French Interpreter for the Canton Fair in Guangzhou: 100 Profiles List French — and the Fair Sells an In-Hall Escort at CNY 1,000 a Day

Checked on 25 September 2026. We are Guangzhou Guanri Translation Service Co., Ltd. (广州市贯日翻译服务有限公司), an interpreting company based in Guangzhou. We are not a factory-audit firm, not a law firm, and not the Canton Fair organiser. The escort interpreting this article recommends is the service we sell, so read it the way you would read anything written by a seller. Nothing below is legal advice or compliance advice. Every figure is labelled with its source; where a number comes from our own data rather than from an official document, the sentence says so.

We already have a page on French, from July 2026: French-Chinese Translation for Business, Documents and Francophone Africa Trade. It is mostly about written translation. This page is about interpreting at and around the Canton Fair, and it is built on what we can count.

Two counts matter. The Canton Fair sells French interpreting itself: its interpreting page publishes CNY 1,000 a day for an escort interpreter — only inside the exhibition complex, only on fair days, and on a page that carries no date. And our own Guangzhou directory holds 100 profiles that list French, third of fourteen foreign languages. After English and Japanese, that is the most profiles we list for any language. This page sets out what the Fair's service covers, where it stops, and how to find the right person on our list for the days outside it.

1. Which line is yours

Read the row that matches you. Every row ends in something you can do, and carries the number you would need to do it. All day counts are measured from 25 September 2026. The badge rules quoted here come from the 140th-session accompanying-personnel badge notice, published by the Fair on 28 September 2026 in Chinese and English, the day applications opened (see §6). The Fair's rates and booking dates below come from its interpreting page, which carries no publication date (§2). Where a row says to message us, our contact page also lists an email address; if you can write only in French, say so in the first line and we will tell you whether a French speaker can take the thread. The Fair does not say which languages its hotline answers in; its email addresses give you a written channel.

