I was educated in a bilingual school for 12 years with English being my 1st language and Chinese as 2nd language.
I lived in Shenzhen, China from 2000 to 2005, working with a Malaysian architecture firm as their chief representative and liaison with the Kuala Lumpur headquarters.
My responsibilities include having to liaise with the Chinese government administrative offices on a daily basis where the bulk of work consist of translating and vetting of documents. On the corporate front, I managed translations for contracts and project briefs for our head office.
When we have visiting architects or engineers, I would the interpreter.
I also had to be well-versed in local customs and practices so as to facilitate smooth business transactions between clients and ourselves.