Have you heard of the term Chinglish? It refers to situations where the understanding of either Chinese or English results in an awkward translation. For example, when a translation service directly translates one language to the other. Of course, this can interfere with legal and business transactions, leaving you in quite a murky situation.
The Chinese Language
Let’ start with some startling facts. Out of every six people in this world, one speaks Chinese! But did you know that the Chinese language does not feature any verb tenses? How about the fact that it has no alphabet? Instead, this language, one of the official United Nations languages, features more than 20,000 distinct characters. That means that translating it to and from English takes quite a lot of skill.
Chinese Translation Services
With the Chinese language spreading fast globally, there has been an increased interest in its use for legal and business purposes. It’s an official language in:
- China,
- Taiwan,
- Singapore,
- Hong Kong, and
- Macau.
This language is also commonly used in other regions with large Chinese communities, including Mauritius, Canada, and the United States. When traveling to any of the regions where it serves as an official language, you must translate your English documents to Chinese. The same also holds when using Chinese documents in English-speaking countries like the U.S. As such, we offer two service variations:
- English to Chinese translations, and
- Chinese to English translations.
In either case, we ensure that your documents go through certified skilled linguists who understand the key differences between the languages. These experts are native speakers of the translated languages to ensure that nothing gets lost in translation.
Professional Chinese Translation Services
The English and Chinese languages are worlds apart as far as their structure goes. Here are some of the compelling reasons behind hiring professionals to translate any official documents:
The Difference in Word Order
Sentence structure is integral to conveying meaning to the person reading a document. Without a coherent structure, words remain that- words. You may have noticed that different languages follow different structures. The case is not different in English and Chinese languages. In Chinese, short attributes and adverbs are placed before the objects. But in English, they fall after the object. So, if a translator picks up the sentence word for word, they will jumble up the meaning. Instead, they must understand the message behind the words and put it in English terms.
The Differences in Repetition
In English, you can avoid repeating a noun or verb you mentioned in the previous sentence. Readers can follow the message without questioning what the subject is. But with Chinese, repetition is normal and does not come off as a poor style of writing. In the same line, when translating Chinese to English, care must be taken to ensure that the translation does not lose its meaning. Translators must add context to the translation to make meaning of it as this may not be clear from the direct translation.
Moreover, there are clear differences in:
- The use of characters in Chinese vs. the use of words in the English language,
- The use of indirect expressions with close ties to tradition and culture in the Chinese language compared to direct expressions in English,
- The lack of singular or plural forms in Chinese vs. the singular and plural forms in English, and
- The difference in character placements in Chinese writing compared to the linear style of writing in English.
Furthermore, the Chinese language does not fall under one umbrella. Instead, it features seven main dialects, which increase at the local level. All these versions require specialized translations to ensure that they meet the localized requirements. Without understanding the differences, a translator will not select the right word choices and can lose the text’s context.
Get Your Chinese Translations Today
Are you ready to get your Chinese translations? We have a full house of Chinese translators working on official documents ranging from birth certificates to marriage certificates down to diplomas. Whatever you need to be done, we’ve got the right person for it. In only 6 days, you can have the paperwork ready for use. For rush processing, your order should be complete within 3 days.
Do you have any questions? Reach out to our able team!