语篇翻译1Chinese is one of the world

Chinese Whispers: Challenges of Chinese for Localization by Asian Absolute

Chinese is one of the world’s most widely spoken languages. Approximately 1.5 billion people around the globe speak one of its variants.

The multifaceted evolution, unique geographical distribution and sheer complexity of the language have all been factors in causing difficulties in communication not only between Chinese and non-Chinese speaking regions, but also within China. This clearly affects the ways in which to deal successfully with China, and yet it is not uncommon to meet specialists in Chinese translation and interpretation who do not have a clear idea of the complexity and diversity of this ancient language. A brief survey of the nature of Chinese today is a good starting point from which to gain a better grasp of these issues.

Traditional or simplified?

Localization professionals tend to rely on these two beacons to guide them through the minefield of Chinese translation, with varying degrees of understanding as to what it means to use either. China’s writing system dates back almost 3,000 years and the script has evolved along social, political and cultural lines. Traditional characters are the oldest form of Chinese characters, and are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and amongst most overseas Chinese communities. The implementation of simplified characters in mainland China took place in the 1950s under the auspices of the Communist administration, and this system is today used in mainland China and Singapore.

The process of simplification was intended to improve literacy, and took place in several different ways: reducing the number of “strokes” in a character, reducing the number of characters themselves and also using one character to represent several that previously shared the same phonetic pronunciation. Simplification also took the form of selecting a single standard character in cases where several variant forms existed — the character selected was not necessarily the least complex to write, but more often the most widely used. The process was therefore multi-faceted, and was by no means predictable. In another twist, although this was the direction mainland Chinese was taking in the 20th century, traditional characters are now far more “in vogue” than they have been over the last few decades, a trend which is likely linked to cultural and political developments.

Dialects or languages?

Chinese comprises a notoriously high number of regional variants. This is largely a result of the sheer scale of the country, and the negative effect that physical distance had on communication. Although “dialect” is often used to translate “fangyan” (regional variants), the differences between the major spoken variations of Chinese are such that they are mutually unintelligible. Linguists find themselves arguing about whether Chinese is a language or a family of languages. Different schemes attempt to classify the Chinese spoken language; some divide the variations into seven to ten groups (Mandarin, Jin, Wu, Hui, Xiang, Gan, Hakka, Yue, Pinghua and Min). Within

these broad groups, there are further sub-groups, many of which are mutually incomprehensible even within their main grouping.

The diverse nature of spoken Chinese has led to a curious situation where regions sharing the same written script do not necessarily understand each others’ spoken tongues. At the same time, writers using different scripts can communicate with no great difficulty. Although Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau all use traditional characters, for example, the official spoken language in Taiwan is Mandarin — significantly different to the Cantonese predominantly used in Hong Kong and Macau. On the other hand, spoken Taiwanese Mandarin (where it is called Guoyu) is, in a loose sense, the same as the Mandarin used in mainland China (where it is called Putonghua).

How will Chinese evolve?

Largely due to the growing strength of the mainland Chinese economy, the need for simplified Chinese localization services has recently increased dramatically, to the extent that it seems likely to eclipse its “traditional” counterpart. On the other hand, as communication and transport between mainland China, China Taiwan and China Hong Kong also develop through both trade and tourism, the language usage within the three regions may become more closely intertwined. Cross-fertilization is apparent China wide: it is not uncommon to find shop signs on a street in mainland China written in traditional characters. Schools in China Hong Kong teach two written languages (Chinese and English) and three spoken languages (Cantonese, English and Putonghua). Likewise, Southern Chinese provinces are particularly affected by neighboring China Hong Kong, while China Hong Kong is in turn influenced by China Taiwan.

Observers often speculate on whether complex calligraphic Asian scripts will one day be phased out in favor of the Roman alphabet. Not long after assuming power, the Communist government of the People’s Republic of China did call for “Pinyin”, a Romanization system that has made learning Chinese a lot easier for many foreign language students. For a time it looked as if Pinyin would replace characters altogether, but this proved unfeasible, largely due to the huge number of homonyms in the Chinese language. This was illustrated by the scholar Zhao Yuanren, who wrote a poem about eating lions which consisted entirely of the Pinyin word “shi”.

Zhao Yuanren’s poem 《施氏食狮史》

石室诗士施氏，嗜狮，誓食十狮，氏时时适市视狮，十时，适十狮适市。是时，适施氏适市，氏视是十狮，恃矢势，使是十狮逝世，氏拾是十狮尸，适石定，石室湿，氏使侍拭石室，石室拭，氏始试食十狮尸，食时，始识是十狮尸，实十石狮尸。试释是事。

The text tells of a poet, Gentleman Shi, who lived in a stone house and became addicted to eating lions. He went in search of them and found ten in a market, but realised that they were all dead when he got home.

We can safely assume that the evolution of the Chinese language will continue to produce intriguing developments, and these will create exciting challenges in its use and localization. It is also clear that social, political and economic factors, both

domestic and international, will play a large role in determining the precise nature of these advances. In a region undergoing such rapid change in so many areas, it is hardly surprising that language is no exception.

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