Chinese Translation

Over the past few years, the world has seen China industrialize rapidly and grow to be the world's second-largest economy. With a concentration of Chinese speakers numbering over one billion in the country alone, China's online sales have shot up 22 percent, making them the second highest in their online buying power. The people of China have also seen increased prosperity — in 2010, their average GDP was up 20 percent. Businesses all around the world have taken advantage of China's success and many have begun focusing their efforts on expanding into the Chinese market. The first step? Chinese translation.

The Language

There are approximately 16 different dialects of spoken Chinese, and two main character sets that are used to convey these words in text: Simplified and Traditional. Though Simplified Chinese — named such for its less complicated stroke order — is now the more popular writing system, Traditional Chinese continues to be used in regions such as Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Types of Translation

Though all dialects of chinese use either the Simplified or Traditional writing system, each dialect's unique and local slang, combined with their context-relevant sentencing can make it English to Chinese translation tricky.

It is these difficulties that makes it so important to be able to distinguish skilled, knowledgeable translators from beginners who will only be able to provide a gist translation, or worse, will run text through a machine. In order to help people determine the best person to translate their content, the Translators Association of China developed two different tests in order to screen people. However, hiring certified, agency-employed translators can be expensive, so people came up with a new solution: community translation.

More on Chinese Translation

While community translation is highly effective for translating information quickly — Yeeyan, a crowd-sourced news translation service, translates over 50 articles per day with its 150,000 users. Participating in a community translation cloud is a great way for beginning translators to get a foothold in a competitive industry, but it is difficult to monitor the quality of translations, and to ensure that all of the subtle nuances are carried over into the final result.

This intensified push to go global has also led to a spike in the translation industry's growth: In 2002, there were 3000 certified translation agencies scattered throughout the People's Republic of China — this number grew to 10,000 in 2009. Furthermore, it was reported that even before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which represented a high point in the Chinese translation industry, the market's net worth was approximately $2.5 billion.

Chinese Translation Topics

Chinese App Translation
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Types of Chinese Translation

Chinese Translation Videos

Useful Resources

Translators Association of China
The homepage of the Translators Association of China, which is responsible for qualifying translators.
Wenlin Software for Learning Chinese
Comprehensive, free software designed to help people who are studying Chinese.
Clavis Sinica
An extensive resource site with downloadable dictionaries, audio tests, and other helpful tools.
Notes on Teaching Translation Between Chinese and English
A detailed explanation of common issues Chinese-English translators encounter in their work.
MDBG Chinese Dictionary
A free, online dictionary that translates English <> Chinese.