Challenges of Translating Into the Chinese Language

Translation is generally not an easy task, especially when the target language is Chinese as it is considered a relatively difficult language. If someone’s nature of job requires them to deal with the Chinese market, they may well have to do some translation.

If the person is not fluent in Chinese, they may have to avail the services of a professional translator in order to get their work done. But why is Mandarin Chinese such a complex language? And why do people consider it one of the most difficult languages in the world? Let’s look at some facts.

Chinese is the native language of more than one billion people- about a seventh of the population of the entire world. It is considered one of the most important languages in the world because of China’s huge economy. Mandarin Chinese is the official language of People’s Republic of China and has twice as many speakers when compared to the English language, which is not even the runner up- Spanish is!

Chinese is known around the world for its complex writing system, complicated stress system, and its many variants. Chinese has around two thousand dialects. Some of the most important and more common dialects include Mandarin Chinese, Wu, Cantonese, Min, Xiang, Hakka and Gan. These dialects are very different from each other, making translation very difficult.

There are around twenty thousand characters in Chinese. However, only around half of these characters are commonly used by Chinese speakers. Even though the proportion of Chinese words in the vocabulary is quite overwhelming, Chinese people have also borrowed a few words from the languages of the people who used to travel on the silk route for trade purposes, and even though it makes Chinese more versatile, it also adds to its complexity.

Recently, many English words have been added to Chinese language as well. Thanks to globalization!  But they are normally words that are used in technology or trade. Nevertheless, it makes the job of a Mandarin Chinese Translator a lot more difficult.

The rising significance of Chinese in both business and international trade is echoes in the form of people making efforts into learning it. In a survey which was led by the Ministry of Education in China showed that around thirty million people are currently studying Mandarin Chinese in universities, colleges, or are taking private courses.

While many people are currently learning Chinese, only a select few are actually fluent enough to translate corporate level text in English to Mandarin Chinese which is why you should always avail the services of professional Chinese Translation Service Providers so that all potential errors can be avoided.

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