![\"How](\"https:\/\/www.saporedicina.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2028\/07\/translate-chinese-into-italian.jpg\" "\\"How")
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This guide was written by our two experts in Chinese: Aldo Terminiello and Armando Turturici. The first part was written by Aldo, while the second was from Armando. Enjoy the read!<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In China, translation was of vital importance at key moments in history. For example, in the second century A.D., when Buddhism reached the Middle Kingdom and it was necessary to translate the sacred texts from Sanskrit; in the eighteenth century, when Christian missions (especially the Jesuits) translated the holy texts into Chinese and the key texts of the boundless Chinese literature into Latin in order to get to know the civilization they were trying to convert to Christianity.<\/p>\n In the nineteenth century and the first few decades of the twentieth century, China realized it was technologically underdeveloped compared to the rest of the world, and felt the need to import lots of scientific and literary texts, setting off a third great wave of Chinese translation.<\/p>\n During the first half of the twentieth century, the translation of Russian revolutionary texts had a great impact and could be considered the fourth period of Chinese translation<\/a>.<\/p>\n As a common factor during these periods, there was a need to import knowledge and make it available to Chinese people in their own language: translations for religious, ideological or cultural purposes, rather practical goals that also reflect the translation theories created during those periods, which were manuals that simply explained: \u201chow to translate well\u201d.<\/p>\n The urgency of communication nowadays makes the situation is very different: translations are more and more often conducted in both ways, in Chinese, and from Chinese. \u201cAll you need is Google Translate!\u201d is the answer I got somewhat jokingly when I mentioned the problems I came across when translating Chinese. It can be true: sometimes the automatic translator works really well, like when translating instructions for washing a T-shirt or putting together a piece of furniture. However, sometimes professional translation services are required.<\/p>\n I\u2019m willing to bet that you too have found that at times the translations on packaging or pamphlets from items Made in China are a bit wacky, and the same goes for the famous \u201cfortune cookies\u201d.<\/p>\n Most of the time though things aren\u2019t so easy: translating from one language to another is always a complex process, but with Chinese, it could be even more difficult than we think. In order to maintain the creativity, appropriateness, and readability of the original text, the translator must often make choices, adaptations, additions, and cuts: a last step from the translator is transforming simple translation from one language to another into a rewriting, more like an adaptation to a different media than a simple \u201cchange of clothes\u201d for the text.<\/p>\n This example is perhaps the best fit for the Chinese language: like the cinematographic adaptation of a film<\/a> can tell the same story, but with images, sounds, movements, and lights instead of doing so with words, a written Chinese text \u2013 with its characters, \u201cintuitive\u201d structures and rather \u201cdebatable\u201d grammatical rules \u2013 can be transformed into a written text in a language such as English, where every verb tense has its specific function, each aspect is explained and explainable, every rule is firm even with its exceptions.<\/p>\n Essentially there are two fundamental operations when translating: understanding the original text and then rewriting it.<\/strong><\/p>\n During the first phase, it is essential to fully understand what the text\u2019s author means to say, why they have chosen certain words instead of others, what their style is; then it\u2019s time to rewrite the text, trying to \u201cre-dress\u201d those ideas, concepts, stories in a different set of clothes, in a different setting while keeping the substance intact as much as possible.<\/p>\n Yan Fu (\u4e25\u590d Y\u00e1n F\u00f9, 1853\u20131921) said there are three challenges when translating a text: the first in being faithful to the original text\u4fe1 (x\u00ecn); the second is expressing yourself clearly \u8fbe (d\u00e1) and elegantly \u96c5 (y\u01ce).<\/p>\n In this article we\u2019ll look at the options for a balanced translation, which renders the sense of the original text to the reader, seeking to understand how it\u2019s possible to transmit the original meaning between two different languages and keeping its form and style as much as possible.