Q1215. What technical differences distinguish Simplified and Traditional Chinese translations for official use?

Answered by the NYC Visa & Translation certified translation team

Simplified and Traditional Chinese are different writing systems for official purposes, and using the wrong one is a rejection or an embarrassment. The technical distinction: Simplified Chinese (the mainland's and Singapore's standard) uses the simplified character set promulgated by the PRC; Traditional Chinese (Taiwan's, Hong Kong's, and Macau's standard) uses the full traditional character set — the characters differ systematically (thousands of characters have different forms), and the systems are not interchangeable in official documents. The official-use rules: the document's destination determines the script — documents for mainland China or Singapore use Simplified; documents for Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Macau use Traditional; and the translation must match the destination's script or the receiving body rejects it. Beyond the script: the terminology differs between the systems (the PRC and Taiwan use different standard terms for many legal, technical, and institutional concepts — a Taiwan document's legal terminology differs from the mainland's), the proper nouns' renderings differ (place names, organisation names have different standard forms), and the date and measurement conventions differ (Taiwan's official documents use the ROC calendar year). Points that matter: a translation into 'Chinese' without specifying the script is an incomplete specification — always specify Simplified or Traditional with the destination; the translator's background matters (mainland-trained and Taiwan-trained translators work in different standard terminologies); and for documents used in both systems (rare but occurring), separate versions are prepared. Practice points: confirm the destination's script requirement at the start; and for the legalisation chain, the embassy or representative office handling the legalisation corresponds to the destination (the PRC embassy for mainland use, the Taiwan representative office for Taiwan use).