If this is you	What holds today	Then do this	Who decides
You have never attended the Canton Fair, or do not yet hold a buyer badge	This matters for interpreting only if you want an interpreter badged into the halls. The 140th-session companion-badge notice of 28 September 2026 says new buyers must first complete their own pre-registration and submit the application for the Overseas Buyer Badge before they can apply for accompanying personnel	If you want a Chinese interpreter badged into the halls, complete your own pre-registration on buyer.cantonfair.org.cn first. Interpreting outside the halls does not wait on this; the Fair's own in-hall service is booked with the Fair directly (§2). Questions: 4000-888-999 in China, (0086) 20-28888999 from abroad, info@cantonfair.org.cn	The Canton Fair
You are coming for Phase 1 (15–19 October, 20 days away)	Household appliances, consumer electronics, machinery, vehicles and parts, lighting, hardware, tools, new materials and chemical products — all 19 sections in §4. On our own lead time (§8), the four-week point passed on 17 September and the two-week point is 1 October, which is itself a public holiday	Message us today on WhatsApp +86 139 2416 6640 with your dates and product, and say in the first line that it is Phase 1. The Fair's own interpreting desk opens for bookings on 30 September, according to its undated page: email ISC@cantonfair.org.cn as well as calling (020)8913-8055	You, once we and the Fair have both answered
You are coming for Phase 2 (23–27 October, 28 days)	Ceramics, kitchenware, home goods, gifts, furniture, building and decorative materials, bathroom fixtures — all 14 sections in §4	Message us on +86 139 2416 6640 with dates and product. On our own lead time your point is today, 25 September, on the four-week reading, 9 October on the two-week one (§8)	Us, on the named interpreter's calendar — if we cannot confirm a named interpreter we say so and tell you by when
You are coming for Phase 3 (31 October – 4 November, 36 days)	Toys, garments, textiles, shoes, bags, food, medical products, personal care — all 21 sections in §4	Message us on +86 139 2416 6640. Your point is 3 October on the four-week reading, 17 October on the two-week one. Garments and textiles is the specific product group our French profiles declare most — 17 of 100, self-declared (§7)	Us, on the named interpreter's calendar
You need French inside the halls, on fair days	The Fair sells this itself: CNY 800/day booth interpreter, CNY 1,000/day escort interpreter for languages other than English — on an undated page (§2)	Book it with the Fair, not with us. Before the Fair: 30 September – 14 October, (020)8913-8055, ISC@cantonfair.org.cn. During the Fair that line is out of window — use your area's counter: A 86-20-89130395 · B 86-20-89061946 · C 86-20-89074104 · D 86-20-89139941. Pay in CNY at the Buyer Service Centre	The Canton Fair. Their page says interpreter numbers are limited and it is first come, first served
You need French outside the halls — factory visits, hotels, dinners, another province	The Fair's service does not cover any of that (§3). All 100 of our French profiles are registered in Guangzhou	This is the part we sell: +86 139 2416 6640, with dates, city and what the day looks like. Ask for the interpreter by the Ref. number on their directory card. For another province, ask whether the named person will travel — travel and accommodation must then be on the quotation. If we say no, use another agency or ask your supplier whether they have a French-speaking salesperson; we will not argue you out of either	Us, for the interpreter — and the answer may be no
You want the same interpreter in the halls and at the factory	The Fair's own interpreter does not leave the complex. Ours enters the halls only on an accompanying-personnel badge. Under the 140th-session notice (applications open since 28 September 2026) the interpreter type needs a qualification — CATTI, NAETI or a foreign-language degree from a Chinese mainland university, whether anyone qualifies being the Fair's call (§6) — the quota is per phase, the application goes in at least two calendar days ahead, and the notice asks the buyer to have the companion's resident identity card number ready. The same notice bars anyone who holds an exhibitor badge for the same phase or a service personnel (move-in/move-out) badge for the session	Ask us on +86 139 2416 6640 for names whose record matches the third route and who hold neither of those badges, and apply at least two calendar days before your hall day. If the Fair refuses, split the days: the Fair's service in the halls, ours outside	The Canton Fair, for the badge. Us, for the calendar
You are bringing your own interpreter from France, Belgium, Canada, Côte d'Ivoire or anywhere else, and they hold no PRC resident identity card	The 140th-session notice does not say who may be a companion by nationality or identity document; it asks buyers to have the companion's mobile phone number and resident identity card number ready, and does not say what happens if the companion has no PRC resident identity card. The three qualifications listed for the "interpreter" type are all Chinese: CATTI, NAETI, or a foreign-language degree from a Chinese mainland university	Do not plan around the accompanying-personnel badge until the Fair has answered. Before you travel, ask the Fair in writing whether your companion can be badged, or can enter on a buyer badge of their own: 4000-888-999 in China, (0086) 20-28888999 from abroad, info@cantonfair.org.cn — and get the answer in writing	The Canton Fair. We do not speak for them
You are a buyer from Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan, or you hold a Chinese passport	The 140th-session notice says buyers from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and buyers holding a Chinese passport may apply for an "assistant" badge only — the "interpreter" badge is not open to you	Plan on the Fair's own in-hall service, or on our people working with you outside the halls (+86 139 2416 6640). Questions on this rule go to the Fair: 4000-888-999, (0086) 20-28888999 or info@cantonfair.org.cn	The Canton Fair
You arrive before the opening, or on 20–22 or 28–30 October	No phase is open on those six October days, though the Fair's own booking window (15 October – 4 November) spans them. They are not free days for suppliers: each block is when the phase before moves out and the phase after moves in, so a Phase 2 exhibitor is tied up on both. Before the opening, the Fair's move-in schedule, published on 22 September, has Phase 1 exhibitors building stands from 8 October (7 October in Area D, 5 October for processing machinery). 1 October is China's National Day, a public holiday; the official holiday schedule decides the days around it	Ask each supplier in writing whether they will receive you on the date you want, then book an interpreter for the days they confirm: +86 139 2416 6640	The supplier decides whether to receive you. We decide whether an interpreter is free
You are reading the Fair's official French guide to find your section	The French edition follows the Chinese closely, but on our reading six of its 55 section names are easy to misread — two different phases carry a bathroom name («salle de bains», «salles de bain»), and a bare «Accessoires» sits in Phase 3	Use the table in §4, and copy the Chinese section name into your message when you ask a supplier or the Fair which phase they are in. If a name is still unclear: 4000-888-999, (0086) 20-28888999, info@cantonfair.org.cn	The Canton Fair — it publishes the section list

Three things this table deliberately does not do. It does not give you a travel time to any factory: we hold no measured travel-time data, and we are not going to estimate one for someone who will plan a day around it — ask us for the specific route once you have the address. It does not tell you that you need us: of the eleven rows above, six turn on a decision by the Canton Fair. And it does not cover two readers who are in the body instead: if you need a conference (simultaneous) interpreter, read §5; if you are not travelling and want someone to walk the Fair for you, read the end of §6.

