Chinese Legal Translation
One of the most important languages in which English legal documents are translated to is Chinese. This language tends to be heavily complex due to its varying dialects, and at the same time Chinese legal structures are continuously evolving to cater to the needs of globalizations. The demand for Chinese legal translators have increased rapidly over the past few years, and through them, English-speaking businesses, firms and companies are able to reach out to Chinese markets for potential partnerships and ventures.
Features of Chinese Legal Translation
Translating documents to Chinese tends to be very difficult due to the features of the whole language family and the contending legal structures per province or region. Such complexities include:
- Chinese as a “macrolanguage.” The Chinese language tree has 13 sub-languages, including Mandrin and Cantonese. Most clients however look for the aforementioned translations as these are the sub-languages spoken in the business districts of the country. Mandarin is spoken in Mainland China and Taiwan, while Cantonese serves as one of the official languages of Macau and Hong Kong.
- Written Chinese. Standard Written Chinese is used on all types of Chinese language translations. However, there are symbols or characters that are unique to specific variants, such as that in Standard Mandarin or Standard Cantonese. There are also characters that are used for legal documents for each language. One good example for this case is that in Hong Kong legal documents, Cantonese is used in writing legal statements for exact recording of accounts. Taiwanese Mandarin meanwhile has a set of terminologies different to the concepts used in Mainland China.
- Traditional vs. Simplified Chinese. While Simplified Chinese is used for legal documents in Mainland China and Singapore, Traditional Chinese is the medium of written instruction in Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Submitting Documents for Chinese Legal Translation
When submitting documents for legal translation in the Chinese language, it is important to specify the following items:
- Specific Chinese language to which the document has to be translated. Clients should be specific when it comes to selecting the type of Chinese sub-language to be used for the document. Using the wrong sub-language will definitely affect the document. It will not be able to comply with the necessary legal structures and documentation format, but as well will not be understood by its target readers.
- Knowledge of the translator with different Chinese sub-languages. It is important that the translators are fluent in different Chinese sub-languages, writing measures and legal structures per province or region.
- Credentials of the translators. Translators must as well have formal studies in law and government. They should have at least a law degree in an accredited Chinese university, or have experience in working for the legal industry.
Chinese Legal Translation – Most professional translation services hire native Chinese translators as they are more fluent in the language in both oral and written forms as compared to those who have only learned the language through years of study. Indeed it is more expensive to have documents translated to Chinese than in other languages, but with the right service at hand, it will surely be worth the investment.
