CONFIDENTIAL
97
J DI Boyd Esq CMG
HONG KONG
&
If daw
ходи
MANDARIN INTERPRETERS
947 !.
REGISTRY
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
9 December 1985
Pr. har
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We have been doing some work here on your letter of 4 October and the problems it posed.
2. As you note in your letter, the private sector demand for interpreters of the standard required is strong. Soundings taken from companies here with full-time employees capable of the highest level of interpreting (though most have other responsibilities as well) show that such people can command salaries, together with fringe benefits, of from £25,000 to £30,000 per year. This suggests that part of the problem may be that we all reluctant to face up to the realities of the market rate in Hong Kong (or Britain) for the skills required.
3. With that rather depressing (or expensive) thought as a preface, let me go on to deal with the various suggestions you made in your letter. I will deal with them in turn.
Action Taken
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY/ 12 DEC 1985
DESY OPENE
INDE
(a) An FCO specialised Mandarin interpreter. The problem here is that the bulk of the work would involve Hong Kong, especially if one is thinking of someone to take over Y P Cheng's present duties. The need for the interpreter to work in Hong Kong will be even stronger after the Joint Liaison Group's principal base becomes Hong from 1 July 1988. The Administration here would therefore much prefer to look at the case for an interpreter employed by HKG being reimbursed for work carried out for HMG. They would be extremely reluctant to create the extra manpower slot here. You may therefore wish to
consider whether such additiona reimbursement might offer a way of providing for a higher salary than the HKG is at present able to offer in its Chinese Language Division. (There would of course be hard but fair - bargaining about the way costs should be apportioned.)
(b)
Someone from the BBC External Services. We agree that this is a possible source from which to recruit. However, we understand that the best people there at present are Peking-born: and one left China illegally about ten years ago. So there could be clearance problems.
CONFIDENTIAL
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