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Since I began working as a translator in 2010, the number one question I get asked again and again is this:
What is the difference between Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese?
And closely behind that is this question:
Is Simplified Chinese the same as Mandarin?
Oh, and one more:
Is Traditional Chinese the same as Cantonese?
These questions have come from direct clients, translation agencies and non-Chinese colleagues when I worked as an in-house copywriter and translator. It’s also something I get asked a lot in my personal life… So I know first-hand how confusing these concepts are.
I’ve had to explain these differences more times than I can count, both in email form and in real life, so I thought – OK, why not write the ultimate guide to clear things up once and for all?
Before we dive in, I just wanted to quickly tell you a bit about myself and explain why I’m qualified to at least attempt to answer these questions: I was born in Shanghai, grew up in Hong Kong, and moved to the UK as a teenager in 2003. I’m fluent in spoken Mandarin, Cantonese, and English, and I can read and write both Simplified and Traditional Chinese. I have worked as a translator since 2010 and hold a Diploma in Translation (Chinese to English), awarded by the Chartered Institute of Linguists, of which I am a full member.
Moreover, I have extensive experience working with both the Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese markets, and I am a qualified interpreter for both Cantonese and Mandarin speakers. In short, I believe I’m uniquely equipped to answer these questions and unravel the “mystery” surrounding them!
You can also watch the video I made to accompany this blog post if you'd like to see a demonstration of how some of the words sound etc.
Now, let’s dive in and begin with the question number 1:
I. What is the Difference Between SIMPLIFIED Chinese and TRADITIONAL Chinese?
The number one thing to understand is this: Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese are not spoken languages.
You cannot “speak” Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese.
These two terms refer exclusively to the orthographic system of the Chinese language — in other words, the way characters are written and visually represented. Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese are two distinct writing systems/ scripts used to transcribe the same spoken language(s).
So, why are there two different scripts of the language?
In a nutshell, Simplified Chinese is a fairly recent “invention”, which emerged in the 1950s as part of a government initiative in Mainland China to improve literacy by simplifying the strokes of certain (but not all) Chinese characters. In contrast, Traditional Chinese in its current form has existed for over 2,000 years, with its origins dating back to the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE), around the same time as the Roman Empire rose to prominence on the other side of the Eurasian continent.
Let’s come back to the present. Where are these two scripts used?
Simplified Chinese is used in Mainland China, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Traditional Chinese is the standard script in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau.
Here’s an example of the same character written in both scripts. This particular character means “dragon” in Chinese and is pronounced “lóng” in Mandarin.
• Traditional: 龍 (16 strokes)
• Simplified: 龙 (5 strokes – a whopping 68.75% reduction in the number of strokes!!!)
Every single Chinese character can be written in either Simplified or Traditional Chinese. However, the distinction is purely written. Either script can be used to write Mandarin, Cantonese, or any other Chinese regional variant.
II. What’s the Difference Between Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong) and Traditional Chinese (Taiwan)?
As explained in the previous section, Traditional Chinese is primarily used in two Chinese-speaking regions (although the spoken variants are different, as I’ll explain later): Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Before we look at the differences between these two variants of Traditional Chinese in more detail, one extremely important thing to remember is this: While both Hong Kong and Taiwan use Traditional Chinese as the official script for the written language, the two regions have different spoken languages (see, I did warn you it’s complicated 😅 !)
In Hong Kong, the official spoken language is Cantonese, while in Taiwan, the official spoken language is Mandarin.
Taiwanese Mandarin in its spoken form is mutually intelligible with the Mandarin spoken on the mainland. The differences in accent and vocabulary are comparable to American vs British English.
In contrast, Cantonese and Mandarin are NOT mutually intelligible, although both are members of the wider Chinese language family. (A side note: I once referred to Cantonese as a “dialect” in a YouTube video and got a LOT of flak for it. Lesson learned! Having said that, many language service providers – and indeed Chinese speakers themselves – do refer to Cantonese and other variants of the Chinese language as “dialects”, but that’s a separate conversation for another day…)
Now, let’s look at the differences between Taiwanese Traditional Chinese and Hong Kong Traditional Chinese.
