Looking for affordable translation service of english into mandarin
- Thread starter duncanBath
- Start date
Hi,
I use google language for basic translations: http://translate.google.co.uk/translate_t#en|zh-TW|I hope this helps
I always translate my text back into English before sending, as some of our English words have different meanings in China
Hope this helps?
我希望這有助於
Dave.F
I use google language for basic translations: http://translate.google.co.uk/translate_t#en|zh-TW|I hope this helps
I always translate my text back into English before sending, as some of our English words have different meanings in China
Hope this helps?
我希望這有助於
Dave.F
Upvote
0
Don't think this is simple! Depends on your industry and how technically exact you need to be. I suggest a professional, and even then they will not be an expert in your industry.
For most Chinese (like me), it can be really difficult to translate, as Chinese tend to have a limited vocabulary. Words are made simply (like "computer" is "Electric Brain"). The education is much better at pure subjects (like maths etc) than in the UK, but we do not have as much social education or discussion, therefore (sad to say) we "do not know" about many subjects, and others (like my car business) I have never discussed in Chinese - so... I find it really hard to translate technical or specific words. I guess most Chinese the same.
If you want to hear how difficult it is, here is an interview from BBC World Service I did, discussing Dragons Den and my business. You will hear that I have to use English phrases and I say "ummm, ...that, that, errrr..." a lot as I just cannot find the Chinese words. Even though I work 12 hours a day with cars and my business (in English!). Some words just don't exist in Chinese.
So, I would caution against a non-specialist in your subject translating (if the stuff is important), as most people here can write about most subjects fluently, many Chinese cannot. It is hard for you to look (like at French) and spot errors, as you will have no clue with Chinese characters. Also, I would get anything checked by a 3rd party (employ 2 translators if it is really important).
I would say, in most cases, basic English would be fine.
Never sign a contract written in Chinese, you need a Chinese lawyer! Often, they would be totally confusing for me, and may have different meaning. People understand what they want to understand.
Also, meanings differ, intrinsically. Like, I needed a proof of address for my sister (utility bill etc) in China. She kept sending rubbish and made up stuff. She even typed one in Word! Not that she was trying to forge, she just failed to grasp I needed an original, irrevocable proof. A lot of stuff in China is still handwritten, go to a bank and see how manual they are. It is also a cash society. Beware all this stuff, as things in the UK that you think are solid, need many layers of stamping and taking to lawyers for endorsing to have the same "originalness" as a simple utility bill, here. My sister would say "it is stamped by an advocate", I would say "but it is a forgery". She will reply, "yes, I know, but it is stamped by an advocate". Therefore to her, it is 100% suitable. You need to watch for this stuff. It costs money to get a "stamp", has little to do with the quality of the document. A meal for a police chief and a favour called in will buy you an endorsement. Equally, someone could be virtually put out of business if someone powerful is not treated well by them. You buy "GuangXi" or "favours". It is just the way it works.
Also, China is a massive country, made up (really) of many smaller countries. Even we have difficulty understanding each other. Just because I am Chinese, does not mean I can speak Mandarin well! It's fine for my local area (even though we don't speak Mandarin at home, we speak a Sichuan dialect which can be very different - Lin Lin from DaLian in my office cannot understand it), but I really struggle to understand some other Chinese speaking "Mandarin". It sounds like Double Dutch sometimes.
Hope this helps.
For most Chinese (like me), it can be really difficult to translate, as Chinese tend to have a limited vocabulary. Words are made simply (like "computer" is "Electric Brain"). The education is much better at pure subjects (like maths etc) than in the UK, but we do not have as much social education or discussion, therefore (sad to say) we "do not know" about many subjects, and others (like my car business) I have never discussed in Chinese - so... I find it really hard to translate technical or specific words. I guess most Chinese the same.
If you want to hear how difficult it is, here is an interview from BBC World Service I did, discussing Dragons Den and my business. You will hear that I have to use English phrases and I say "ummm, ...that, that, errrr..." a lot as I just cannot find the Chinese words. Even though I work 12 hours a day with cars and my business (in English!). Some words just don't exist in Chinese.
