Need to be conversational in Mandarin FAST

[icebear]

I came across this blog post that I thought was relevant to the discussion on page 1 and 2 of this thread, specifically concerning when using one's own Chinese may be more of a liability than a asset in a formal business setting. Not intended to be directed at the OP, who has already clarified his conversational goals.

http://www.chinalawblog.com/2012/04/the-legal-faults-with-faulty-china-translations.html

My favorite [mis-translation] (which I have seen at least a half a dozen times) is to do an English language contract that says “A” and a Chinese language contract that says “not A.” The Chinese language contract then makes clear that in any dispute it will prevail. The American party thinks it just signed a contract that says “A” but in reality it just signed a contract that says “not A.”