Apr 27, 2012 10:31
12 yrs ago
English term

difference between mainland and US Cantonese and Manadrin

English to Chinese Marketing Medical (general) website on telemedicine
We got an assignment to translate webpages about telemedicine for the US based Chinese community.
Does anybody know if mainland Cantonese and Mandarin translations will need to be localised/adapted to the special usage of the Chinese living in the US?

Discussion

jyuan_us Apr 30, 2012:
I don't think any information written in any book or on internat is relevant to your question. The more answers you get, the more confused you might become.
jarv95888 Apr 27, 2012:
Localization is a big word for your project, since there aren't many critical barriers between traditional Chinese (Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc.) and simplified Chinese (China, Southeast Asia, etc.) either semantically or syntactically. Terminology might be an issue. Since the medical system in the US is so different, you might need a reviewer for the last finishing touch.

Proposed translations

+2
25 mins
Selected

FYI

You might need to find out whether they need Simplified or Traditional Chinese. Because mainland China uses Simplified writings, Hong Kong and Taiwan use Traditional writings. Mandarin Chinese is the national language. Cantonese is a dialect mostly used in the southern parts of China, especially Hong Kong, Macau, and Guangzhou, but it is one of the most popular dialects among oversea Chinese.
Peer comment(s):

agree Dylan Beck : exactly
1 hr
agree Adsion Liu : Yes, but Mandarin and Cantonese are more for spoken language, while Traditional and Simplified, for written...
3 days 59 mins
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you for your answer. "
+1
2 days 15 hrs

No such thing as U.S. Chinese/Cantonese in the sense of wiss German

There is no U.S. Cantonese and Mandarin in the sense of Swiss German, American English or Pidgin English. Even "Cantonese and/or Mandarin Chinese used in the U.S." is not an established term. I can only say that when translating from a foreign language into Chinese -- (actually in writing, there is not much difference between Cantonese and Mandarin, but in spoken Chinese, a great deal, between the southern Chinese dialect of Cantonese and Mandarin which is used in a much larger area by probably a majority of the Han Chinese) -- for use in the United States, it might be more important to find out who the audience, or readership will be. For instance, (1) young and new students /academics or new immigrants from China north of Canton -- simplified Chinese and mandarin; (2) old immigrants from southern China, middle aged or older workers in academic fields -- traditional Chinese and mandarin. etc.
Peer comment(s):

agree Peter CHENG
1 day 11 hrs
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