LocaTran Translations is professional Chinese translation and localization company with its headquarters in Shanghai and a branch in Nanjing, China. Currently, we have more than 40 full-time Chinese translators and proofreaders who have obtained a bachelor’s degree or higher. In fact, most of them are graduates of Shanghai International Studies University, Nanjing University and other famous universities. We offer professional translation services for English to Chinese, Chinese to English, German to Chinese, French to Chinese, Italian to Chinese, Spanish to Chinese Japanese to Chinese and Korean to Chinese language pairs. Also we translate Chinese to and from any other world language.

Our structure comprises the Project Management Department, Translation Department, Proofreading Department, Translator Resource Center, QC Center and others. Our production expertise encompasses technical translation, business translation, legal translation, medical translation, patent translation, website translation and software localization. Furthermore, we offer typesetting and layout with InDesign, QuarkXpress, PageMaker, Illustrator and such other professional software as clients require for manuals and other documentation, making LocaTran Translations a complete service provider from translation to Desktop Publishing (DTP) services.

Written & Spoken Forms of Chinese: When, Where & How?

For effective Chinese localization, there are normally three key markets that need to be considered:

China:

Simplified Chinese is written, Mandarin is spoken

Hong Kong:

Traditional Chinese is written, Cantonese is spoken

Taiwan:

Traditional Chinese is written, Cantonese is spoken

Written form for China, Hong Kong & Taiwan:

Simplified Chinese is the standard for the Chinese mainland, whilst Traditional Chinese is the standard written form for Hong Kong and Taiwan. In some cases, the Traditional Chinese characters used in Taiwan would be acceptable for the Hong Kong market; for example, in packaging or DVD/TV user manuals. However, when it comes to specific marketing materials and end-user materials for corporations, such as training materials and corporate brochures, it becomes increasingly important to take into account the unique nuances and flavors of Hong Kong, which are quite different, stylistically, from those of Taiwan. In this case, the written language directly reflects the influence of Cantonese, the language spoken in Hong Kong.

Another good example is Microsoft Office, which uses Traditional Chinese characters while incorporating local nuances for both the Hong Kong and Taiwan markets.

Spoken form in China, Hong Kong & Taiwan:

While spoken Chinese is most often thought of as either Mandarin or Cantonese, ISO-639 actually classifies Chinese as a language family, comprising of 13 sub-languages (see 10 sub-languages as illustrated in the above graphic).

Mandarin is the official spoken language of Taiwan and China, whereas Hong Kong and Macau use Cantonese. As such, a Taiwanese national who can speak Mandarin is highly recommended for Taiwan.

In conclusion, particularly in the corporate environment, it is highly recommended that all three territories be treated separately, in both their written and spoken forms. Failure to do so could result in sub-standard results, or worse, be politically offensive; especially so in Taiwan, where its status as a separate state can be a sensitive issue.