China Market: Simplified or Traditional Chinese Subtitling And Cantonese or Mandarin Voice Overs

Those experienced with Chinese translation are familiar with the guiding question of simplified or traditional? In the world of audio localization these are irrelevant, simplified or traditional give way to mostly Mandarin or Cantonese.

Spoken Chinese broken into Mandarin and Cantonese

Spoken Chinese language is broken into two major styles or dialects Mandarin is the official language of mainland China and Taiwan; while Cantonese is spoken in Hong Kong, as well as in the South of China (Guangdong province of which Guangzhou, formerly Canton is the capital), although that region, being located in the People’s Republic of China, also uses Mandarin as its official language.

 

Mandarin Chinese Translation Voice Over or Putonghua  

Mandarin, in China, is called the official dialect, Putonghua, which means “common talk”. It is also one of the five official languages in the United Nations. Mandarin dialects are for the most part mutually intelligible one with another, but pronunciation and syntax can vary significantly from one to the next.

From a marketing perspective, any audio content targeting Mainland China or Taiwan needs to be spoken in Mandarin. However, Mandarin in Taiwan is spoken with a very recognizable accent, and the Taiwanese market often justifies a second audio version. That would be called   “Mandarin for Taiwan” (or, wrongly, Taiwanese) as opposed to “Mandarin for Mainland China”. If only one version is to be used in both markets, it must be Mandarin with a Mainland Chinese accent. At JBI Studios, our Mandarin voice talent are split into these two categories –from a project management perspective, we consider these two different languages.

Cantonse Chinese Video Translation For Hong Kong

Cantonese importance over other smaller dialects stems both from Hong Kong’s strong economy and influential pop culture (many native Mandarin speaking singers even make Cantonese versions of their recordings); as well as the fact that being outside Mainland China, it was not imposed the use of Mandarin, China’s unifying language everywhere else. Cantonese is also spoken by overseas Chinese communities in US, Canada and Australia. Major foreign media present in China such as BBC and Voice of America use both Mandarin and Cantonese, while no other regional dialects are used.

Written and Spoken Chinese

As for the relationship between written and spoken Chinese, both simplified and traditional characters can be pronounced in Mandarin and Cantonese. Therefore decisions on which dialect to use or characters to write with on screen are based on target audience. “Traditional Chinese” really means “Chinese written with traditional characters”, and there was nothing else until 1956, when the communist government decided to “simplify” hundreds of characters in an effort to boost the country’s literacy rate. Taiwan and Hong Kong, being outside of Mainland China, were not affected by this change, and although they speak mutually unintelligible languages (respectively Mandarin and Cantonese), they use the same set of traditional characters.

At times on DVD authoring projects multiple options with dubbing and subtitling are made available to accommodate the mix of audiences.

Geographic Breakdown of Spoken & Written Chinese

Cantonese Voice Over and Traditional Chinese Subtitling

At JBI Studios, our Chinese voice over talents are categorized into Mandarin voice talent, Cantonese voice talent, and Taiwanese voice talent (Mandarin with a Taiwanese accent).

Rivalry between Mandarin and Cantonese? 

Native Mandarin speakers mock deficiencies in Canton people's pronunciation of Mandarin.There's even a short rhyme that expresses this sentiment: 天不怕，地不怕，只怕廣東人說普通話！"Tian bu pa, di bu pa, zhi pa Guangdong ren shuo Putonghua." Which translates into I fear neither heaven nor earth, I only fear Cantonese speakers trying to speak Mandarin. For the Cantonese response, more humor and cultural insight, visit our Facebook page. .

The way the image above is of the China Pavilion at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China which opened May 1, 2010 for six months, drawing an expected 70 million visitors and at the cost of $46 Billion dollars its as nothing less than Shanghai's coronation as the next great world city.

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