Chinese Translation
“Chinese” is not one language. It is a family of related but mutually unintelligible spoken languages sharing a writing tradition: Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka, Shanghainese, and dozens more. International Translating Company covers all major varieties, and this page will help you find the right service for your specific need.
Chinese Is a Family, Not a Language
If you searched “Chinese translation,” you may not yet know which variety you need. That is normal. Most buyers who arrive here are looking for Mandarin, the official language of the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan, with about 1.1 billion speakers. But Chinese is broader than Mandarin.
The major varieties differ substantially in spoken form. Mandarin and Cantonese have roughly 50 percent spoken mutual intelligibility. Mandarin and Shanghainese (Wu) are about 30 to 50 percent mutually intelligible. Mandarin and Hokkien are about 50 to 60 percent. A speaker of one variety cannot reliably understand spoken conversation in another.
Written mutual intelligibility is higher among educated readers because the writing system is shared. But the gap between spoken varieties is wide enough that a translator qualified in one is not qualified in another. ITC maintains separate linguist pools for each major variety.
The Writing System: Simplified vs Traditional
Chinese uses a logographic writing system. Two primary scripts are in use:
- Simplified Chinese is the standard in the People’s Republic of China, established by the 1956 script simplification that reduced stroke counts in approximately 2,000 characters to improve mass literacy. About 1.1 billion readers use Simplified Chinese.
- Traditional Chinese is the standard in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, retaining the pre-1956 character forms. About 30 to 40 million readers use Traditional Chinese as their primary script.
The visual difference is immediate: 學 (Traditional) vs 学 (Simplified), 龍 vs 龙, 國 vs 国. Some readers can read both with effort, but a deliverable in the wrong script signals that the translator does not understand the audience.
Mandarin (Putonghua / Guoyu)
Mandarin is the default commercial variety of Chinese. It is the official language of the PRC (where it is called Putonghua, “common speech”) and Taiwan (where it is called Guoyu, “national language”). With about 1.1 billion speakers, it is the most spoken language in the world by native speakers.
Mandarin has four tones. The syllable ma can mean mother (mā), hemp (má), horse (mǎ), or scold (mà) depending on tone. Hanyu Pinyin is the standard romanization system, adopted by the PRC in 1979 and by Taiwan in 2009.
For English to Chinese Mandarin commercial translation, see our Chinese translation services page. For Chinese to English direction-specific work, see our Chinese to English translator page.
Cantonese (Yue Chinese)
Cantonese is the dominant spoken language of Hong Kong, Macau, and China’s Guangdong and Guangxi provinces. About 85 million people speak Cantonese. It has six tones (including entering tones with final consonant stops), uses Traditional characters, and has its own romanization system called Jyutping, the Hong Kong standard since 1993.
Cantonese is the historic language of North America’s Chinatowns, spoken in Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco, and New York for over 150 years. It is also the language of Hong Kong cinema, Cantopop, and one of the world’s great culinary traditions.
For Cantonese-specific translation, see our Cantonese translation services page.
Hokkien, Hakka, Shanghainese, and Other Varieties
Beyond Mandarin and Cantonese, Chinese includes several major varieties:
- Hokkien (Min Nan) has about 50 million speakers, dominant in Fujian province, Taiwan (where it is called Taigi), and much of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines).
- Hakka has about 50 million speakers across Guangdong, Fujian, Taiwan, Jiangxi, and diaspora communities worldwide.
- Shanghainese (Wu) has about 80 million speakers in the Shanghai and Yangtze delta region. Wu is mutually unintelligible with Mandarin.
- Other varieties include Teochew, Gan (Jiangxi), Xiang (Hunan), and Min sub-varieties.
These varieties may not have dedicated pages, but ITC covers them through its linguist network. If your project involves a specific Chinese variety, tell us in the form and we will match the right linguist.