2. The Fair sells interpreting itself: CNY 800–1,000 a day for French, published

The Canton Fair runs its own interpreting service through its Buyer Service Centres. French is one of the ten languages on it. Their page is at cantonfair.org.cn, in Chinese and English; on the link address itself, see §11.

The scope line is the whole story, and it is one sentence:

We provide interpretation service inside the Canton Fair Complex during opening hours of the Fair.

That is the official English text, quoted in full. The Chinese original words it slightly differently: the service is provided by the Buyer Service Centre, and only during the Fair's opening period. The rates are published, and French falls in the "other languages" band:

Rate: English：CNY 600/day/ for booth interpreter (English), CNY 800/day/ for exhibition escort interpreter ; Other languages: CNY 800/day/ for booth interpreter (other languages), CNY 1000/day/ for exhibition escort interpreter (other languages). 【Note: Less than 4 hours of service is charged as half a day, while over 4 hours is charged as a full day.】

Every character inside that quotation is the official English, including the stray full-width colon after "English" and the space before the semicolon. The original sets those four lines as separate paragraphs; we have joined them with single spaces so they read as one block. Payment is on site in CNY at the Buyer Service Centre of Areas A, B, C and D. Reservations outside the Fair's opening period run 30 September to 14 October on (020)8913-8055 and ISC@cantonfair.org.cn. During the Fair, 15 October to 4 November, that number stops taking bookings and seven counters take over, each with its own number or numbers, all on the same email:

Area A, service counter 8-1 — 86-20-89130395
Area B, service counter 11-1 — 86-20-89061946
Area B, Registration Office — 86-20-89130185, 86-20-89130195
Area C, corridor bridge 15.3 — 86-20-89074104
Area C, Registration Office — 86-20-89074105, 86-20-89074106
Area D, service counter 20-5 — 86-20-89139941
Area D, Registration Office — 86-20-89133215, 86-20-89133270

One more detail worth knowing before you plan around this page: it carries no publication date and no revision date. Everything in this section, including the 30 September booking date the countdown in §8 hangs on, rests on a page that does not say when it was last touched. Call the number before you rely on the date.

And a divergence worth knowing about. The Chinese version of that page closes with one calm sentence — interpreter numbers are limited, first come first served. The English version closes with two:

Reminder: Please note that the number of the interpreters is limited; first come, first served.We recommend making your reservation as early as possible!

The second sentence exists only in English. The missing space after "served." is in the original. The more urgent-sounding version is the one that suits a seller, which is why we are pointing out that the Chinese page is the calmer one rather than quoting the English at you as if it were the only text.

3. Where the Fair's line stops — and that is the part we sell

Read the scope sentence again: inside the Canton Fair Complex, during opening hours. Both halves are limits.

Not covered by it, on our reading of that one sentence:

A factory visit in Dongguan, Foshan, Zhongshan or anywhere else outside the complex.
Anything at your hotel — a follow-up meeting, a sample review, a supper where the real number gets agreed.
Any trip to another province.
The six days when no phase is open: 20, 21 and 22 October, and 28, 29 and 30 October. Those are the changeover days between phases. For an exhibitor they are move-out and move-in days; for you as a buyer they mean there is no hall open to walk into.
The days before the Fair opens. The Fair published the 140th session's move-in schedule on 22 September 2026 (the notice is dated 18 September, in Chinese): Phase 1 exhibitors build their stands from 8 to 13 October in Areas A, B and C, and from 7 to 12 October in Area D, where the processing-machinery section starts on 5 October. On those days Phase 1 suppliers are working in the halls.

Note what that means for the Fair's own booking window. Reservations "during opening hours of the Canton Fair" are described as 15 October to 4 November — a range that includes 21 October and 29 October, on which nothing is open. The window is a booking window, not a statement that the halls are open every day inside it.

So here is the honest division of labour. In the halls, on fair days, the Fair's own desk is the route that does not depend on us: a published rate, a published booking window — and, on its own page, a limited number of interpreters, first come first served. We publish no French rate, so we are not claiming to sit above or below their CNY 1,000. Outside those two limits their service does not reach, and ours can be asked for.

