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- About Chinese Language
- Chinese Dialects
- Chinese Writing Structures
- Buying Chinese Translations
- Buying Chinese Interpretation
- Knowing the Chinese taboo
About Chinese Language
There are two main forms of written Chinese: ‘Simplified Chinese’ and ‘Traditional Chinese’.
During the 1950s, the writing system in China was seen to be an obstacle to the achievement of a higher literacy rate. To help increase literacy, the Chinese government reduced the number of strokes per character and the number of characters used. This system came to be called 'Simplified Chinese' and is used in Mainland China. Hong Kong and Taiwan still use the more complex 'Traditional Chinese' characters.
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Chinese Dialects
There are many regional forms of spoken Chinese that are generally referred to as dialects. Cantonese is the official dialect in Hong Kong, although Mandarin has become very popular in some trades after its return to China in 1997. The official dialect for Taiwan (sometimes called Taiwanese) and Mainland China is Mandarin, but local regional dialects are popular (i.e. Guangzhou and Shanghai). On the whole Mandarin Chinese is understood throughout Mainland China, but is not mutually intelligible with Cantonese, although with the return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997 an increasing number of people are able to speak and understand both dialects.
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Chinese Writing Structures
Modern day Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese are written horizontally from left to right. Older texts are often written vertically from right to left. Although writing from top to bottom is still common today, it is rare to find any text written from right to left.
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Buying Chinese Translations
When buying Chinese translation, it is important to know who will be reading the final text, as Traditional Chinese may not be easily understood by Simplified Chinese readers, and vice versa.
Traditional Chinese characters are more complex than Simplified Chinese. When typesetting your documents in Chinese, try to keep the minimum font size at 11pt or higher as otherwise it could be difficult to read.
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Buying Chinese Interpretation
The same principle applies: Mandarin speakers can’t necessarily understand or speak Cantonese, and vice versa. For Mandarin interpretation too there may be cases where a regional variation of the dialect is required, such as Shanghainese, Hakka, Hokkien.
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Knowing Chinese taboos
Red symbolises prosperity and good fortune in the Chinese community. But using red text in the wrong way may upset recipients. This applies to business e-mails and particularly in letters: red can imply anger, frustration or discontentment.
Silver or white text on black should be used carefully in public or marketing materials. This is the main colour for Chinese funerals and is a sign of mourning.
There is an old superstition that the number ‘4’ attracts misfortune, simply because it has the same pronunciation as ‘death’ in both Mandarin and Cantonese. Just as the number ‘13’ is unlucky in some western countries, many businesses will avoid the number “4” in their contact details or business names.
If you ever wish to give presents to the Chinese, remember not to give clocks. Again, the pronunciation of clocks, “zhong” or “jung” means mourner. However, giving a watch is perfectly alright.
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