Question about language

[fortunecookie]

Hello To All Here!

 

I have been reading this website for several months as a "non-member". I was new here and did not want to make comments or give advice, especially since I am so new to this process etc. And probably would not have been able to "give any good advice" or "welcomed comments". But, I decided today that I needed to ask my first question... Thus my registration is now complete. You may call me "FC" (for fortune cookie).

 

I would like to find a person who speaks both Chinese and English well enough to translate some documents for me. I am willing to pay for these services, if there is anybody out there who has some spare time and is qualified to translate.... Please contact me!

 

I tend to be a "private" person and do not wish to elaborate on such matters here - But I would like very much like to hear from anybody who can (could) help... or maybe knows somebody who can help. I prefer it be a person who is living in the USA - But I guess it would not matter too much if they were in China? Just perhaps a little more difficult to pay the translation fees, etc - VS somebody who is here in the states. I would prefer somebody in the states if I have a choice.

 

I know China has many different languages (or should I say "many variations" of Chinese") and I am not sure of the exact language of these documents - but I think it may be either "Mandarin (simplified) Chinese or it could be "Taiwan Chinese"????? So if there is somebody who knows both of these languages, would be perfect! If not - I will have to get somebody to sample the text and then tell me if they know this language or not.

 

Thank you all in advance,

FC

[SmilingAsia]

Major dialects of China:

In Hong Kong, Macao, Guangdong province and most part of Guangxi, people speak Cantonese.

In south Fujian (near Xia Men) and Taiwan, people speak Taiwanese, min nan hua, but in Fuzhou area, people speak Fuzhou dialect which is different from Taiwanese.

 

Other parts of China are supposed to speak Mandarin but there are hundreds of dialects in mid, south and southeast China.

You remind me "Talk of Wind"

Edited December 26, 2006 by SmilingAsia (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Major dialects of China:

In Hong Kong, Macao, Guangdong province and most part of Guangxi, people speak Cantonese.

In south Fujian (near Xia Men) and Taiwan, people speak Taiwanese, min nan hua, but in Fuzhou area, people speak Fuzhou dialect which is different from Taiwanese.

 

Other parts of China are supposed to speak Mandarin but there are hundreds of dialects in mid, south and southeast China.

You remind me "Talk of Wind"

 

 

but for written Chinese, it's either simplified or traditional (with minor variations), isn't it? The Chinese he needs translated is written

[dnoblett]

There are many spoken dialects, but the written language has two major forms, Simplified which is used in mainland China, and traditional which is used in Hong Kong Taiwan, and China Towns all around the world.

 

This universality of the written language is very useful when two people in china who do not share a common dialect encounter each other and need to communicate, they can write notes back and forth, because they share a common written language.

 

So if you find someone to translate your documents they only need to be able to read Chinese, dialect is not a factor, just simplified verses traditional forms of writing.

[toy_rn65]

There is another dilemma with both forms of written Chinese. In a nut shell, the traditional Chinese was evolved from a picture, a scene, the look or form of an object that particular word is describing; the simplified Chinese is so simplified to a point that a lot of the simple words were used in different places for just having the same pronunciation instead of using the correct word. Having said that, a person grew up using simplified Chinese will not understand most traditional Chinese writings because they have not actually learnt so many words. On the other hand, a person grew up using traditional Chinese will understand most simplified Chinese because they have a better understanding of how the language is formed and became the current form.

Just my 2 cents.

 

PM me if you have any more question, I do read both forms of Chinese and speak both Cantonese and Mandarin. Having been in the US for over 20 years, I think I have a pretty good handle on the English language too but I don't claim to be any kind of expert.

 

Hope this help.

[SmilingAsia]

but for written Chinese, it's either simplified or traditional (with minor variations), isn't it?

Mainland China uses simplified written Chinese. Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao use traditional Chinese. The problem is Hong Kong, Taiwan use different computer programs for Chinese characters. The Chinese characters from Taiwan, HK come out "error code" (luan ma) and I cannot read it at all. So we usually exchange emails in English among Chinese people. Edited January 4, 2007 by SmilingAsia (see edit history)