Translating Chinese address into English

[johnny206]

You will probably need your Chinese partner for help with translation.

 

These Chinese websites have good explanation and examples:

Website #1.

Website #2.

Website #3.

Edited December 5, 2014 by johnny206 (see edit history)

[Randy W]

 

You will probably need your Chinese partner for help with translation.

 

These Chinese websites have good explanation and examples:

Website #1.

Website #2.

Website #3.

 

 

They seem to primarily discuss formatting of the address, along with translation of specific words, such as Road, Building, etc.

 

I'll just add the admonition to NOT expect the Chinese post office to be able to translate an address from "English" into Chinese - when mailing something to China, ALWAYS get the full address in Chinese characters from your spouse.

 

When trying to mail something within China, a letter I wanted to send was rejected because it didn't have the Chinese characters. Pinyin is VERY imprecise. A single Pinyin syllable can translate into as many as 10 to 20 different characters, as you can see when using a Pinyin input method. Two of the provinces even have the same Pinyin spelling - an extra "A" was added to Shaanxi province just to distinguish the Pinyin from Shanxi province.

 

Letters I've received here have been 100% reliable when addressed with Chinese characters - not so with Pinyin. The Pinyin address will be translated by someone at the post office - not always reliably.

[MikeandRong]

Agree 100%, must use the Chinese characters. Also, at least in our case, the address was always in reverse to what were used to here. Ex: zip-prov-district-building-number-unit number-last name.

On the left side of the Chinese address I would write the English address too, to help it get out of here faster. And just to be safe, would also write the cell phone number at the very top. When it arrived at the local PO, they would just call her to pick it up. Worked like a charm.

[dnoblett]

Yep Chinese standard for addres is largest unit to smallest unit, Country, Zip, Province, District, Street, Building #, Unit #

 

When mailing something to China, use PinYin address, then just below that Chinese characters, PinYin tends to be for Western Mail services, and the Chinese Characters is for China Mail services.

 

Example for mail to the US Consulate in Guangzhou.

 

U.S. Consulate General
43 Hua Jiu Road, Zhujiang New Town
Tianhe District
Guangzhou, China
510623

 

美国驻广州总领事馆
广州市天河区
珠江新城华就路43号
510623

[tsap seui]

To me the most important thing on a Chinese address is the recipient's phone number.

[dan1984]

To me the most important thing on a Chinese address is the recipient's phone number.

 

Absolutely true! I don't think we've opened up our mailbox since this past summer. Everything is delivered straight to the door, and most times with a call first to check if you're home or not.