<\/p>\n A sad reality for those who have been learning Chinese, even for many years, is that in every new text there will always be words you\u2019ve never seen before. A good strategy to help in understanding the text is to first identify the words you know: at times this is all that is needed to get an idea of the general meaning of the text and the purpose of the words you don\u2019t know yet.<\/p>\n In a Chinese text, the characters aren\u2019t normally separated like our words are: this is quite the challenge for beginners, a little less for those who already know a fair amount of characters. Setting aside the classic texts, where there isn\u2019t even any punctuation, these days punctuation is also quite often used rather \u201carbitrarily\u201d (I hope I\u2019m not the only one who has come across entire paragraphs with only a final period).<\/p>\n But what should you look for first? I start with words with a grammatical function such as the \u201cthree de\u201d (\u7684\u3001\u5f97\u3001\u5730<\/a>), \u4e86 (le)<\/a>, \u8fc7 (guo), the particles \u5417 (ma)\u3001\u5427 (ba)\u3001\u5462 (ne), frequently used conjunctions and adverbs such as \u4f46\u662f (d\u00e0nsh\u00ec), \u53ef\u662f(k\u011bsh\u00ec), \u800c\u4e14 (\u00e9rqi\u011b), \u975e\u5e38 (f\u0113ich\u00e1ng), or \u6bd4\u8f83 (b\u01d0ji\u00e0o). <\/p>\n Isolating these parts of the text, even circling or highlighting them to separate them from the \u201cblocks\u201d in order to break down the phrases, you will already have a general idea of the structure of the text you\u2019re facing.<\/p>\n Numerals are also easy to identify, and often indicate the time in which an action takes place: at times, when at the beginning of a text it says that something has happened \u201cthree years ago\u201d, then you know that the whole account is in the past \u2013 and you will not find any further indications.<\/p>\n An additional difficulty with Chinese is that there aren\u2019t any conjugations and declinations: on one hand, this greatly simplifies the grammar, on the other, when translating, there\u2019s an enormous ambiguity to compensate for since in English one can\u2019t be so \u201cvague\u201d with verb tenses and agreement with the other parts of the phrase.<\/p>\n Another trick is to look for repeating characters, which will likely be the keywords of the text in question.<\/p>\n A basic thing to remember is that in Chinese words don\u2019t have an exclusive grammatical function<\/a>. The same word can be a verb, adjective, noun or adverb.<\/p>\n For example, when in English we find a word that ends in \u2013ing, we can reasonably assume that we\u2019re dealing with a verb (but pudding is a not too tasty kind of dessert).<\/p>\n In Chinese there\u2019s no such certainty: rather, one of the basic differences with our own language is that words can often play any grammatical role within a phrase.<\/p>\n Here’s a simple example: \u597d (h\u01ceo), good\/well, is one of the first characters that you learn.<\/strong> <\/p>\n You already know that \u4f60\u597d (n\u01d0 h\u01ceo), which we translate as \u201chello\u201d, literally means \u201cyou (are) well\u201d; \u597d\u5403 (h\u01ceoch\u012b) is good (to eat), \u597d\u770b (h\u01ceok\u00e0n) is beautiful (\u201cgood to see\u201d), \u597d\u73a9\u513f (h\u01ceow\u00e1nr) means amusing (\u201cgood to play\u201d), but in an expression such as \u597d\u8d35\u554a (h\u01ceo gu\u00ec a!) it instead means \u201chow much\u201d, \u201ca lot\u201d: wow, it costs so much!<\/p>\n If instead, we say \u8fd9\u4e2a\u95ee\u9898\u597d\u56de\u7b54 (zh\u00e8ge w\u00e8nt\u00ed h\u01ceo hu\u00edd\u00e1), which means \u201cthis is an easy question to answer\u201d, then \u597d means \u201cwhat one does easily\u201d, but in a phrase like \u6211\u505a\u597d\u4e86 (w\u01d2 zu\u00f2h\u01ceo le) expresses the completion of an action (\u201cI finished\u201d, literally \u201cI did it with a good result\u201d).<\/p>\n Still, in a phrase like \u4ed6\u597d\u8868\u73b0\u81ea\u5df1 (t\u0101 h\u00e0o bi\u01ceoxi\u00e0n z\u00ecj\u01d0), \u597d is pronounced in the fourth tone and is a verb \u2013 to love: \u201che loves to show off\u201d. Lastly (but only so that we don\u2019t go on too long about this), it could be part of other words, like \u7231\u597d (\u00e0ih\u00e0o), hobby, \u597d\u50cf (h\u01ceoxi\u00e0ng), to seem, \u597d\u5904 (h\u01ceochu), advantage, and so on.