So, I would caution against a non-specialist in your subject translating (if the stuff is important), as most people here can write about most subjects fluently, many Chinese cannot. It is hard for you to look (like at French) and spot errors, as you will have no clue with Chinese characters. Also, I would get anything checked by a 3rd party (employ 2 translators if it is really important).
I would say, in most cases, basic English would be fine.
Never sign a contract written in Chinese, you need a Chinese lawyer! Often, they would be totally confusing for me, and may have different meaning. People understand what they want to understand.
Also, meanings differ, intrinsically. Like, I needed a proof of address for my sister (utility bill etc) in China. She kept sending rubbish and made up stuff. She even typed one in Word! Not that she was trying to forge, she just failed to grasp I needed an original, irrevocable proof. A lot of stuff in China is still handwritten, go to a bank and see how manual they are. It is also a cash society. Beware all this stuff, as things in the UK that you think are solid, need many layers of stamping and taking to lawyers for endorsing to have the same "originalness" as a simple utility bill, here. My sister would say "it is stamped by an advocate", I would say "but it is a forgery". She will reply, "yes, I know, but it is stamped by an advocate". Therefore to her, it is 100% suitable. You need to watch for this stuff. It costs money to get a "stamp", has little to do with the quality of the document. A meal for a police chief and a favour called in will buy you an endorsement. Equally, someone could be virtually put out of business if someone powerful is not treated well by them. You buy "GuangXi" or "favours". It is just the way it works.
Also, China is a massive country, made up (really) of many smaller countries. Even we have difficulty understanding each other. Just because I am Chinese, does not mean I can speak Mandarin well! It's fine for my local area (even though we don't speak Mandarin at home, we speak a Sichuan dialect which can be very different - Lin Lin from DaLian in my office cannot understand it), but I really struggle to understand some other Chinese speaking "Mandarin". It sounds like Double Dutch sometimes.
Hope this helps.
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I will give you some other examples.
My husband needed a Chinese visa (we were in Finland 10 years ago), and my mum (a famous dentist professor) had a friend who knew the Chinese Military Attache in Finland. On this basis, she asked a favour, and we took the Attache and his pal the Consular boss for a meal in a Chinese retaurant in Helsinki. The consul brought the stamp with him and stamped my husband's passport in THE RESTAURANT (before these hologram visas these days). Saving 5-days waiting for the proper stamp (as we did not have the time). That, in their view was fine because my mum vouched for me via a friend.
A British official would never do that.
Also, this baby milk stuff. Many people will have known, but will have seen the official paperwork saying the milk was fine, which is more important than the milk actually being fine. As most people will not even know what melamine is, unlike in the UK, where everyone will know what melamine is... the milk will have been signed off by layers of authority.
No one will have wanted to harm children, and even now my parents (who went back to China yesterday) are saying "we have been told the milk in Chengdu is fine". There is an almost complete belief in official endorsement (changing slowly), whereas in the UK we could not comprehend accepting this stuff and question almost everything with a healthy distrust. As if this official endorsement changes the chemical properties of melamine. Also like bird flu "did not exist", therefore it did not exist (for a month before they had to change official policy, then overnight it was a major problem, and people were told wearing silly face masks would prevent it, like a panacea, so they all wore face masks). It is not that people are stupid (they can be ignorant of facts), just that they are so used to being told what to do, that like robots, they do as they are told.
You must understand the society, the almost complete acceptance of personal responsibility being taken away by the state (you do NOT argue against this, otherwise you are a "troublemaker", and the consequences do not bear thinking about).
I the airport in Chengdu just last year, the departure lounge had people who were just waving travellers off and had been let through because they were (I guess) "OK" people, ie they had friends in the airport.
Even coming here this year, my mum telephoned someone she knew at the airport and was allowed to bring a 35kg case, for free.
It is difficult to understand that a "no smoking" sign means that UNLESS you have a senior person pal who says you can disregard it.
