Chinese Language
1.5B Chinese Speakers
The common usage of “Chinese” usually refers to Mandarin, but other well-known dialects in North America include Cantonese, Minnan (Taiwanese), and Hakka.
Chinese is by far the most widely spoken language in the world, so it is not surprising that one of the most demanded services in the localization industry is to translate Chinese into English or vice versa. It is often referred to as “mandarin translation” or “mandarin chinese”. Over a billion people learn it as their first language and it is no wonder that Chinese translation is one of the most demanded services when it comes to professional translation services.
Throughout the years our in-house linguistic team has helped us to shape our chinese translation service into an easy and flexible business offer that helps other companies to offer it to their customers in a comprehensive and time-effective manor.
If you feel it is time to improve your time-management and pay more attention to your clients
The complexity of Chinese translation
1. The written language > Chinese Translation Service
- Writing system: There are two writing systems; Simplified Chinese — mainly used in mainland China, and Traditional Chinese — mainly used in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
- Character: The most obvious difference is the characters. Simplified Chinese, as its name indicates, has a simplified version of each character, so they’re easier to write and memorize. Traditional Chinese keep the original forms, which have developed over the course of a thousand years. Therefore, it’s easier for people who understand Traditional Chinese to pick up Simplified Chinese, but the opposite isn’t true.
- Honorifics: Chinese poses a considerable challenge for translation because of its abundant dialects, and the minor differences in the language used throughout the various territories it’s spoken in. As an example, there are two types of “you” — “您” (formal, honorific) and “你” (informal).
- Localization: Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong and Taiwan, thus localization (especially the choice of words and expressions) is very important and dependent on your target market. Clients and/or native speakers from these two places will be able to tell the differences. There is another target audience that’s located in North America – the Chinese-speaking community. The older generation mostly immigrated from Hong Kong and Taiwan, while the newer generation immigrated from China. This is the reason why clients usually ask for both Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese translations when translating content that is to be used by Chinese speakers in North America.
- Diversity: In reality, there are so many different ways one can request Chinese professional translations that it will be hard to describe it and not miss out on some details. Our recommendation is whether it is Mandarin translation or Cantonese translation or Chinese simplified or traditional, just reach out to our team and we will assist in the best way possible.
2. The spoken language > Media Service
- Tone: All varieties of spoken Chinese use tones to distinguish words. A few dialects of North China may have as few as 3 tones, while some dialects in south China have up to 6 or 12 tones, depending on how one counts them. One exception from this is Shanghainese, which has reduced the set of tones to a two-toned pitch-accent system, not unlike modern Japanese. Different tones can drastically change a word’s meaning. Chinese is a tonal language, meaning that a word’s pitch can affect its meaning. For example, wǒ xiǎng wèn nǐ, in which “wen” is spoken with a falling pitch, means “I want to ask you”. But wǒ xiǎng wěn nǐ, in which “wen” rises and falls in pitch, means “I want to kiss you”.
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Our solution for you
Native translators with local knowledge
At 1-StopAsia, we have always prided ourselves to be not only international but also a translation company in China. This is when we can most effectively provide our clients with the ability to identify their target market or audience and then fine-tune the language, writing system, style and tone of the exact type of Chinese they’re going to need.
25 years of experience
For over 2 decades in the industry, we’ve cultivated a team of Project Managers who have an in-depth understanding of the agile and complicated workflow of each translation agency we’ve worked with and facilitate them with the professional chinese translation services they need. They’re always there to handle your inquiries for Chinese translations, save your efforts and deliver the translation you need within the allotted time for each assignment.