4. The dates and the sections — and six French names to read with care

The 2026 Attendance Guide for Overseas Buyers exists in ten languages — Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Arabic, Russian, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. The French edition, titled «Guide de participation à l'intention des acheteurs étrangers – Foire de Canton 2026 (Français)», is a four-page PDF listed on the guide's own page. It has no text layer, so nothing in it can be copied and pasted; on 25 September 2026 we rendered its section page as an image and read it by hand, and matched it row by row against the Chinese and English editions of the same page. The three list the same 55 rows in the same order.

The French edition reads close to the Chinese. Hardware is «Quincaillerie», tools are «Outillage», bags are «Sacs et valises», and new materials and chemicals are «Nouveaux matériaux et produits chimiques», in Phase 1 where they belong. On six rows, though, the French words are easy to misread. The last column is our reading, not an official statement:

Phase, row	Chinese original	Official English	Official French	What the French may suggest to a reader
Phase 1, row 4	加工机械设备	Processing Machinery Equipment	Machines de traitement	The word «traitement» is often read as treatment — water treatment, surface treatment. The Chinese and English mean machinery for processing materials. This is also the section whose move-in starts on 5 October
Phase 2, row 11	编织及藤铁工艺品	Weaving, Rattan and Iron Products	Produits tissés, en rotin et en fer	«Tissé» usually describes woven fabric, so a textile buyer may stop here. The Chinese and English mean woven, rattan and iron craft goods; textiles and fabrics are Phase 3
Phase 2, row 13	卫浴设备	Sanitary and Bathroom Equipment	Équipement de salle de bains	Bathroom fixtures. This is the Phase 2 bathroom row
Phase 3, row 8	服装饰物及配件	Fashion Accessories and Fittings	Accessoires	The Chinese and English say clothing and fashion accessories; the bare French word does not. Car parts are not here — 汽车配件 (Vehicle Spare Parts) is Phase 1; for phone or other accessories, ask which section
Phase 3, row 19	浴室用品	Toiletries	Produits pour les salles de bain	Bathroom products: a second bathroom name — «salles de bain» — in a different phase from the one above
Phase 3, row 21	乡村振兴特色产品	Traditional Chinese Specialties	Produits spéciaux de redressement des campagnes	A word-for-word rendering of a Chinese policy term, "rural revitalisation". The official English calls the same row Traditional Chinese Specialties; a buyer looking for regional food or craft specialties may not recognise the French

If you buy toilets, basins or other goods in the 卫浴设备 section, you are Phase 2, 23–27 October — not Phase 3, even though the Phase 3 list also carries «Produits pour les salles de bain». If your product sits between a fixture and a bathroom product, ask the Fair or your supplier which of the two sections it is in, and put the Chinese characters from the second column into the message: the Chinese is the original the other editions translate. On the remaining 49 rows we did not find another French name that, on our reading, is likely to send a buyer to a different phase; a few are narrower than the Chinese — «Automobiles» for 车辆 (vehicles), «Sports et loisirs» without the travel products — but each sits in the same phase as the goods it names. One more to check if you buy eyewear: 钟表眼镜 is «Horloges, montres et instruments optiques», with no word for glasses, and it is Phase 2, not Phase 3's «Accessoires».

Two official documents disagree slightly on the list itself, so here is exactly what we took from each. The section-to-phase assignment comes from Attachment 1 to the 140th-session booth application notice, which is specific to this session and lists 54 sections (19 / 14 / 21). The dates come from the Attendance Guide, which is a general 2026 document printing April and October side by side and lists 55 sections (19 / 15 / 21). The extra line is in Phase 2: Prefabricated House and Courtyard Facilities («Logements modulaires et équipements de jardin» in the French edition). It is printed below with a mark, because Attachment 1 does not list it for the 140th session. The names and running order below follow the English edition of the guide; the Chinese version of this article follows Attachment 1.

Phase	Dates, 140th session	Sections (Attachment 1)	Days from 25 September
Phase 1	15–19 October 2026	19	20
Phase 2	23–27 October 2026	14	28
Phase 3	31 October – 4 November 2026	21	36

Phase 1 — Household Electrical Appliances; Consumer Electronics and Information Products; Industrial Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing; Processing Machinery Equipment; Power Machinery and Electric Power; General Machinery and Mechanical Basic Parts; Construction Machinery; Agricultural Machinery; New Materials and Chemical Products; New Energy Vehicles and Smart Mobility; Vehicles; Vehicle Spare Parts; Motorcycles; Bicycles; Lighting Equipment; Electronic and Electrical Products; New Energy Resources; Hardware; Tools.

