The Challenges of Chinese Localization

Chinese is widely considered as one of the oldest and the most difficult languages to master in the entire world. The mastery of this language is even difficult for its native speakers. This makes it almost impossible for non-natives to establish a firm foothold, if they wish to invest in the economically booming Chinese market. This makes investors wonder, what they can possibly do to make a mark for themselves and have their presence felt?

The answer: Through effectual and accurate Chinese localization, not only of websites, but of every medium through which investors wish to communicate with their target market. However, investors must understand one thing from the beginning; the road to completely successful localization is not going to be without its own challenges.

The Uniqueness of the Chinese Language

Most European languages like English, French, Italian, German, etc. share the same characters. Same applies to some south Asian and Middle Eastern languages. But the Chinese language holds a unique distinction of not sharing its characters with any other language. This makes the task of effective translation for localization next to impossible for anyone other than a professional translator.

The number of dialects spoken in China is over twenty, but  in most urban centers, the use of standard Mandarin is encouraged. There are two types of writing systems in China.

1.  Traditional Chinese: Follows the age old writing system.
2.  Simplified Chinese: Was introduced by the government to promote literacy in China and to make the learning process easy.

Because the dialects vary between regions, it becomes a challenge for businesses to find the right words with the right dialect to make a powerful impact.

Cultural Differences

Eastern and Western cultural values are very different. While the West promotes progress by being business oriented, the  Eastern culture remains rooted in traditional values, mutual respect, family and loyalty above anything else. This might not seem that important to you, but for effective localization you have to create content that in line with Chinese traditions and values.

This is why you should hire local translators and content creators to make your marketing strategies highly successful.

For accurate Mandarin Chinese Voice Overs and effective Chinese content localization, you can contact Limpid Translations anytime.