<\/p>\n All this is to say that there are two aspects to understand with every word: the function and the meaning. Each character\/word can have many meanings (some of which can even be contradictory) and serve multiple functions within a text, so it\u2019s helpful to use the more common and \u201cprecise\u201d words to be able to understand which of the functions the \u201ccomplicated\u201d words serve in the text being translated and which is the most suitable meaning.<\/p>\n Returning to our \u201csearch\u201d: in English, proper names are characterized by capital letters, while in Chinese there\u2019s usually nothing like that, but often three characters which don\u2019t have any meaning connection among themselves are usually a name, while multiple characters combined into an absurd meaning will likely be a transliteration of a foreign name.<\/p>\n Once you identify the words you know, all you have to do is check a dictionary (or simply Google Translate or Pleco, a very useful Chinese app<\/a>) and you’ll find the \u201cmissing words\u201d. <\/p>\n It\u2019s best to note down, maybe on the text itself if you have a printed copy, the most applicable meanings, and possible translations, so you will be able to choose the best-suited word in English without looking them up again once you have a better idea of the whole meaning.<\/p>\n At times some words composed of multiple characters will not be in the dictionaries because they\u2019re too new or have been coined by the author: in those cases, it\u2019s often a good idea to just look at the characters separately to be able to figure out the meaning of the entire word.<\/p>\n If the text has a title, being able to translate it can be very useful, but often, since Chinese is a rather \u201ccryptic\u201d language, it isn\u2019t immediately understandable and you\u2019ll have to read at least the first paragraph to be able to interpret it.<\/p>\n A very useful tip is to not give up at the first sign of difficulty: if you can\u2019t translate a phrase, often you just need to move on to the next sentence to understand the preceding one.<\/p>\n A last bit of advice is to consult with teachers and Chinese friends who can help us if we can\u2019t figure out the meaning of certain expressions. It\u2019s often happened that I wasn\u2019t able to understand a text because I had never read a certain book or was unaware of a proverb is widely known in China<\/a> which for some reason I hadn’t learned yet. <\/p>\n Obviously, the internet and especially Baidu, with its immense database of phrases and possible examples, can be a great help: if you can\u2019t understand what a word means in our context, just look for another example or sentence and you\u2019ll likely be able to understand the meaning of the expression-based in another phrase that contains it!<\/p>\n Once you understand the meaning of the text, which in my case will be a mess of notes, arrows, and possible meanings, we can then move on to the next phase!<\/p>\n What must be done when rewriting a text in your own language? According to Yan Fu, it is by staying faithful to the original text, expressing it clearly, and with elegance. Often we see translated texts \u201cbuilt\u201d according to the structure of the original language, not written in \u201coriginal\u201d English or seemingly \u201cforeign\u201d: this is because at times the translator feels too attached to the original text and can\u2019t move away from it, forgetting that, true, their task is to translate, but to also to \u201crewrite\u201d into a language that is pleasant to read!<\/p>\n But how can it be done?<\/p>\n A basic rule I saw in the book \u201cThinking Chinese Translation\u201d by Valerie Pellatt and Eric T. Liu is that \u201cthere should be no \u2018can\u2019t\u2019 for the translator\u201d: simply put, the translator is free to do anything! Let\u2019s look in detail at what can be done in order to make the translation as pleasant to read as possible.<\/p>\n The translator should feel free to recompose the phrase, moving for example something that in Chinese is put at the end of the sentence to the beginning, if in English it is required or if it is simply clearer, easier to read or more elegant to do so.<\/p>\n Obviously, this isn\u2019t just limited to the parts of a sentence: if a phrase is too long, it can be broken up into smaller pieces. On the other hand, if there\u2019s a bunch of small phrases they can be combined into a more complex phrase if we think that in English \u201cwe would say it like that\u201d.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t just a possibility: anyone who has ever translated from Chinese has done it, even without realizing it. We have added articles, prepositions, endings and verb tenses that are not there in Chinese because they have to be there in English; added subjects or verbs that were implied in the original text; we\u2019ve added additional explanations that weren\u2019t in the text we\u2019re translating (at times adding a note), because they are necessary for the English reader.