Phase 2 — General Ceramics; Kitchenware and Tableware; Household Items; Glass Artware; Home Decorations; Gardening Products; Festival Products; Gifts and Premiums; Clocks, Watches and Optical Instruments; Art Ceramics; Weaving, Rattan and Iron Products; Building and Decorative Materials; Sanitary and Bathroom Equipment; Furniture; Prefabricated House and Courtyard Facilities (guide only — not in Attachment 1 for this session).

Phase 3 — Toys; Children, Baby and Maternity Products; Kids' Wear; Men and Women's Clothing; Underwear; Sports and Casual Wear; Furs, Leather, Downs and Related Products; Fashion Accessories and Fittings; Textile Raw Materials and Fabrics; Shoes; Cases and Bags; Home Textiles; Carpets and Tapestries; Office Supplies; Medicines, Health Products and Medical Devices; Food; Sports, Travel and Recreation Products; Personal Care Products; Toiletries; Pet Products and Food; Traditional Chinese Specialties.

The English edition carries a caveat at the foot of that page. This is our transcription of the English image; the French box, headed «Note», says the same thing:

Notice: The Canton Fair will also feature the Service Robots Zone, the Intelligent Healthcare Zone and other innovations. Please refer to Canton Fair official website for the latest updates of section and phase arrangements.

Two sentences after the opening word. If your product is chemicals or new materials, read that Phase 1 line twice: it is in the first phase, 15–19 October.

5. How many French-listing profiles we have: 100

Our public Guangzhou interpreter directory holds 812 profiles, every one of them registered in Guangzhou. Counting the foreign languages listed across those profiles:

English 631, Japanese 248, French 100, Spanish 65, Russian 56, Korean 51, German 32, Italian 17, Vietnamese 8, Arabic 7, Thai 6, Indonesian 4, Turkish 3, Portuguese 1.

French is third of fourteen: 100 of 812 profiles, 12.3%. Counted on 25 September 2026, from our own data:

French study on record: 22 profiles record a French-language major, and 8 record a school in France or Belgium — among them the Sorbonne, Poitiers, Brest and Liège.
Simultaneous interpreting: 21 profiles are tagged for it.
English as well as French: 89 of the 100, useful when one day moves between two languages.
Day rate: quote-only, as for every profile in the directory.

How to use that:

Ask for the person, not the language. Ask for the Ref. number on the directory card. If French matters more to your day than English, ask for names whose record shows French study; if the variety of French matters to you, ask the named person directly. If you want to hear the person speak French before you book, ask for it — whether that can be arranged depends on the person, and we will tell you.
Conferences are booked separately. If your booking is a conference rather than a fair, say so first. Our published rate for conference simultaneous interpreting starts at ¥5,000 per interpreter per day, and a booth is staffed with two interpreters.
We publish no price for French. Our FAQ says consecutive and escort interpreting "start at ¥200 per hour or ¥800 per full day, depending on language pair and subject" — that is a general floor, not a French price. Note that CNY 800 a day appears twice in this article for two unrelated things: the Fair's booth-interpreter rate for non-English languages, and the bottom of our own general escort range. Neither is a quotation for French, and we are not going to pretend we undercut a CNY 1,000 we have not quoted against.

6. If you bring your own interpreter, or want a Chinese one badged

The Fair published the 140th session's notice on badges for people accompanying overseas buyers on 28 September 2026 — Badge Application for Accompanying Personnel for Overseas Buyers of the 140th Canton Fair is Now Open — in Chinese and English (Chinese, official English), and applications opened that day. The provisions quoted below are from its official English text.

The notice does not say who may be a companion by nationality or identity document. It asks only, in its closing paragraph, that buyers contact their companion and have ready "the accompanying personnel’s mobile phone number and resident identity card number"; it does not say what happens if the companion has no PRC resident identity card. If you are flying in from Paris, Brussels, Montreal or Abidjan with your own French-speaking assistant, ask the Fair in writing before you travel whether that assistant can be badged: 4000-888-999 inside China, (0086) 20-28888999 from abroad, info@cantonfair.org.cn, and get the answer in writing. The decision is the Canton Fair's; we do not answer for the organiser.