Combine this with a government that does not have local control (local officials are like Gods and translate the rules how they see fit, often for personal gain) and you can see how these things can happen. Like police who issue speeding tickets but have personal decision on how much they fine, between upper and lower limits, enabling them to pocket some of the difference.
So, make high friends, and be careful, and mistrust everything! Look after No1. When you are told something is an "official document" just ask "how much did this cost?" Often, people will openly tell you. This is just the way things work.
Hope this helps.
My husband needed a Chinese visa (we were in Finland 10 years ago), and my mum (a famous dentist professor) had a friend who knew the Chinese Military Attache in Finland. On this basis, she asked a favour, and we took the Attache and his pal the Consular boss for a meal in a Chinese retaurant in Helsinki. The consul brought the stamp with him and stamped my husband's passport in THE RESTAURANT (before these hologram visas these days). Saving 5-days waiting for the proper stamp (as we did not have the time). That, in their view was fine because my mum vouched for me via a friend.
A British official would never do that.
Also, this baby milk stuff. Many people will have known, but will have seen the official paperwork saying the milk was fine, which is more important than the milk actually being fine. As most people will not even know what melamine is, unlike in the UK, where everyone will know what melamine is... the milk will have been signed off by layers of authority.
No one will have wanted to harm children, and even now my parents (who went back to China yesterday) are saying "we have been told the milk in Chengdu is fine". There is an almost complete belief in official endorsement (changing slowly), whereas in the UK we could not comprehend accepting this stuff and question almost everything with a healthy distrust. As if this official endorsement changes the chemical properties of melamine. Also like bird flu "did not exist", therefore it did not exist (for a month before they had to change official policy, then overnight it was a major problem, and people were told wearing silly face masks would prevent it, like a panacea, so they all wore face masks). It is not that people are stupid (they can be ignorant of facts), just that they are so used to being told what to do, that like robots, they do as they are told.
You must understand the society, the almost complete acceptance of personal responsibility being taken away by the state (you do NOT argue against this, otherwise you are a "troublemaker", and the consequences do not bear thinking about).
I the airport in Chengdu just last year, the departure lounge had people who were just waving travellers off and had been let through because they were (I guess) "OK" people, ie they had friends in the airport.
Even coming here this year, my mum telephoned someone she knew at the airport and was allowed to bring a 35kg case, for free.
It is difficult to understand that a "no smoking" sign means that UNLESS you have a senior person pal who says you can disregard it.
Combine this with a government that does not have local control (local officials are like Gods and translate the rules how they see fit, often for personal gain) and you can see how these things can happen. Like police who issue speeding tickets but have personal decision on how much they fine, between upper and lower limits, enabling them to pocket some of the difference.
So, make high friends, and be careful, and mistrust everything! Look after No1. When you are told something is an "official document" just ask "how much did this cost?" Often, people will openly tell you. This is just the way things work.
Hope this helps.
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0
If you can't understand this stuff, consider this:
If I was in China, me and my family would rather drink the contaminated milk and cross our fingers, than complain publicly about the milk. As it is big business, local government will have money at stake and you do not take them on. You do not make yourself known as a complainer. Not just for yourself, but for your family.
This is worse as issues become more political.
The consequences for individuals and their families, are immense. Kicked out of housing, dismissed from work, ostracised from friends (worried they will be contaminated by your mouth), denied health care, removed from schools, a target for police. There is no safety net. Often "troublemaker" people are forced to relocate to a different part of China for any hope of survival, and even then, they will be affected for the rest of their lives, denied promotion, education for children etc.
Keep your head down, drink the milk (or better, avoid milk, but hard as even sweets I bought from local Chinese supermarket in the UK have melamine in them!), cross your fingers. Now, multiply that across everything.
If you don't understand, you don't understand.
Sorry for hijacking the thread, but I DID write some useful translating stuff
Hopefully, this may help you understand China better. Just don't pick a fight
If I was in China, me and my family would rather drink the contaminated milk and cross our fingers, than complain publicly about the milk. As it is big business, local government will have money at stake and you do not take them on. You do not make yourself known as a complainer. Not just for yourself, but for your family.
