How to brief a guide or interpreter on WhatsApp

A useful brief is one WhatsApp message that a coordinator can match. It is not a diary, and it is not a rate you are asking us to beat. China On Call reads the city, the dates, the language, and the job. The quote comes back in that thread. Nothing is booked until you agree. If you would rather add us on WeChat, the code is on the contact page and in the footer. The message we answer is still the WhatsApp one.

The lines that change the match

• City. If the day crosses into a second mainland city, name both.
• Dates, with the arrival day marked if you land with bags.
• Party size, and anything that changes the pace: young children, long stairs, a folding wheelchair.
• Working language. The language of this website is not that language.
• The service: tour guide, interpreter, private car, or a combination.
• What the hours are for. A palace and a supplier meeting are different people.

You do not need a polished paragraph. Short labels are easier to answer than a page of background. Write when you can. A coordinator picks up the thread. We do not promise an answer at every hour of the night.

A guide brief is about the place

Say which sites matter, which ones are optional, and how the group walks. “The old town in the morning, and we stop when people are tired” is a better brief than a list of every gate. If you already hold tickets, say so, and say whether the entry time is fixed. If you do not hold tickets, do not assume we can invent a reserved slot on the day you ask.

Say what you do not want. A guide who is asked to keep a business negotiation moving is in the wrong job. A driver who is asked to explain a monastery has not been booked as a guide. If the sights are spread out, ask for the car in the same note.

An interpreter brief is about the conversation

Name the language pair, the start time, how long you expect to talk, and the kind of meeting: supplier visit, factory walk-through, school or hospital appointment, university, family introduction. Give the district, not a private home story. Consecutive interpreting is the usual request. Say if you need the interpreter only for the meeting and a car for the door-to-door ride.

Send only the context the interpreter needs in order to prepare. Do not paste contracts, medical files, or passport scans into the first message. We are not a clinic, and this page does not certify written translations. If the morning is a museum and the afternoon is a negotiation, write both. We would rather staff two blocks.

A shape you can rewrite

Guide day: City, Shanghai. Dates, 12–13 April, landing the day before. Party, two adults. Language, English. Service, guide for one full day and a private car from Pudong to the hotel area. Focus, Yu Garden and the former concession streets on foot. Pace, stop for lunch, no museum with a timed entry.

Interpreter block: City, Suzhou. Date, 3 May, 09:00–13:00. Language pair, English and Mandarin. Service, interpreter. Meeting, a supplier walk-through in an industrial district. Style, consecutive. Car, yes, from the hotel area to the district and back. Guide, no.

Replace every line. Leave out personal names if a role is enough (“the supplier”, “the school office”). The examples are patterns, not bookings.

What we will not treat as a brief

Hong Kong and Macau are outside this service. A request to pretend we are another company is not a brief we will answer. A demand for a published “from” price is not a brief either: the site has no rate card, and the quote follows the day. Tibet and parts of Xinjiang may need permits and other arrangements; send the route and the dates early, and we confirm the current rules when you enquire. We do not state a visa rule on your behalf.

After you send it

The reply names who covers which hours, and it includes a quote. If a language or a date cannot be covered, we say that, instead of leaving the gap inside a cheerful yes. You confirm in the same thread. Until then, the day is only a draft.