In Germany, the second largest group of immigrants from Asia is the Chinese. There are approximately registered 80,000 Chinese living in Germany. Some were born in Germany while others migrated to Germany. The earliest Chinese came to Berlin thorough London in 1822. The historical records of the country show that the highest density of Chinese migrated to the city of Berlin. This includes those who came to the country by employment on the German steamships, those who came as students, and those who came as entertainers.
The most dominant means of making a livelihood for Chinese in Berlin as well as other parts of Germany is the food industry with up to 60% Chinese being employed in the restaurant industry. Chinese students make up the largest group of foreign-exchange students in German universities. Today, we see that there is an increase in the amount of Chinese entrepreneurs migrating from china to set up shop in Germany. Many of the companies being set up are small shipping and trading companies.
When asked why they would want to leave China with low production and employee costs to move to Germany which is a country with costly social welfare and powerful unions, they respond that Germany allows them to provide quicker services to their European customers by giving them access to the European market. If they want to provide European customers with quicker service, thy need to be operating in Europe itself. Some respond that they are moving to German to acquire German patents and engineering expertise as well.
With so much Chinese activities going on in Germany, especially in Berlin, there is definitely a need for the Chinese language to be understood if not spoken. While Chinese is now being taught in schools in Berlin, there is definitely a need for professional translation services.
Chinese is one of the most difficult languages. It is based on many different systems so professional translation services are needed in order to have proper Chinese to German or German to Chinese translations. Translating the Chinese language does take a lot of time and dedication but in a country where the Chinese influence is growing on a daily basis, being able to properly understand the Chinese language is a must.
