German to simplified Chinese marketing brochure translation

One of the advantages of using a flexible translation company like Tomedes is the fact that our team of helpful staff is on hand to help with any queries you may have. Recently, a client asked for his German marketing brochure to be translated into Chinese and asked us about whether to use simplified Chinese or traditional Chinese. We were delighted to be able to fill him in on the difference between the two. 

Simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese were both used in ancient China, but efforts to help people learn in more recent times have focused on using the simplified characters. Between 1949 and 1964, the Chinese government simplified and reformed many traditional characters, resulting in a newly agreed character list. The revised characters were easier to write and remember as they had less strokes. 

These days, China, Singapore and Malaysia all use simplified Chinese, so for this client’s purposes (he planned to sell his products in China), that was the most appropriate translation language. Taiwan and Hong Kong still use traditional Chinese, so anyone selling products there should opt for that language – or else face the potential consequences of a translation faux pas. 

For this client’s marketing translation, we approached one of our leading Chinese translators based in Shanghai. Able to speak both German and Mandarin fluently and with a great deal of experience of translating marketing documents, we knew she was the right person for the job. 

Our Chinese translator not only translated the text for the client, but also provided advice on a couple of points relating to the content. Cultural awareness and sensitivity during translation is known as localization and is an important part of reaching out to new overseas audiences. 

Once these points were clarified and the brochure text tweaked accordingly, our quality assurance team took over, checking through the Chinese version of the marketing copy to ensure that it was flawless. Once they were satisfied, the completed translation was handed over to the client, ready for him to launch his product range to a vast new audience in China. 

For all of your translation and localization needs, contact Tomedes today.