This is worse as issues become more political.
The consequences for individuals and their families, are immense. Kicked out of housing, dismissed from work, ostracised from friends (worried they will be contaminated by your mouth), denied health care, removed from schools, a target for police. There is no safety net. Often "troublemaker" people are forced to relocate to a different part of China for any hope of survival, and even then, they will be affected for the rest of their lives, denied promotion, education for children etc.
Keep your head down, drink the milk (or better, avoid milk, but hard as even sweets I bought from local Chinese supermarket in the UK have melamine in them!), cross your fingers. Now, multiply that across everything.
If you don't understand, you don't understand.
Sorry for hijacking the thread, but I DID write some useful translating stuff
Hopefully, this may help you understand China better. Just don't pick a fight
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H
HSLS
Very wise words there.
We always use native speakers to do our translations, and those who are qualified as translators and have a particular specialism.
Translation is a very difficult skill and I would advise anyone against using translation software/ google translators etc, unless you just want the rough meaning of a text, and it is not for public consumption!
We have recently done some Punjabi and Hindi translations for a client, which actually had to be returned with the font/ script used as well, otherwise they were completely illegible. This sort of thing definitely needs proofreading as it looks like complete gobbledy-gook to an English speaker.
Anyway, I'm sure we could do this for you. PM me if you are interested in a quote.
We always use native speakers to do our translations, and those who are qualified as translators and have a particular specialism.
Translation is a very difficult skill and I would advise anyone against using translation software/ google translators etc, unless you just want the rough meaning of a text, and it is not for public consumption!
We have recently done some Punjabi and Hindi translations for a client, which actually had to be returned with the font/ script used as well, otherwise they were completely illegible. This sort of thing definitely needs proofreading as it looks like complete gobbledy-gook to an English speaker.
Anyway, I'm sure we could do this for you. PM me if you are interested in a quote.
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Yes,
Often to a British, the translation will look like Chinese characters, whereas, the characters will be sort of Windows screwy not-quite characters which are complete nonsense (but can look like a character). A bit like a backwards letter "k" or an upside down letter "T" in English, but totally losing their meaning.
A Chinese who did not speak English or Roman character language may think an upside-down "T" was proper English, whereas you would just laugh at this stuff. MS Word and other programs can screw up Chinese and you would never notice! You often should ask a Chinese to glance at it and tell you if it is sensible, or gobbledegook rubbish before you press "send".
Beware this, when you paste Chinese. You really need Chinese (simplified) encoding on your PC (available from your install disk or MSoft). If you are dealing with Hong Kong or Taiwan you need traditional encoding as well. The written language in Taiwan is different to mandarin China (although the spoken language is the same).
In most of southern China, the language is spoken differently (Cantonese). So even though Hong Kong and Taiwan can use the same characters, the spoken words are totally different.
Confused? Now you begin to understand the Chinese
Think Europe and see what you think of Greek. You get the idea.
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D
davidww
Hi Duncan,
Maybe I can help. I am a native mandarin speaker living in UK for 4 years and doing my self business. My wife also a native mandarin speaker livingin in the UK for 8 years. So our mandarin is original
We have a native english translator who do writing translation for us when it is need in business. So our english is also native.
Can you let me know how long is the letter. Maybe we can help you if it is not a very long letter.
David
Maybe I can help. I am a native mandarin speaker living in UK for 4 years and doing my self business. My wife also a native mandarin speaker livingin in the UK for 8 years. So our mandarin is original
We have a native english translator who do writing translation for us when it is need in business. So our english is also native.
Can you let me know how long is the letter. Maybe we can help you if it is not a very long letter.
David
Upvote
0
B
Bathead
?? If you use a professional then the target document will be an accurate translation of the source document. You can also pay for a proofreading service from an independent translator.
I saw previously mentioned Google translate and the such like. That is machine translation and is technically poor as it has no idea of the context and the overall sentence structure.
regards,
Mick
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Yes, so in order to do this you would have to have the document translated (and pay for it) then find someone independant to check it (and pay for that) which may not be so easy and following on from what Ling and some others have said it still might not say what you intended as both translators might not actually understand what they are translating.