Romanization Systems Explained
If you are working with romanized Chinese, you need to know which system was used. The major systems:
- Hanyu Pinyin is the Mandarin standard, used in the PRC since 1979 and Taiwan since 2009. Beijing is written Běijīng.
- Wade-Giles is the older Mandarin system, still seen in older academic and diplomatic texts. Beijing is written Pei-ching.
- Jyutping is the Cantonese standard in Hong Kong since 1993. Hong Kong is Hoeng1gong2.
- Pe̍h-ōe-jī (POJ) is used for Hokkien and other Min varieties, particularly in Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
- Tongyong Pinyin was a transitional Taiwan system (2002-2009), now superseded by Hanyu Pinyin.
A translator must know which romanization system appears in the source material. A Pinyin reader encountering Jyutping will make systematic errors.
Chinese Translation Through History
Chinese translation has a 2,000-year tradition. Understanding this history is part of understanding why Chinese translation is a craft, not a commodity.
The earliest major translation tradition was Buddhist scripture translation, from the 1st to 10th centuries. Translators like Kumarajiva and Xuanzang translated Indian Buddhist texts into Classical Chinese, establishing principles of fidelity and literary quality that still influence Chinese translation theory.
In the late Qing dynasty, Lin Shu translated Western literature into Classical Chinese without knowing the source languages, working from interpreters’ oral renderings. Yan Fu established the standard of 信達雅 (faithfulness, expressiveness, elegance), which remains influential in Chinese translation studies. The May Fourth Movement of 1919 promoted vernacular Chinese (白话), shifting translation from Classical to modern written Chinese.
Modern Chinese literature in translation includes Lu Xun, Ba Jin, Lao She, Mo Yan (Nobel Prize 2012), Yu Hua, Yan Lianke, and Eileen Chang. Each translation carries the translator’s interpretation of a writer’s voice, and the best translations are themselves literary works.
Chinese Culture and Translation Context
Chinese cultural translation requires fluency in references that shape how text reads:
- Chinese cinema. Fifth Generation directors (Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige), Sixth Generation (Jia Zhangke), Hong Kong New Wave (Wong Kar-wai, John Woo), and Taiwan New Cinema (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Edward Yang) produce films that require skilled subtitling and dubbing translation.
- Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Concepts like 气 (qi), 阴阳 (yin/yang), and meridian theory require translators who understand the medical framework, not just the words.
- Chinese cuisine. The Eight Culinary Traditions (Cantonese, Sichuan, Hunan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Anhui) each have their own vocabulary. Menu translation and food-industry documentation require specialized terminology.
- Chinese calligraphy. One of the foundational arts of Chinese civilization, with its own critical vocabulary.
Who Needs Chinese Translation
If you are a large commercial buyer, your project likely belongs on one of our specific service pages. Chinese translation services covers English to Mandarin commercial work. Chinese to English translator covers direction-specific Chinese to English projects. Cantonese translation services covers Cantonese, Hong Kong, and Traditional character work.
If you are researching, have a one-off translation need, or are evaluating providers, you are in the right place. ITC handles Chinese translation across all varieties and directions, for legal, healthcare, manufacturing, technology, academic, government, and creative projects.
Why ITC for Chinese Translation
International Translating Company has been translating since 1969. We work in 230+ languages with 4,500 translators and 28,000 interpreters. Our language network includes native linguists across Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka, Shanghainese, and other Chinese varieties.
While large competitors crowdsource translation to whoever is available, ITC uses tenured, professionally vetted linguists with separate pools for each major variety. Your project manager knows whether your document needs Simplified or Traditional, Mandarin or Cantonese, Hanyu Pinyin or Jyutping.
Companies including Google, Disney, Netflix, John Deere, and UPS trust ITC with their translation services. They do so because the work is right the first time. See also our Japanese translation services and Spanish translation services for related East Asian and global language coverage.
Request a Chinese Translation Quote
Tell us your variety (Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka, or other), direction, and script. We will route your project to the right linguist. Call 1-888-415-1580 for immediate assistance.