Categories: denmark, postcards
Date: 17 February 2008 21:26:10
The purpose of my trip to Denmark was to visit my Danish client (the one which sent a Christmas card pre-Advent). I had been invited to attend a "suppliers meeting". I have deliberately left out the apostrophe for I thought it was going to be a "suppliers' meeting" but it turned out to be a "supplier's meeting".
I was expecting to visit a plate-glass and steel high-tech building - based on their advanced and innovative website design - but the office turned out to be in a two storey building in a quaint cobbled courtyard in the centre of old Copenhagen. I was in for another surprise. I had gained the impression that the company was staffed by at least a hundred people judging from all the newsletters I've received detailing staff movements, hirings, departures, etc. There were perhaps 30 staff - and ALL of them knew of my visit and were expecting me. I was kept on my toes having to think up intelligent questions and comments for parts of the business I hadn't even known existed. The staff members were mainly Danes and Swedes and all of them spoke fantastic English. Even the catering assistant knew I was coming for lunch and explained all the dishes to me in jaw-droppingly excellent English. I was beginning to feel something of an amateur!
The meetings seemed to go well and I think I managed to say the right things and learned when checking my email later that a test translation I had done for a prospective new client of theirs had met with approval - so I had won them some new business and a source of extra work for myself.