{"id":11536,"date":"2021-05-06T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T12:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.1stopasia.com\/blog\/?p=11536"},"modified":"2023-11-15T10:35:13","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T10:35:13","slug":"simplified-or-traditional-the-best-chinese-fonts-to-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.1stopasia.com\/blog\/simplified-or-traditional-the-best-chinese-fonts-to-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Simplified or Traditional: the best Chinese fonts to use"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most of us living in the West are used to the concept of 1 country=1 language=1 alphabet. But when it comes to Chinese things are a bit more complicated. Okay, maybe *quite* complicated is the right way to describe it but we do not intend to explain that in the current article. Our aim is to actually make things simple, clear, and useful for you.<\/p>\n

The purpose of this article<\/h2>\n

This article comes as a continuation of our previous insight on Chinese fonts we published a while ago. We wanted to summarize the basic information about the Chinese scripts but with a little twist. We know that the choice of fonts matters a lot when presenting information to a certain audience. With Chinese this is even more so due to the fact that there are two written forms of the language. So if you are creating content, which is going to be presented to a Chinese audience and you have never done that before, you will certainly end up in a situation where you don\u2019t have a clue which font to use. Why? Let\u2019s say you can trust us on this…<\/p>\n

Hopefully, with the current article we\u2019ll be able to help, not only graphic designers and publishers out there but other professionals, too. We\u2019d like to get you started working with Chinese. At the end of this article, you\u2019ll find a list of the best Chinese fonts you can use as a starting point on your journey when you have to work with texts in Chinese.<\/p>\n

Written language & spoken language<\/h2>\n
Learn more about Desktop PublishingCheck It Out<\/a><\/div>\n
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  1. Written language<\/strong> – there are two written forms (scripts) of Chinese – Traditional and Simplified. Historically, the Simplified version was created in the 50s and was based on the Traditional one. Its purpose was to make reading and writing easier and more accessible to the general population. You\u2019d think \u201cGreat, so they made Chinese easier for everyone!\u201d but not so fast…There are many geographical and political factors at play and because of this now both traditional and simplified scripts are used according to geographical location or ethnicity. As a result nowadays both Traditional and Simplified scripts are used according to geographical location or ethnicity. So let\u2019s recap: The Chinese language can be written in Traditional or Simplified script depending on the location or ethnicity of the target audience.<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. Spoken language<\/strong> – and that\u2019s where we get to the tricky part. The thing is there isn\u2019t a single Chinese language. Instead, there are different dialects under the umbrella of Chinese and you won\u2019t be wrong to call them languages, as some of which are mutually unintelligible. In most cases when someone mentions \u201cChinese\u201d, that would refer to Mandarin but there are also Cantonese, Hokkien, and Hakka. Let\u2019s take Cantonese as an example. Do we write it in Simplified or Traditional script? The right answer, however, is not straightforward. The truth is it depends! Cantonese is spoken in Hong Kong, Guangdong province in China, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, as well as in Cantonese communities in other countries. So we should take into consideration both the proper written and spoken forms of our target audience in order to be able to reach them and not come off as obnoxious westerners.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    All that can be quite overwhelming so here\u2019s a table to help you get an overview of the most common cases:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Location<\/strong><\/td>\nSpoken<\/strong><\/td>\nWritten<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Mainland China<\/td>\nMandarin (official), many other dialects<\/td>\nSimplified<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Taiwan<\/td>\nMandarin (official), Minnan, Hakka<\/td>\nTraditional<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Hong Kong & Macau<\/td>\nCantonese (official), Mandarin<\/td>\nTraditional (+Cantonese*)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Malaysia<\/td>\nMandarin, Minnan, Cantonese, Hakka, etc.<\/td>\nSimplified (new-school), Traditional (old)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Singapore<\/td>\nMandarin (official), Minnan, Cantonese, Hakka, etc.<\/td>\nSimplified (new-official), Traditional (old)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    USA \/ SE Asia<\/td>\nMixed<\/td>\nTraditional \/ mixed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    * Usually all texts are written in Mandarin and smaller dialects shouldn\u2019t be written for any formal communication.
    \nHowever, in Hong Kong and Macao, it\u2019s possible to write Cantonese (with traditional characters). Beware, though, that people who don\u2019t speak Cantonese wouldn\u2019t be able to read and understand the text because the two languages are very different in terms of grammar, word order, and so on. If your client asks for Chinese translations for Hong Kong, make sure to double-check if they want Mandarin Chinese or Cantonese.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Th\u0430t cheat sheet is courtesy to our linguist Tina and you can download a copy<\/a> to keep at hand at all times along with a detailed article we\u2019ve already published on the topic, which you can read: What is the difference between Simplified and Traditional Chinese?<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Scripts & Fonts<\/h2>\n

    \"bestIf you want to learn more about Chinese fonts design-wise read our previous article<\/a> which focuses on the different styles, tips on when to use what, and gives some font suggestions.<\/p>\n

    In this article we\u2019ll be answering another important question: do all Chinese fonts cover both the Simplified and Traditional scripts? In a perfect world\u2026\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

    The reality, of course, is a bit more complicated. Some fonts do cover both scripts, some contain glyphs for only one of the two scripts. We know this can be quite headache-inducing so here we\u2019ll list the more popular fonts separated into these three categories.<\/p>\n

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    1. 1. Fonts for Simplified Chinese (SC<\/strong>) script:\n