Understanding which form of Chinese to use in your marketing efforts can be a challenge. This is because “Chinese” is not a single language. Different varieties of Chinese are used in different countries, so it is essential that you understand which varieties are used where, so that you can use the correct version in your marketing materials when targeting these markets. Getting mixed up between Simplified Chinese vs. Traditional Chinese, or Mandarin vs. Cantonese, could be a costly mistake – both in terms of money and your brand’s reputation. This guide will clear up the confusion and provide you with an explanation of the different types of written and spoken Chinese and where they are used.
Table of contents
Introduction
The aim of this guide is to clarify the geographical distribution of Chinese speakers and the differences in their use of the Chinese language. Chinese is a macrolanguage, meaning it has many sub-languages and dialects, with different varieties of written and spoken Chinese being used in different locations.
As a marketer targeting one or more Chinese-speaking markets, it is essential that you have a clear understanding of which varieties of the language are used in different countries. This will allow you to create website and marketing content in the correct variety of the language, allowing you to truly connect with your audience with compelling content they can understand and enjoy.
The consequences of using the wrong variety of Chinese could be disastrous – not only do you risk your target audience not understanding your content, but you risk damaging your brand’s reputation as your audience will think you are either ignorant or simply uncaring of their market and their needs. You would then need to spend extra time and money fixing your content; a costly expense that could have been avoided if you had got it right the first time around!
Hopefully, this introduction has helped you to understand the importance of using the correct variety of Chinese for your target market. Without further ado, let’s look at where exactly the world’s Chinese speakers are distributed.
Chinese speakers around the world
There are 1.3 billion native Chinese speakers in the world, making Chinese the most spoken native language globally.
Let’s explore where the majority of Chinese speakers live.
The countries and regions where Chinese is an official language are China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Taiwan.
There are also countries with a high percentage of Chinese immigrants, such as Malaysia.
Finally, there are Chinese immigrant minorities in Thailand, Brunei, Myanmar, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, the US and Canada, to name just a few. Many of these people are second, third or even later generations of Chinese immigrants, and they therefore might not have a good command of the Chinese language.
Written Chinese
There are two varieties of written Chinese: Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. The table below shows which variety of written Chinese is used in the different Chinese-speaking countries and regions:
It is important that you use the correct variety of written Chinese for your target market(s). This means that if you are targeting both China and Hong Kong, for example, you will need to create different content for each region, since they use different varieties of written Chinese.
You may be wondering how different Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese really are, and why there are two different varieties.
Simplified Chinese was established in China in 1949, in an effort to improve literacy in the country. The more complex Traditional Chinese characters were made simpler to read and write, with fewer strokes. Even without being able to read either form of Chinese, you can clearly see the difference between the characters in the image below:
However, Hong Kong and Macau were under British and Portuguese colonisation respectively at that time, and they did not change their writing system. Nevertheless, the Chinese government has tried to bring Simplified Chinese to these regions in recent years, but people are still very resistant to this. As for Singapore and Malaysia, they adopted Simplified Chinese in the 1980s due to their frequent business with China. Taiwan did not follow suit because the Taiwanese preferred to keep the Traditional Chinese way of writing.
It is worth mentioning that many Chinese people living overseas, especially early immigrants (and their descendants) in the US, Canada and Europe, still use Traditional Chinese. In fact, in the oldest Chinatowns around the world, many shop signs are written in Traditional Chinese.
If you need help with copywriting or translation into Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese, feel free to reach out to us and our professional native linguists will be very happy to help.
Spoken Chinese
It is not only written Chinese that is different in different locations; spoken Chinese has geographic variations too. There are many distinct dialects of spoken Chinese, but the two most important ones that you should be aware of are Mandarin and Cantonese.
The table below shows which variety of spoken Chinese you should use to target the different Chinese-speaking countries and regions:
Make sure you use the correct variety of spoken Chinese when creating video or audio content for any of the above markets. Mandarin and Cantonese are not mutually intelligible, which means that a speaker of one will not be able to understand the other.
If you need help creating video or audio content in Mandarin and Cantonese, let us know and we will be happy to help.
Conclusion
I hope this guide has helped you to understand the different types of written and spoken Chinese used in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Singapore and Malaysia. As you have seen, “Chinese” is not just one language, and if you want to develop your business in these locations, you must create your marketing and website content in the correct variety of this beautiful language. Good luck!
To learn more about digital marketing in China, click here.