Why Translation to Chinese Is So Important
The number of Chinese speakers is only going to continue to grow, making translation services for this language more and more important. If you are looking for a way to reach this large population, then translating your website into Chinese is the way to go. In this blog post, we will discuss some of the reasons why translation services for this language are so important.
Chinese is a family of related varieties spoken by more than 1.3 billion people. The two most prominent spoken forms are Mandarin and Cantonese, while the two main writing systems are Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.
Spoken Chinese
– Mandarin is the official language of China, Taiwan (where it is called Guoyu), and Singapore, and one of the United Nations’ six official languages. With over 900 million native speakers, it is the most widely spoken language in the world. Mandarin is based on the Beijing dialect but standardized for education, media, and government, serving as a unifying tongue across China’s many regions.
– Cantonese is spoken by around 85 million people, mainly in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau, and among large diaspora communities. Known for its tonal complexity—nine tones compared to Mandarin’s four—it preserves older linguistic traits and has an especially rich vocabulary. Beyond language, Cantonese holds strong cultural influence through Hong Kong film, television, and Cantopop music.
Written Chinese
– Simplified Chinese, introduced in the 1950s to improve literacy, reduces the number of strokes in many characters. It is standard in mainland China, Singapore, and Malaysia.
– Traditional Chinese retains the older, more elaborate forms and remains in use in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.
Both share the same grammar and vocabulary, but their characters differ visually—for instance:
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- the word “dragon” is written 龙 in Simplified and 龍 in Traditional.
- the word “turtle,” written as 乌龟 in Simplified and 烏龜 in Traditional, or
- “horse,” written as 马 in Simplified and 馬 in Traditional.
Both Spoken and Written forms carry cultural weight: Simplified Chinese is tied to modernization and accessibility, while Traditional Chinese conveys continuity with history and classical literature. On the other hand, Mandarin functions as the global standard for business and diplomacy, while Cantonese represents a vibrant diasporic identity.
Together, these varieties highlight how the Chinese language family balances unity with diversity, remaining one of the most influential linguistic traditions worldwide.