<\/p>\n At the same time, we\u2019ve removed, for example, verbs or adjectives that have been doubled, because there\u2019s no need to repeat them in English, or we\u2019ve substituted them with other expressions that give the same sense of the doubling.<\/p>\n For example, the phrase \u53bb\u770b\u770b (w\u01d2 q\u00f9 k\u00e0nkan) can be translated as \u201cI\u2019ll go see it\u201d.<\/p>\n At the same time, we mercilessly take away all expressions that would \u201cburden\u201d the reading, at times even entire portions of the text: if you think that the English reader doesn\u2019t need it, just cut it out!<\/p>\n Often, without realizing it, we have also \u201clengthened\u201d the original phrases to explain them better or we\u2019ve contracted them because it isn\u2019t necessary for English to dwell too much on things that perhaps have already been said before. This isn\u2019t a matter of adding or removing but simply \u201cextending\u201d or \u201ccontracting\u201d something already there, in the original text or, in one word, \u201cadapting\u201d it.<\/p>\n The translator is also free to substitute original expressions with other more correct ones in the target language, as long as it doesn\u2019t at all change what the author intended to say in the original text. Generally, you should aim for the functional (or practical) equivalent, which means finding an expression that corresponds to what should be said in the same situation, using your own language.<\/p>\n To give an example of a functional equivalent, the Chinese \u665a\u5b89 (w\u01cen\u2019\u0101n) literally means \u201ccalm night\u201d, but it practically works as the functional equivalent of our \u201cgoodnight\u201d; when translating a person saying \u665a\u5b89 to their child, we certainly wouldn\u2019t say \u201ccalm night\u201d, but would use the functional equivalent in English, \u201cgoodnight\u201d.<\/p>\n In the same way \u5403\u996d\u4e86\u5417? (ch\u012bf\u00e0n le ma?) quite often doesn\u2019t literally mean \u201chave you eaten?\u201d, but simply \u201chow\u2019s it going?\u201d, \u201ceverything ok?\u201d.<\/p>\n The author has the possibility, need, and responsibility to choose. It\u2019s often not possible to render all meanings of a word and it is necessary to choose one; we can find various synonyms for the same term, and it\u2019s up to us to choose the one that\u2019s best suited; we can change a phrase either greatly or slightly, depending on what effect we want to give, thereby choosing to also make changes on the style.<\/p>\n For the most part, when we choose to translate an expression there are three situations that may present themselves:<\/p>\n Let’s look at an example of a rather complicated translation of a proverb, noting how \u6b63\u6708\u5341\u4e94\u8d34\u95e8\u795e\u2014\u665a\u4e86\u534a\u6708 (Zh\u0113ngyu\u00e8 sh\u00edw\u01d4 ti\u0113 m\u00e9nsh\u00e9n\u2014w\u01cenle b\u00e0nyu\u00e8) can be translated.<\/p>\n 1. Literal translation:<\/strong> (it is like) hanging up images of guardian divinities on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, half a month late. <\/p>\n 2. Substitution<\/strong>: with a different proverb in English, it could be translated as \u201cit\u2019s like shutting the door after the horse had bolted\u201d.<\/p>\n 3. Annotated translation:<\/strong> it is like hanging up images of guardian deities on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, half a month later (note: according to Chinese tradition, images of the two guardian deities were hung on the doors of a house on the day of the lunar new year to protect the habitation in the year to come).<\/p>\n 4. Explanatory translation:<\/strong><\/strong> it\u2019s too late, like hanging images of the guardian deities so as to protect the house during the coming year on the fifteenth day of the lunar month instead of on New Year\u2019s.<\/p>\n 5. Loose translation:<\/strong> it’s too late now. <\/p>\n Each option has its own consequences; substitution maintains the characteristic of \u201cmetaphoric language\u201d, finding a functional equivalent of the Chinese expression; while changing the metaphorical image causes a detachment from what the author has written, which in the case of translating a literary text might not be a good choice, while in other cases (for example, in a tourist guide or a non-literary text), it might not be a problem.