Only the buyer can start the application, it is made through the Fair's own website and Buyer Service System, and it must go in at least two calendar days ahead. A new buyer has to have completed pre-registration and submitted their own Overseas Buyer Badge application first. The notice works its own example: for attendance on 15 October, the application must be in no later than 13 October. Where and when to collect the buyer badge itself: Canton Fair 140th buyer badge collection desks and dates. There are two types, and the interpreter type has a qualification test:

III. Types of Accompanying Personnel Accompanying personnel are divided into “assistants” and “interpreters.” Interpreters are additionally required to submit proof of translation qualifications (China Accreditation Test for Translators and Interpreters (CATTI), National Accreditation Examinations for Translators and Interpreters (NAETI), or a graduation certificate in a foreign language major from a higher education institution in the Chinese mainland).

Section III is two sentences in the official English and both are quoted; the heading and the body are joined here by a single space where the original had a line break. Note that the third route asks for a foreign-language major, not specifically a French one. Whether a given record is a qualifying graduation certificate — and whether the school counts as a higher education institution — is the Fair's decision, not ours. A degree from a school abroad, including one in France or Belgium, does not match the third route as written, which names an institution in the Chinese mainland; we do not know how the Fair treats a foreign qualification, and we are not going to guess. If you want an interpreter badged, ask us for names whose record matches the third route.

The quota and the exclusions:

IV. Quota Each buyer may apply for up to 2 accompanying personnel per phase, with a maximum of one interpreter and one assistant each. Buyers from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), the Macao SAR and the Taiwan region as well as those holding a Chinese passport are not eligible to apply for an interpreter badge and can only apply for an assistant badge.

Section IV is two sentences and both are quoted; the heading is joined by a single space. Note that the quota is per phase: if you are attending two phases, ask the Fair whether that means two applications.

The fee is CNY 300 per day plus a CNY 50 administrative fee, non-refundable once the badge has been scanned by an entry gate, and CNY 200 to replace a lost badge. For a full five-day phase that is CNY 1,550 in badge alone, on our reading that the CNY 50 is charged once, before the interpreter's own fee. Two more provisions worth knowing. Section VI: if an accompanying person's badge record from previous sessions shows irregularities, an alert is triggered and extra documents must be submitted for review — so leave more than the two-day minimum. Section VII has two limbs: anyone who has obtained an exhibitor or exhibitor-representative badge for the same phase cannot obtain an accompanying-personnel badge for that phase; anyone who has obtained a service personnel badge (the move-in/move-out badge of exhibitors and construction) for the current session, or whose exhibitor or exhibitor-representative badge application was rejected, cannot obtain one for the current session. The Fair's badge notice for exhibitors and service providers (our English for 《第140届广交会参展、服务单位办证工作通告》), dated 22 September 2026 and published in Chinese on 23 September, sets out these exclusions from the exhibitors' side as well and names the overseas buyer's accompanying-personnel badge among the badges they bar (our reading of the Chinese). The same notice sets a one-person, one-badge-per-phase rule and a warning flag for anyone with five or more badge records under different badge types or companies over the last six sessions; a flagged person who fails review may not apply for any badge this session. An interpreter badged by different buyers session after session could be caught by that, on our reading. Ask the named interpreter about their badge history, and if it matters, ask the Fair.

And then there is one sentence worth reading carefully:

Buyers and their accompanying personnel must ensure a genuine accompanying relationship.

Section VIII runs to three sentences in the official English; this is the first, and the other two set out what happens if it is breached. The paragraph on speeding the application up follows separately. The Chinese original packs the same section into one sentence, and that difference in sentence breaks belongs to the English text, not to us. The notice does not define "genuine accompanying relationship". We sell commercially hired interpreters — which is exactly the thing that phrase might or might not be aimed at. We do not know where the Fair draws that line, and we are not going to guess in a page that sells you the service. If it matters to you, ask them before you submit: 4000-888-999 inside China, (0086) 20-28888999 from abroad, info@cantonfair.org.cn, and ask for the reply in writing (that is practical advice, not legal advice about what counts as evidence). The consequences the notice sets out for getting it wrong are confiscation of both badges, removal from the venue, a place on the Canton Fair badge application blacklist and no refund for the confiscated badges.

