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Africans adopt ‘Chinese time’
非洲接纳“中国计时”
24-hour work speeds up infrastructure, modernity
全天候工作可加速基础设施建设和现代化
Africa offers many challenges to investors: a lack of infrastructure such
as roads and energy, insecurity, and a relative absence of human capital. But
perhaps one of the most consistent problems in West Africa has been a cultural
attitude that sees timekeeping as flexible and disdains long hours or shift
changes.
非洲向投资者出很多挑战：缺乏像道路和能源之类的基础设施，不安全，人力资源相对匮乏。但是也许西非最顽固的问题之一就是文化态度：计时灵活，鄙视长时间工作和轮班。
"The archaic ’African time’ was the most backward element of all. Africans
would not keep time. They would report late to work and go for midmorning and
lunch breaks for longer time than expected. To them, time was not an important
resource at work," says Christopher Omollo, an expert on labor issues in Kenya.
Omollo observes that due to the poor time-keeping culture, companies suffered
from low productivity. There was inefficiency as well as wastage.
古老的“非洲时间观念”是所有因素中最落后的。非洲人不会节省时间。他们会迟上工，接近早间十点的时候工作，午餐休息也比预计的长。对他们来说，时间不是工作中重要的资源，”肯尼亚劳动力问题专家Christopher
Omollo说。Christopher Omollo观察到，由于落后的计时文化，公司饱受低生产率的折磨。低效而且浪费。
"Africa time" was more pronounced in Francophone Africa, mainly in the West
of the continent. In East Africa (Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda) and South Africa,
timekeeping standards, perhaps as a result of British impositions, more neatly
fit Western expectations. That means an easier working environment for foreign
firms, and consequently much larger investments from abroad
“非洲计时”主要发生在说法语的非洲地区，也就是非洲西大陆。在东非(肯尼亚，乌干达和坦桑尼亚)以及南非，计时标准也许是出于英国人的强压，更接近西方的期望。那就意味着外国公司拥有更轻松的工作环境，由此带来更多的海外投资。
"Even when you look at the distribution of foreigners and their
investments, you will notice that most of them are concentrated in Eastern and
Southern African countries," says Abdi Mohamed, an economist in Dar es Salaam,
the capital city of Tanzania. Yet he noted that Tanzania still suffered from the
perception of working on "African time" when compared to Asia or Europe.
“即使当你观察外国人和他们的投资分布时，你也会注意到，他们当中的绝大多数都集中在东非和南非国家，”坦桑尼亚首都达累斯萨拉姆经济学家 Abdi
Mohamed说。然而他也强调，坦桑尼亚仍然饱受“非洲计时”工作观念的影响，相比亚洲或者欧洲。
But the "backward" working culture was a non-issue to the Chinese people
when they started entering African countries in the 1990s and 2000s. Tanzania
recorded massive Chinese investments ranging from infrastructure to mining.
中国人于20世纪90年代和21世纪开始进入非洲国家，但是那个时候，这种落后的工作文化对中国人来说不是问题。从基础设施到采矿业，坦桑尼亚都获得了大量的中国投资。
"They came in with the 24-hour working culture in a country where
businesses would literarily stop operating at 5 pm until the following day. As
more local workers took jobs with Chinese companies, they had to learn habits
such as reporting to work in time, and the need for efficiency and
specialization at work. This has shifted the mindset of Tanzanians," says
Mohamed.
“他们带着24小时工作制进入某个国家，这个国家的商业活动理论上在下午五点就会结束。伴随着越来越多的本地工人在中国公司获得工作，他们必须学习一些习惯，比如按时报告工作，工作时要求有效并且专业化。这转变了坦桑尼亚人的观念，”Mohamed说。
One of the first large-scale projects was when Chinese firm was contracted
to construct a 55-kilometer superhighway linking Nairobi and the industrial
town, Thika. The project was funded by the Kenya government, the Chinese
government and the African Development Fund and seemed to be a testing ground
for Chinese firms seeking road construction work in Africa.
其中第一个大规模的工程，是中国公司签署了修建连接奈落比和工业城镇内罗毕长达55千米高速公路的合同。该项目由肯尼亚基金会、中国政府和非洲发展基金会资助，是中国公司寻求在非洲道路建设工程的一个试验场。
The businesses that have employed the round-the-clock working culture in
Nairobi include public transport, security firms and petrol stations. Commercial
banks have also been compelled to stretch their working operations from 9 am to
5 pm to from 8 am to 9 pm.
这些工程把24小时工作制在奈落比各行各业中进行了推广，包括公共交通、安全公司和加油站。商业银行也被迫把工作时间从朝九晚五延长到晚上八点甚至九点。
Meanwhile, the new working culture still faces resistance from locals. Most
of them are not yet fully initiated into it and as such, if asked to report to
work in time, they claim they are being exploited by their employers. Supporting
institutions such as commercial banks have also yet to embrace this mindset
while insecurity in some regions continue to be a major hurdle.
与此同时，新的工作文化也面临着本地的抵制。大部分公司还没有完全启动该制度，如果要求他们及时报告工作时间，他们会宣称他们被雇主剥削。像商业银行之类的支持性机构也拥护这种观念，然而一些地区的不安全性仍然是很大的障碍。
来源:Global Times |
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发表于 2017-8-6 16:12:34