Tour guide or interpreter: which brief to send

The two requests get mixed because both mean “a person who speaks my language.” They are different jobs. A tour guide helps you see a city. An interpreter helps you talk to someone in that city. China On Call matches them separately so the day is not staffed with the wrong skill.

Choose a guide for the place

Ask for a guide when the point is a palace, a museum, a monastery, a park, a market, or a walk. The guide chooses a pace, says what you are looking at, and keeps the group from spending the afternoon in the wrong queue. In Lhasa that includes how to behave in a chapel. In Zhangjiajie it includes which gate matches the trails your group can walk.

A guide can sit in the private car when the sights are spread out. The driver is still not the guide unless we say that one person will cover both.

Choose an interpreter for the conversation

Ask for an interpreter when the words are the work: a supplier meeting, a factory walk-through, a hospital or school appointment, a university visit, a family introduction. The interpreter follows the speakers. They are not there to deliver a script about the skyline.

Tell us the language pair, the address area, the start time, and roughly how long the meeting runs. Consecutive interpreting is the usual request. We do not certify written translations on this page, and we are not a clinic.

Website language is not the working language

This site is published in English, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese. That is only the language of the page. In the brief, name the language the guide or interpreter should work in. English and Mandarin are the common requests. Japanese, Korean, Cantonese, French, German, Spanish, Russian, and others are questions: we confirm them only when a person is free on those dates, in that city.

Can one person do both?

Sometimes, for a light day. Do not assume it. If the morning is a museum and the afternoon is a contract conversation, say both. We would rather propose two blocks than leave you with a guide who should not be carrying a negotiation, or an interpreter who has not been asked to explain a temple.

What the reply looks like

Send the city, dates, party size, language, and the service. A coordinator replies on WhatsApp with who does which hours, and a quote. There is no rate card on the site, no personal profile wall, and no service in Hong Kong or Macau. If you prefer WeChat, scan the code on the contact page or in the footer.