<\/p>\n The noticeable limit of a literal translation is the need for the reader to have specific knowledge in order to understand it; it could be a good choice if it\u2019s assumed that the reader knows the necessary information needed to understand the meaning of the text (for example if it has already been explained before or the readers are experts on Chinese culture).<\/p>\n An annotated translation allows you to keep the text as close as possible to the original, making available for the reader all the information necessary for a correct understanding; it has the advantage of not \u201cbreaking up\u201d the reading if the reader doesn\u2019t need the explanation and keeping it handy in case a further explanation is needed.<\/p>\n Translation with explanation extends the text, but provides all necessary information during the reading, making it more fluent. It could be a problem if one does not want to expand the text or if it\u2019s simply not possible to do so, or if the added information \u201cmakes it heavier\u201d somehow.<\/p>\n A loose translation cuts out the metaphoric element and simply explains the meaning; it could be a good choice in non-literary texts where the imagery used isn\u2019t important, but only what is meant to be communicated.<\/p>\n Obviously the text to be translated determines the option of how it\u2019s best to translate it: in a novel we would give preference to the author\u2019s style, letting the Chinese culture shine through rather than \u201cadapting\u201d the text too much; for a travel guide, we could instead opt for the functional equivalent and simply say things as we would say them in English.<\/p>\n A word of caution<\/strong><\/p>\n The translator is free to do everything we mentioned but must keep in mind that their task is to stay faithful to the sense of the original text, as well as the style: this means that it isn\u2019t enough to rewrite what the original author wrote, but one must seek, with certain precautions, to also render the way in which it was written.<\/p>\n The translator has a large responsibility. Now you too will agree with me\u2026 it\u2019s not true that \u201cAll you need is Google Translate!\u201d<\/p>\n After reading Aldo’s part, now it’s mine, Armando’s turn. Enjoy the read!<\/em><\/p>\n Translating from any language is without a doubt a difficult task that requires notable patience and strength of will. A keyword that is very important for any translator is “read”: before starting any translation, you need to read the original text attentively two or three times. <\/p>\n You need to read carefully and patiently, and to do so out loud to bring out eventual sounds and be able to drop into the various atmospheres. Reading out loud is fundamental! When reading out load we turn up our nose at how we wrote something, it means that something needs to be changed.<\/p>\n A good translator knows the source language well (Chinese, for example) and must know the target language even better, which will ideally be their mother tongue. For this reason, I recommend that you equip yourself with such indispensable tools such as grammar books, a dictionary and so on.<\/p>\n Moreover, the translator must be patient in another respect: since there are no identical considerations between different languages, the translator must be willing to bargain. Translation forces you to choose. The translation is not \u201cto say the same thing in another language\u201d but as Umberto Eco says, translation is \u201csaying almost the same thing. <\/p>\n Rather, at times, betraying the text is the only way to stay faithful to it. In addition, a translator must know that each language can have various forms: you could use a high, low, dignified, prosaic, formal, informal, colloquial, bombastic, plain, literary, or vulgar style, and so on. <\/p>\n Therefore, a translator must constantly keep up to date and have the tools they need to do their best work. Tools are indispensable since no translator could ever have an all-encompassing knowledge. <\/p>\n In Chinese, the verb translate uses the character \u7ffb (fan) \u201cto overturn, to reverse\u201d, but also means \u201cto multiply\u201d. What I wrote above is even more valid for Chinese: you need to reverse or overturn a Chinese text to produce an adequate translation. <\/p>\n To translate Chinese well, the only option is to translate for many years, there is no shortcut. It takes a lot of experience. For students of Chinese, preferably advanced ones, I’ve indicated points below that can be of help when translating Chinese: <\/p>\n Photo Credits: Do you need a translation from English to Chinese or from Chinese to English? Click here to request a free quote This guide was written by our two experts in Chinese: Aldo Terminiello and Armando Turturici. The first part was written by Aldo, while the second was from Armando. Enjoy the read! Introduction: Translation in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":17594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[390,66],"class_list":["post-17530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learning-chinese","tag-learn-chinese-sidebar","tag-learn-chinese"],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n
