An English legal term may have one counterpart in the Simplified Chinese version (written Mandarin) yet have a partly or wholly different counterpart in the Traditional Chinese version (written Cantonese/Taiwanese). If I were to have it translated into two Chinese versions, one that uses Simplified Chinese characters and the other that uses Traditional Chinese characters, will these two versions use exactly the same legal terms in Chinese? I have an English legal document that needs to be translated to Chinese. As a result, translating English into Cantonese should only be done by a speaker of Cantonese, who is knowledgeable in the writing system of Cantonese. In fact, the writing system of Cantonese on a computer is totally different from that of Mandarin – a Chinese speaker of Mandarin only will not be able to decipher Cantonese characters. This system of written Cantonese is usually found in colloquial contexts, such as entertainment magazines, social media, and advertisements. As a matter of fact, written Cantonese often includes extra characters as well as characters with different meanings from written vernacular Chinese due to the presence of words that either do not exist in standard Chinese, or correspond to spoken Cantonese. Cantonese is usually written with traditional Chinese characters, whereas Mandarin is written with simplified Chinese characters. Is written Cantonese different from written Mandarin? This results in the situation in which a Cantonese text and a Mandarin text may look similar, but are pronounced differently. How different is Cantonese from Mandarin, the official language of China, in its spoken and written form?Ī notable difference between Cantonese and Mandarin is how the spoken word is written both can be recorded verbatim but very few Cantonese speakers are knowledgeable in the full Cantonese written vocabulary, so a non-verbatim formalized Cantonese written form has been adopted which is more akin to the Mandarin written form. Sentence structure, in particular the placement of verbs, sometimes differs between these two varieties of the Chinese language. English to Mandarin TranslatorĪlthough Cantonese shares some vocabulary with Mandarin, these two varieties of the Chinese language are mutually unintelligible because of their differences in pronunciation, grammar and lexicon. Cantonese has been the most-spoken language among the Chinese communities residing outside of the Chinese territory, particularly in the USA, Canada, Australia and the UK. What is the size of Cantonese-speaking population worldwide?Īpproximately, 120 million people. In which countries is Cantonese an official language?Ĭantonese is one of the official languages of Hong Kong and Macao, with their second official languages being English and Portuguese, respectively. In all other cases, having your English document translated into Mandarin Chinese would be appropriate. If your document targets overseas Chinese, then having your document translated from English to Cantonese is a safer choice since many of these people speak Cantonese in their daily life. If the document targets Hong Kong and Macao where Cantonese is one of the official languages, it definitely needs to be translated into written Cantonese (in the form of Traditional Chinese). Knowing where your document translation is to be used is the decisive factor. How would I know whether I need to have my English document translated into Chinese Cantonese? Where did Cantonese originate as a language?Ĭantonese, also known as Standard Cantonese, is a variety of the Chinese language spoken in the city of Canton (Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province) and its vicinity in southeastern China. Guangdong Province (the place of origin of Cantonese as a language), Guangxi Province and Hainan Province of mainland China Hong Kong, Macao Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia in Southeast Asia the US and Canada in North America Australia, New Zealand, Christmas Island of Oceania the United Kingdom, France and Portugal of Western Europe, etc. Chinese Cantonese Translators at Your Service If you want to know when to use English to Cantonese translation services and when to hire a Cantonese translator below are some answers to frequently asked questions about Cantonese document translation services. Yet some law firms often overlook the fact that Cantonese is not just a spoken language. Many U.S.-based attorneys have had experience in hiring an in-person English to Cantonese deposition interpreter for a cross-cultural deposition or arbitration, or a Cantonese remote deposition translator for video deposition via Zoom. Home > Cantonese to English Translation Services Cantonese Chinese Translation Services
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