Recently I proofread some project for traditional Chinese, namely, the target language is traditional Chinese translation (CHT). CHT have lots of characters spelling which are different from that for simplified Chinese (CHS), so as a linguist worker (translator, editor or proofread), it is essential to be familiar with the correct CHT writing.

In the projects I handled these days, and found the following words we made mistake easily, so listed here for us reference.

English Word Wrong Writing Correct Writing
tight 系緊 繫緊
more likely to 幾率 機率
as 作為 做為
feedback 反饋 回饋 or 意見回饋
complication 並發症 併發症
section/part 部分 部份

For the some above listed words, and I’d like to show several sentences and corresponding CHS and CHT translations, for us reference.

Single women are more likely to do unpaid overtime than any other workers, a report has revealed.

(CHS) 一份报告显示,与其他员工相比,单身女性无偿加班的几率更高。

(CHT) 一份報告顯示,與其他員工相比,單身女性無償加班的機率更高。

To compare CHS translation with CHT translation, as we can see, we usually use ‘几率’, though in some articles, we would see ‘机率’ in CHS, but after searching on Google, finding the usage frequency of ‘几率’ is higher than that of ‘机率’.

For word ‘as’, actually, it has lots of meaning according to different part of speech or its position in the sentence, here take one example, it is preposition and at the beginning of the sentence.

As part of our outreach, we call members to remind them to follow up with their mental health care providers within seven days of being discharged from their inpatient stay.

(CHS) 作为推广大计划的一部分,我们将致电会员,提醒他们住院治疗出院后,7 天内,到其精神医师处接受随访门诊。

(CHT) 做為推廣計劃的一部份,我們將致電會員,提醒他們住院治療出院後 7 天內,到其精神醫師處接受追蹤門診。

Read Also: Cultural Factors in English to Chinese Translation

‘作為’and ‘做為’is easily confusing, some client would like to use‘做為’instead of ‘作為’, so in order to meet the client’s requirement, we need to be familiar with the different project demand according to the different client language style. ‘部分’ and ‘部份 is easily confusing too, in the same project, we sometimes would see both exist in TM, in order to ensure the translation consistency, would better to choose the more used one, and make change to TM and keep consistent.

Provide feedback / development coaching points for Above Restaurant Leaders.

(CHS) 向上级餐厅领导者提供反馈/发展辅导建议。

(CHT) 向上級餐廳領導者提供回饋/發展輔導建議。

In CHS, ‘feedback’ is usually translated as ‘反馈’, however in CHT, it is usually treated as ‘回饋’, so while doing CHT project and encountering it, need to pay attention to it.

If you have diabetes, glucose control is important to manage your condition and prevent diabetes-related complications.

(CHS) 如果您患有糖尿病,血糖控制至关重要,其可以管理您的病情,并预防糖尿病引起的并发症。

(CHT) 如果您患有糖尿病,血糖控制至關重要,它可以管理您的病情,並預防糖尿病引起的併發症。

For the translation of ‘complication’, we need to notice the correct writing in CHT project.

Since the traditional Chinese is not our native language, so we need to continually learn and summarize the accurate traditional Chinese translations of the common lexicon, to meet the different clients’ requirement, and so as to speed up our work performance.

Take a look at how we helped our client by localizing their project for Chinese language. Click here to read the complete case study