{"id":10462,"date":"2020-05-19T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T12:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.1stopasia.com\/?p=10241"},"modified":"2023-11-15T08:44:06","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T08:44:06","slug":"translation-mistakes-uncovered-chinese-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.1stopasia.com\/blog\/translation-mistakes-uncovered-chinese-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Translation mistakes uncovered: Chinese Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this century, translation has become a popular profession around the world, and one that plays a significant role in communication \u2014 which we can also consider to be an art form that showcases the flexibility of human beings. Translation is everywhere, ranging from diplomatic relations to food labels, and without its presence, cultural diversity wouldn\u2019t be as prominent. Translations from Chinese to English are trending, and demand for them is increasing due to the ever-growing global population and the developing cooperation and trade relations between China and other countries with a global presence.<\/p>\n

China has become one of the countries with the largest worldwide business presence recently, and this has been especially noticeable since Xi Jinping became its president in 2013. Due to the increased demand for translation services, more and more people have started to study Chinese when it could bring them professional benefits \u2014 people as diverse as translators, marketers, teachers, ambassadors and so on. Despite the fact that translation work is usually performed by native speakers, Chinese translation mistakes can definitely occur. Proper localization requires translators who have a masterful grasp of both language and culture but are also capable of using modern translation technology so they can compete on the market. Tools that assist in translation can be both accurate and inaccurate in terms of the information and suggestions they provide, and translators can\u2019t rely on them a hundred percent of the time. This is especially valid when translation being processed involves the mixing of various complicated contexts, which can easily lead to mistakes. The information we\u2019ve gathered below will show you some examples of Chinese translation mistakes, and why it can be such a challenge to avoid them.<\/p>\n

Two types of written Chinese that are not interchangeable<\/h2>\n

Only a translator who deeply understands the source language and dialect will be able to catch the intended meaning of the source text. Start by establishing whether the source language is Traditional or Simplified Chinese<\/a>. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong and Taiwan, while Simplified Chinese preferred in Mainland China, Singapore, and Malaysia. These are two different written languages and they\u2019re not interchangeable. So if you hire Taiwanese translators to translate a Shanghai company\u2019s documents, they might experience difficulties. Furthermore, words will be pronounced differently if you are presenting at a conference in Hong Kong or Shanghai, as in the former case you will have to use Cantonese, while in the latter case you\u2019d be better off speaking in Mandarin.<\/p>\n

Writing Direction<\/h2>\n
\"Chinese
\nImage Source:\u00a0Omniglot<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

Chinese symbols are used to represent thoughts, which brings us to the fact that they can align in different directions \u2014 from left to right, from right to left or from top to bottom. The variety of character alignment options makes translation interesting, especially when one is translating from Mandarin to another language with specific conditions in regards to character placement or alignment. Chinese was traditionally written vertically and read from top to bottom, right to left. In the mainland, they\u2019ve mostly switched to reading horizontally instead, from left to right \u2014 but this hasn\u2019t happened in Taiwan, which also means that books printed there usually have their spine on the right.<\/p>\n

He and She<\/h2>\n

Sometimes, you will hear Chinese speakers mixing up he and she while speaking English. In Chinese, t\u0101 (in speech) can refer to he or she, so the concept of having a different word for each gender is new to them. Although the written form is different depending on the gender \u2014 as \u4ed6 (male) and \u5979 (female) \u2014 in terms of the spoken language there is no distinction made between the two. The awareness of which option should be used is a skill that translators should have in order to avoid making mistakes when translating speech.<\/p>\n

Uncomfortable<\/h2>\n

sh\u016bfu (\u8212\u670d) means comfortable. If you want to say that you feel uncomfortable in Chinese, it\u2019s a common way to say that you feel sick instead of uncomfortable because in Chinese these terms don\u2019t have the same usage that they have in English.<\/p>\n

Big<\/h2>\n

In English, the word \u201cbig\u201d is usually used for describing the size of a physical object. In Chinese, d\u00e0 (\u5927) can be used in all sorts of situations, which can be seen in transliterated English sentences like<\/p>\n