Seem like it will cause an awful lot of hastle especially when they decide to respond in mandarin which means the process starts again.
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Yes,
Often to a British, the translation will look like Chinese characters, whereas, the characters will be sort of Windows screwy not-quite characters which are complete nonsense (but can look like a character). A bit like a backwards letter "k" or an upside down letter "T" in English, but totally losing their meaning.
A Chinese who did not speak English or Roman character language may think an upside-down "T" was proper English, whereas you would just laugh at this stuff. MS Word and other programs can screw up Chinese and you would never notice! You often should ask a Chinese to glance at it and tell you if it is sensible, or gobbledegook rubbish before you press "send".
Beware this, when you paste Chinese. You really need Chinese (simplified) encoding on your PC (available from your install disk or MSoft). If you are dealing with Hong Kong or Taiwan you need traditional encoding as well. The written language in Taiwan is different to mandarin China (although the spoken language is the same).
In most of southern China, the language is spoken differently (Cantonese). So even though Hong Kong and Taiwan can use the same characters, the spoken words are totally different.
Confused? Now you begin to understand the Chinese
Ling, very informative input on dealing with China. There are manufacturers of excellent 16mm xenon film projectors in China but I have been unable to get any response from them. I used one of those translation devices and dread to think what I must have said to them. They never replied!
Incidentally if you do have access to manufacturers of 16mm projectors from China I would be interested to know. It seems China is the only country still manufacturering new machines at a reasonable cost. The company I tried to contact was Nanjing Jinanying Audio-Visual Equipment Co Ltd in Nanjiing. www.jinnanying.com
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Wow, old stuff! Out of the ark!
Well, the best thing is just to ring them very early morning UK time and say "Ni hao (hello). YING GWO HWA, MA????? (simple version of: English????)" See what happens. If only for a laugh. If you are lucky, someone will come on the line speaking English. Use the time honoured trick of speaking loudly and slowly. Sixteen is "Eeee shur leo" (millimetres). hahahahaha! What fun. In Nanjing they are BOUND to have someone speak Ying Guo hua.
What is the worst that can happen?
You know, a return ticket to fly to Shanghai is only £500, you meanie, get your hand in your pocket!
Their ISO certificate looks 100% genuine. This is the full size they display
))
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Chinese students are far more sensible than UK students, so the likelihood of the translation reading "Homosexual partner required for well hung English big nose businessman who tried to get a cheap translation from a hard-working Chinese student in return for a measly drink; send him back any rubbish as he has money to burn and deserves a scam, feel free to take him for a ride, I'll tell him your return letter sounds really good if you cut me in for 10%..." ... is rare.
But is a danger.
Get a 2nd opinion from an independent Chinese (not a student).
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B
Bathead
No you use an agency who will have professionally qualified translators specializing in specific fields. It's not just a language thing as the person needs qualifications/experience in certain fields, for example the translation of a "widget" website or the translation of a chemical plant manual has great implications. These guys will know that they need a pro translation team whereas the guy on the street with a few pages of something can't get their head around the fact that it's not something you just get a bloke down the road to knock up for you - there's no comeback, verification, QA, consistency...
You then get another suitable translator within the agency who manage your job to proof it (if you want at an extra cost), if it's correct it's signed off, if there are errors or questionable areas it is passed back and corrected, proofed then signed off. You get back the documents. If the agency is good you get the layout suitably adjusted to accommodate the changes in sentence length/direction. Job done.
Mick
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B
Bathead
why not?
I didn't mention costs, I merely pointed out as already mentioned that either you find a pro translator and check them out or use an agency, that is the only way to guarantee the work, unless you are lucky enough to personally know someone. Otherwise like you say you wouldn't have a clue what is written. So it's not really the case of affording it, it's down to getting the job done right, and if it's not done right it can be damaging. Imagine in English distributing a brochure with typos in it, how that is perceived. Same concept translated.
Mick
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