. The newly expanded site will provide China-related and world news, comment and analysis to Chinese-speaking business readers in China and worldwide.
FT has selected translation agency Asian Absolute to provide Chinese news for the zhongwen.FT.com website (now chineseft.com). Under the deal, inked in June, a dedicated team of Asian Absolute translators provide same-day translations of existing English language Financial Times content for the Chinese language version of the FT.com news website. The decision by Financial Times to outsource the translation work for the Chinese site is seen by many as unusual (its main competitors all have in-house translation teams), but FT’s past acumen on the web augurs well – its flagship FT.com site, once regarded as an expensive failure, is now a healthily profitable model for the rest of the industry.
The initial operation, already underway, will see Asian Absolute’s translations of China-focused news, analysis, editorial and comment form the core content of an expanded FT Chinese language news site. This is a unique venture, combining the FT’s leadership position in the news industry with Asian Absolute’s strength in quality Asian language translation work. Asian Absolute is regarded as a distinguished and rapidly growing player in the Chinese translation market, and has made a name for itself by providing high-standard translation, desktop publishing and localisation work in Asian language fields where low quality was previously seen to be the norm. With its head office in London, the company also has a sizeable operation in Beijing.
Said Asian Absolute Director Henry Clough, “We are impressed that the FT has secured this enviable position in China and are delighted to be in a position to support its development. We are excited by the challenge of making the FT brand as well-respected in China as it is in Europe and the US.”