Chinese Language Publishing

The initial product range has been in the process of development since May 2009. Having identified a need for resources to support Chinese teachers and despite having visited the major language exhibitions in Europe and the USA we realised that resources made in China had no awareness of Western teaching methods, and those from the USA were difficult to use as they have many more native Chinese teachers.

At this point we met an author, a qualified primary teacher from Wales, who had spent a lot of her working life in China and who had a very refreshing approach to taking the 'awe' out of learning Chinese and keeping it simple.

A twin track approach was then adopted. Working and talking with teachers to refine the product so it met their needs and research into the market and how to sell to it as the UK alone could not support such a venture and its application was world-wide.

Developing links with China was regarded as essential as teaching a foreign language cannot be done in isolation from its culture. Our proposals to Hanban were well received and we started on the creation of prototype resources, the refinement of the product and bringing a team together with the appropriate skills and expertise was undertaken. We intended to be different to other publishers, not only in the product but in how it was created, used and sold.

A real bonus during this phase was the development of real friendships with our contacts and project managers in China and their overwhelming hospitality. Banquets and tea have been consumed in equal proportions.