When written, these two forms of Traditional Chinese are largely mutually intelligible, with some differences in vocabulary and terminology. For instance, “cheese” is referred to 芝士 in Hong Kong, and 起司 in Taiwan. A bit like “aubergine” vs “eggplant”! Some characters are also written differently, one common example being 着 (Hong Kong) vs 著 (Taiwan). Additionally, linguistic conventions can vary in certain contexts, for example in the way official documents are written.
To sum up:
In their written forms, Hong Kong Traditional Chinese and Taiwanese Traditional Chinese are very similar, though not identical.
In spoken language, people from Hong Kong typically speak Cantonese, while people from Taiwan typically speak Mandarin.
III. Are Simplified Chinese and Mandarin the Same Thing?
Now we come to another common question: Are Simplified Chinese and Mandarin the same thing?
If you’ve made it this far into the article, you likely already know the answer to this question: no, they are not the same!
I have sometimes been asked by agencies if I provide interpreting services in “Simplified Chinese”. This misguided question stems from the confusion around Simplified vs Traditional Chinese and how they relate to Mandarin vs Cantonese… In fact, in interpreting assignments, the concepts of Simplified and Traditional Chinese are rarely relevant, as interpreting focuses on spoken language (e.g., Mandarin or Cantonese). The exception is when sight translation is required, where written scripts do become relevant.
As I explained in previous sections, Simplified Chinese is a written script, while Mandarin is a spoken language.
However, there is a significant overlap in practice, as Simplified Chinese is primarily used in Mainland China, where Mandarin is the official spoken language. Which is probably why this common misconception (Simplified Chinese = Mandarin) arose in the first place!
That said, it’s entirely possible to use Simplified or Traditional Chinese to write regional variants of Chinese, such as Cantonese, Hakka, or Hokkien.
Let me give you an example of a Cantonese sentence (as it is spoken – more on this later!) written in Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese. The sentence means something like “Have you eaten yet today?”:
Traditional Chinese: 你今日食咗飯未呀？
Simplified Chinese: 你今日食咗饭未呀?
Spot the difference? In this particular example, only ONE character (饭) is different across the two versions.
While most Hong Kongers would write/ type spoken Cantonese in Traditional Chinese, I personally have Cantonese-speaking friends from Guangzhou who would type spoken Cantonese in Simplified Chinese.
So, to sum up:
Simplified Chinese and Mandarin are not the same thing, although there is some overlap in practice.
Mandarin can be written in either Simplified or Traditional Chinese.
The same applies to Cantonese.
IV. Are Traditional Chinese and Cantonese the Same Thing?
Just as Simplified Chinese isn’t the same as Mandarin, Traditional Chinese isn’t the same as Cantonese.
And similarly, this confusion likely arises from the fact that Traditional Chinese is strongly associated with Hong Kong, where Cantonese is the dominant spoken language. However, as mentioned earlier, Traditional Chinese is also used in Taiwan, where Mandarin is the official spoken language.
So, while there’s some overlap in practice, they are two entirely separate concepts:
Traditional Chinese refers to a script used for the written language
Cantonese is a spoken language linguistically related to Mandarin, both belonging to the Chinese language family, though they are mutually unintelligible.
While Cantonese is, in some contexts and by some people, referred to as a Chinese “dialect,” this term may be considered controversial or even offensive.
V. So… Can Cantonese Be Written?!
In the previous section, I alluded to the differences between “written” and “spoken” Cantonese, which I want to explain in greater detail here because reading and writing in Cantonese is a surprisingly (or maybe not so surprising, given the complexity of everything discussed so far 😂) complex matter.