One more thing this route cannot do for you: only a buyer can initiate it, so it is no use if you are not travelling and want someone to walk the Fair on your behalf. Ask the Fair on the numbers above. If what you need is French on a phone or video call with a supplier, message us on the WhatsApp number in §10 as for any other booking: our FAQ says we do remote interpreting; ask the named person whether they have done it.

7. Choosing among the 100, and when to fall back to English

Each profile declares which Canton Fair product categories the interpreter is comfortable with. These are self-declared, not tested. Across the 100 French profiles:

General trade 54, garments and textiles 17, building and home 14, medical and health 14, electronics and electrical 13, food and drink 11, machinery and auto 10, cosmetics and daily chemicals 7, chemicals and materials 6, hardware and tools 3, logistics 3. Twenty-five profiles declare none.

Read that against the phases in §4. A Phase 3 garment buyer has the widest choice: 17 profiles. A Phase 1 buyer of machinery has ten declaring machinery and auto and three declaring hardware and tools. If your day is a technical audit, tell us the product first and ask which of the names has declared it — and then ask the person, because a declared category is a statement, not a test.

The fallback is English, and it is wide: 631 of our 812 profiles list English, and 89 of the 100 French profiles list both — useful when one day moves between two languages. The Fair's own rate card is cheaper in English too — CNY 600 a day for a booth interpreter and CNY 800 for an escort, against CNY 800 and CNY 1,000 for other languages. If your English is workable for negotiation, that route is cheaper at the Fair's desk and wider on our list. We are saying so even though it points you away from a French booking with us.

One practical note, because it comes up every session: one interpreter cannot cover two booths at once, and a day split between the complex and a factory in another city is one person's whole day. Plan people per simultaneous conversation, not per company.

8. Our own lead time, both readings, counted in days

Our FAQ answers the booking-lead-time question in all three languages. The English version:

For rare language pairs or large conferences, book 4-8 weeks ahead. Common pairs (Chinese↔English/Japanese/Korean) can usually be scheduled 1-2 weeks ahead.

Two sentences, quoted in full from our FAQ. French is on neither list. With 100 profiles it is not scarce for us, but our FAQ does not call it a common pair either. So here are both readings, rather than the one that suits a seller:

Read as a common pair, one to two weeks: Phase 1's two-week point is 1 October, six days from now. Phase 2's is 9 October, Phase 3's 17 October.
Read as a rare pair, four weeks at the floor: Phase 1's point fell on 17 September, eight days ago. Phase 2's falls today, 25 September. Phase 3's on 3 October, eight days from now.
At the eight-week end of that band, all three are gone — Phase 1 by 36 days, Phase 2 by 28, Phase 3 by 20.
Phases open in 20, 28 and 36 days. The Fair's own reservation line for the non-fair period opens in 5 days, on 30 September, and closes on 14 October — dates from its undated page.

That is the entire basis for any urgency in this article. Not "interpreters get booked up" — a count of days against a number we published before you arrived.

If you are past the point that applies to you: message us on WhatsApp at +86 139 2416 6640 or on WeChat (ID Saralee93), or through the contact page, and say so in the first line. Then, from 30 September, write to ISC@cantonfair.org.cn as well as calling (020)8913-8055 — the page does not say whether that line is staffed on public holidays — because their in-hall service is the route that does not depend on us at all.

9. What we could not find out, and are not going to pretend we did

For our Arabic article of 21 September we built a section out of our Canton Fair exhibitor directory — 26,270 companies — by scanning company names, product categories and keywords for self-declared market words. We ran the same method for the French-speaking world with 45 terms: France, the French language and French script, French style, Paris, Lyon, Marseille, French overseas territories, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Monaco, Canada, Quebec, Montreal, Africa and four of its regions, "Francophone Africa", and twenty-four terms for twenty-three African and Caribbean countries (Côte d'Ivoire under two Chinese names), from Morocco and Senegal to Madagascar and Haiti. Every hit is printed in our working file; we read all of them.