Introduction: Translation in China<\/h2>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\nTranslating from Chinese<\/h2>\n
Phase one: understanding the text<\/h2>\n
1. Look for known words<\/h3>\n
2. Look for unknown words<\/h3>\n
3. Ask for help!<\/h3>\n
Phase two: rewriting the text<\/h2>\n
1. Reorganizing the text<\/h3>\n
2. Adding, subtracting, extending, contracting, substituting<\/h3>\n
3. Choose!<\/h3>\n
\n
The patient work of the translator <\/h2>\n
Translating from Chinese: suggestions for translation <\/h2>\n
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Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n
\n\nIs it easy to learn Chinese?<\/div>\n\nChinese is a comparatively difficult language to learn, at least for foreigners that don\u2019t comprehend any other East Asian languages. The main reasons are that Chinese uses characters, thus, you\u2019ll have to learn them before you can read. Besides, it\u2019s a tonal language with 4 different tones in mandarin. If you can\u2019t master the tones, Chinese people will have difficulties understanding you. In a worst-case scenario, you might end up saying something different.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nHow can I learn Mandarin Chinese for free?<\/div>\n\nThere are plenty of ways that you can learn Chinese<\/a> for free. If you\u2019re short on cash or don\u2019t have the options to sign up for a paid course where you live, you can purchase Chinese studying books online or in stores. Another great option is to meet Chinese people, perhaps through a language exchange or language meeting. It\u2019s a great way to not only learn the language but to make lifelong friends and learn about each other\u2019s cultures.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nIs Cantonese harder than Mandarin?<\/div>\n\nGenerally speaking, yes. Not only does Cantonese have 6 to 9 tones instead of 4, but you\u2019ll also have to learn traditional characters<\/a> that need some more effort due to the increased amount of strokes. Worth mentioning is that you\u2019ll have more difficulties finding Cantonese speakers and course materials which teach Cantonese. In short, mandarin is a bigger language and many believe it\u2019s easier to learn.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nWhat are some big differences between English and Chinese?<\/div>\n\nThere are plenty of differences between English and Chinese. First of all, the Chinese don\u2019t use any different words for past, present, and future events. For past events, they simply add a \u4e86(le). In the Chinese languages, you can also find plenty of words that are spelled, or even pronounced the same. You would need to see the words formulated in sentences to understand the meaning. Another difference is the way we count numbers. In Chinese, they divide numbers into 1,000 (\u5343\uff0cqian), 10,000 (\u4e07\uff0c wan), and 100,000,000 (\u4ebf, yi).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nWhat are some of the best translation apps and websites for Chinese?<\/div>\n\nThere are plenty of options available. First, if you want to translate a text you can either copy-paste the text to Google Translate, to compare the Chinese writing to the English one, for example. You can also simply right-click on your mouse and press \u201ctranslate\u201d. If you read a Chinese text and want to translate word-by-word, Pleco and Pera Pera are both good options. Some applications also help you with grammar, including Chinese Grammar Wiki and Coursera.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nWhat are the top 3 languages spoken in China?<\/div>\n\nThe top 3 languages are Standard Mandarin (Putonghua) at place number one, Cantonese (Yue) at place number two, and Shanghainese (Wu) on a third spot. There are great differences between the three and if you\u2019ve learned Standard Mandarin, you won\u2019t understand the other two. <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Creative](\"https:\/\/www.saporedicina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/icon\/cc.png\")
<\/a> ShanDong_LinYi 7<\/a> by Lean Picture Collector<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"