Let me illustrate this with an example from my personal life. My (Russian) husband couldn’t understand what I meant when I told him that you can’t just pick up a Traditional Chinese book and read it out word-for-word in Cantonese to a child as it would sound “weird”. “What do you mean?” asked my husband, genuinely confused.
And I understand that this is really confusing if you’re not a Cantonese speaker, or if you’re unfamiliar with the Chinese language and the nuances involving its variants/ dialects. You might assume – like my husband did – that you can pick up a Traditional Chinese book and read it out loud in Cantonese to a child, just as you would in Russian or English.
But as my husband discovered when I explained this to him, it doesn’t quite work that way.
Why? Because Cantonese has its own distinct spoken and written forms: 書面語 (formal written language) and 口語 (spoken language, which can be written or transcribed using either Simplified or Traditional Chinese).
With very few exceptions, all publications and official written materials in Hong Kong are written in the formal written language (書面語). Spoken Cantonese can be “written” or “transcribed” word-for-word using 口語, but this form of the written language is rarely used in print.
However, it is common to write or type in 口語 in casual communications among friends.
Let’s consider the following sentence: “I went to the supermarket to buy something.”
Variant 1: Formal written language: 我去了超市買東西。
Variant 2: Spoken language: 我去咗超市買嘢。
If you read out Variant 1 word-for-word in Cantonese, it will sound very unnatural – absolutely nobody speaks like that in real life!
If you read out Variant 2 word-for-word in Cantonese, it reflects how people speak in real life.
As a professional translator, I rarely work with 口語 but there have been some notable and very interesting exceptions. A few years ago, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco reached out to me for a very interesting project: they were updating their audio visitor guides and wanted me to translate the guide from English into Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese (for Hong Kong) but with a caveat: the guides were to be read out as scripts by a narrator, which meant that the Hong Kong version had to be written in 口語, so that the narrator could read it out word-for-word without having to pause and think.
Here’s an actual excerpt from this project:
English Original:
NARRATOR:
We start the tour on the third floor in gallery two. Let’s take a look at the large sculpture of the Buddha sitting cross-legged on a throne.
My Simplified Chinese translation, to be read out word-for-word in Mandarin:
NARRATOR:
我们在第三楼的二号展厅开启本次导览之旅。请注视这尊大型雕像，表现佛祖交叉着双腿、盘坐在宝座上。
My Traditional Chinese translation for the Hong Kong market, written in 口語 , to be read out word-for-word in Cantonese:
NARRATOR:
我啲喺第三樓嘅二號展廳開啟呢次導覽之旅。請注視呢尊大型雕像，表現佛祖交叉雙腿、盤坐喺寶座上。
This project really brought some interesting challenges… I found myself Googling how to type certain characters unique to Cantonese, for example:
咗 (a particle unique to Cantonese)
嚟 (to come)
More recently, I had to work in the other direction and translate a series of Whatsapp conversations between two people from Hong Kong. Most of the messages were written in 口語 and had to be translated into British English to be used in court proceedings. There were a couple of instances where I had to look up some slangs, as I haven’t lived in Hong Kong for more than 20 years and some new slang words have – unsurprisingly – been invented since then!
Conclusion: It’s Complicated (In a Good Way)!
I hope this guide has helped clarify the differences between Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese, their relationship to Mandarin and Cantonese, and the unique nuances of reading and writing Cantonese. These differences and nuances are, in my opinion, a truly fascinating reflection of the complex historical, cultural and political forces that have shaped the Chinese language family over thousands of years – I hope this guide serves to educate not only my fellow translation professionals but also end clients and the general public.
If you need expert help navigating these complexities – whether for translation, localisation, or understanding linguistic nuances – don’t hesitate to get in touch. With years of experience working across these languages and scripts, serving both the Hong Kong, mainland Chinese and English-speaking markets, I’m uniquely positioned to help you navigate these intricacies and deliver culturally and linguistically appropriate translations.
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