What survives:

5 exhibitors out of 26,270 list a place on its own as a keyword: two list Africa, two list Canada, one lists Morocco. Neither Africa nor Canada is a French-speaking market as a whole, so even these five do not tell you about French speakers.
3 exhibitor records carry a China–Africa trade port in the company name; one of them is a branch of another.
6 list a product named for Africa: African wax cloth or wax-print fabric (three companies), African candles (two) and an exercise book named for Africa (one).
8 use a place as a product style: French design, a French easel, French furniture, a French-door refrigerator, a French window, a Canadian-style fence, Swiss candy and Moroccan tea.
10 list a stationery product called 法文本. We have not checked what that name denotes, and we do not count it as a market.
Everything else was a coincidence of characters — 马赛 is the first half of 马赛克, mosaic (44 hits), and 里昂 sits inside the Chinese word for Freon. France, the French language, Belgium, Luxembourg, Monaco, Quebec, and every French-speaking African country except Morocco appear zero times as a stand-alone keyword.

That is not a market map, and it is their marketing copy, not a customer list. So we are not going to tell you what French-speaking buyers typically buy at the Canton Fair.

In 1,200 rows of the Fair's own content stream that we pulled on 25 September 2026 (continuous from 3 November 2025 to 23 September 2026), zero titles mention France or the French language, in Chinese or in English, and zero mention Belgium. Switzerland appears in two titles, one of them the Fair's report on a 140th-session promotion event in Zurich on 10 July; Morocco in one, a 139th–140th promotion event there; Africa in two Chinese and three English titles, one of them the Fair's newsletter saying the 140th session's global roadshow began with the African Union as its first stop. Beyond the date and place of the Zurich event, we are not reporting on what those items say.

We also probed whether official French web versions exist of two of the Fair pages this article leans on — the interpreting-service page and the Attendance Guide page — by requesting each content number with the suffix FR. All return empty, while the same numbers with EN return the English version for both. The requests are logged to file. Note the narrow shape of that claim: those web pages have no French version; the printed guide in §4 does have one.

10. How to reach us

French, or English for the days French cannot be covered — either way:

WhatsApp +86 139 2416 6640 (direct link); on WeChat our contact page lists Saralee93.
Or the contact page.
To see who is on file: the interpreter directory.
And our FAQ.

Send your dates, city and product, and the Ref. number of any interpreter you have picked from the directory. The two earlier articles in this series are how to hire an interpreter for the Canton Fair and the badge rules.

11. Sources

Canton Fair Interpretation Service, official page, Chinese and English, contentNo 802506534755274752 / 802506534755274752EN. Ten service languages including French; rates; booking windows; seven in-fair counters. No publication date and no revision date on the page. Retrieved 25 September 2026. The Fair's site is a single-page application, so a link address does not by itself fix which language or which document you get: the stable identifiers are the content numbers, and we retrieved every text below through the site's own content interface using them.
2026 Attendance Guide for Overseas Buyers of the Canton Fair, contentNo 598494791797825536 (Chinese page dated 2 March 2026) and 598494791797825536EN (English page dated 30 July 2026). Ten language PDFs; the French edition was read by hand from a rendering on 25 September 2026, the Chinese edition on 23 September and the English edition on 21 September. Customer contact printed in the guide: 4000-888-999 in China, 86-20-28-888-999 from abroad, info@cantonfair.org.cn.
Attachment 1 to the 140th-session export-exhibition booth application notice (5 May 2026): section-to-phase table, 54 sections, 19 / 14 / 21.
《关于第140届广交会筹展相关工作安排的通知》 (notice on the 140th-session move-in arrangements; English title ours), contentNo def556d4bf294d6c8b4ab65b8b208c58, dated 18 September and published 22 September 2026, with its Attachment 1 schedule table; and 《第140届广交会参展、服务单位办证工作通告》 (140th-session badge notice for exhibitors and service providers; English title ours), contentNo 65d6b41c858a4c59a021512259cf3a03, dated 22 September and published 23 September 2026. Both in Chinese; translations of them here are ours.
Badge Application for Accompanying Personnel for Overseas Buyers of the 140th Canton Fair is Now Open, published 28 September 2026, contentNo cc18c57e7b58462b910ef5efb55cdafd (official English), with the Chinese original 《第140届广交会已开放境外采购商陪同人员办证申请》, contentNo 098f22042c9845d294800d96ab65d415, published the same day. Applicant, deadline, types, quota, fee, alert, restrictions, responsibility, and the Fair Customer Service Center contacts. Quoted above for sections III, IV and VIII. Checked 6 October 2026.
Our own data: the Guangzhou interpreter directory (812 profiles, counted 25 September 2026) and the Canton Fair exhibitor directory (26,270 companies, built from the 139th-session exhibitor list). Both are our records, not official registers.