InfoMail, Q3-2006
GlobalVision International, Inc.


Localizing into Chinese?

Have you ever been asked to localize your product into Chinese? At almost $9 trillion in 2005, China's GDP is second only to the United States', and continues to grow at a healthy double-digit pace. If you have not been asked yet and you work for an international company, get ready – the question will soon be asked.

There is often confusion about Chinese scripts and dialects among non-Chinese speaking people. You've heard of Mandarin and Cantonese. If you are involved in localization, you've also heard of Traditional and Simplified Chinese. This InfoMail will demystify these terms in simplified English.

While Mandarin and Cantonese are two spoken dialects, Traditional and Simplified Chinese are two written scripts. Unlike phonetic or alphabet-based scripts (such as Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic, or English), written Chinese is a symbol-based script requiring the use of thousands of unique symbols. The written form of Chinese in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is referred to as Simplified Chinese. Singapore, and Malaysia also use the simplified script. The Traditional Chinese script is currently used on the islands of Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Cantonese and Mandarin are dialects spoken by Chinese people in the PRC, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia. Cantonese is the main dialect spoken in Hong Kong and in some southern parts of the PRC. Mandarin, however, is the official dialect of the PRC and Taiwan, and should be used for voice/audio recordings (such as movies or Flash).

The dialects are irrelevant to the written script. People who speak either of the dialects may read Chinese in its simplified or traditional form, depending on where they live or come from. People from the PRC may read the simplified script, regardless of the dialect they speak. People from Taiwan and Hong Kong may read the traditional script, also regardless of the dialect they speak.

The PRC adopted the simplified script in the 1950's to promote literacy by simplifying the traditional script. Prior to that, they used the traditional script, which many still can read. If you are targeting the PRC with your product today, Simplified Chinese should be the form of script used to localize your product .

Taiwan, on the other hand, bans Simplified Chinese in governmental and civil publications. To be politically correct, you will need to support the traditional script if your product is to be sold on that island. The simplified script was never officially introduced or used in Taiwan, so most Taiwanese people are not familiar with it.

In Hong Kong, traditional Chinese characters are officially and customarily used. Even nearly 10 years after the PRC's takeover, textbooks, official statements, and newspapers still do not show signs of moving to the simplified script. But the increasing influence of the PRC on Hong Kong has increased the use of simplified characters, and you now often see them in Hong Kong's tourist areas.

If you want to target Hong Kong with your product, you should use the traditional script for the short term. In the long term, the influence that the PRC brings to the island may make Simplified Chinese the official script.

Lastly, since there is a large Chinese community in North America, many companies are now localizing their products to target this growing market. Dominance is now emerging from PRC expatriates due to their sheer number, making the simplified Chinese script the script of choice for Chinese readers in the USA and Canada.

When measuring the market opportunity of your product in Chinese, consider this: The simplified script opens market doors for you not only in mainland China (PRC), but also in Singapore, Malaysia, North America, and possibly Hong Kong in a few more years! So, the actual GDP for consumers consuming in the simplified script easily exceeds the $9 trillion figure, making it the clear choice after English for your product.

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