Cantonese (Guăndōnghuà)

Introduction

Cantonese is considered to be a Category II language in terms of difficulty for speakers of English.

The Yuè dialects, also known as Cantonese, are one of the major dialect groups of China. They are spoken by 71 million people in the province of Guăngdōng and in the city of Guăngzhōu (Canton), as well as in Hong Kong, Macau, and in expatriate Chinese communities and Chinatowns in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States (Ethnologue). The origins of Cantonese are not known due to absence of reliable historical records, however, it is generally agreed that it had developed linguistics traits that distinguished it from other Chinese dialects by the time of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD).

Status

People's Republic of China (PRC)In PRC, Cantonese is used along with Mandarin. The latter is used as the medium of education and government administration. Because of PRC's language policies, most people in China today are proficient in Mandarin. As a consequence, Cantonese-Mandarin bilingualism is increasing in Cantonese-speaking provinces of the country. However, Cantonese continues to be the language of everyday communication both inside and outside of the home. It is also used in electronic and print media.
Hong Kong and MacauCantonese is the official language of Hong Kong along with English. It is the language of choice for education, business, government, and the media. For instance, Hong Kong's important and popular film industry is in Cantonese. It is too early to predict the effects of unification on the status of Cantonese in Hong Kong and Macau.

Click on the MLA Interactive Language Map to find out where Chinese (all dialects) is spoken in the United States

--From "aboutworldlanguages"

Mandarin Chinese (pŭtōnghuà, guóyŭ, huáyŭ)

Introduction

Mandarin is a Category III language in terms of difficulty for speakers of English.

Mandarin is the most widely spoken of all Chinese dialects. It is spoken as a first language in a vast area of northern and southwestern mainland China. It is also spoken in Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mongolia, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, USA, and Viet Nam. The total number of first-language speakers of Mandarin world-wide is estimated to be around 873 million (Ethnologue). The major Mandarin-speaking areas are listed below.

 

Mainland China	867 million 1st-language and 178 million 2nd-language speakers
Taiwan	4.3 million 1st-language and 15 million 2nd-language speakers
Malaysia and Singapore	618,000
Indonesia	460,000

Status

• Mainland China and Taiwan
  Standard Mandarin is the official language of mainland China and Taiwan where it serves as a lingua franca for speakers of mutually unintelligible dialects. Standard Mandarin is used in all spheres of informal and formal communication. It serves as the medium of instruction at all educational levels as well as in all media. The use of Standard Mandarin has facilitated communication among people who speak a variety of mutually unintelliglble dialects and languages. As a result, Standard Mandarin is now spoken with varying degrees of fluency by most people in mainland China and in Taiwan.
• SingaporeStandard Mandarin is one of the four official languages of Singapore along with English, Tamil and Malay. Although English is the primary medium of instruction in primary schools, Chinese, Tamil, and Malay are taught in schools of the respective language communities. Schools in the Chinese community receive extra funding to teach Mandarin and to use it as a medium of instruction since the majority of ethnic Chinese in Singapore are speakers of Min dialects and have to learn Mandarin as a second dialect.

--From "aboutworldlanguages"

Number of Chinese speakers in the United States

State: Mainland US
215,423,557 English 46,951,595 All languages other than English combined 28,101,052 Spanish or Spanish Creole 2,022,143 Chinese 1,643,838 French (incl. Patois, Cajun) 1,383,442 German 1,224,241 Tagalog 1,009,627 Vietnamese 1,008,370 Italian 894,063 Korean 706,242 Russian 667,414 Polish 614,582 Arabic 564,630 Portuguese or Portuguese Creole 477,997 Japanese 453,368 French Creole 418,505 African languages 365,436 Greek 317,057 Hindi 312,085 Persian 262,900 Urdu 235,988 Gujarathi 233,865 Serbo-Croatian 203,466 Other Native North American languages 202,708 Armenian 195,374 Hebrew 181,889 Mon-Khmer, Cambodian 178,945 Yiddish 178,014 Navajo 168,063 Miao, Hmong 162,252 Scandinavian languages 149,303 Laotian 120,464 Thai 117,973 Hungarian

--From "aboutworldlanguages"

Chinese Branch of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family

Introduction

Mandarin and Cantonese are Category III languages in terms of difficulty for speakers of English.

Chinese languages/dialects constitute an independent branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. About one-fourth of the world's population speaks some variety of Chinese as their native language. By the sheer number of its speakers, the antiquity of its unbroken documented written history, its cultural significance, and its influence on other languages, Chinese is one of the most important languages in the world.

Click on the MLA Interactive Language Map to find out where Chinese (all dialects) is spoken in the United States.

Status Standard Mandarin is the official standard of the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and one of the official languages of Singapore. The governments of them intend for speakers of all Chinese speech varieties to use it as a lingua franca. It is used in government, in the media, and in education.

• People's Republic of China
  The situation in the People's Republic of China is characterized by diglossia. For instance, it is common for people to speak Standard Mandarin, plus local dialect(s), plus sometimes a regional lingua franca, such as Cantonese. People frequently switch between Standard Mandarin and the local dialect(s), depending on the situation.
• In the Republic of China (Taiwan), speakers commonly switch back and forth between Standard Mandarin and Taiwanese, and this mixture is considered socially appropriate under many circumstances.
• In Hong Kong, it is acceptable to switch between Cantonese and English, and in some cases, also Standard Mandarin.
• In Singapore, people switch between Standard Mandarin, Mĭn, and English.

Dialects

The identification of the varieties of Chinese as languages or dialects is a controversial issue. Some call Chinese a language and its subdivisions dialects, while others call Chinese a language branch and its subdivisions languages. The Chinese themselves refer to all forms of spoken Chinese as dialects. This perception is reinforced by a common cultural and political identity and by a common writing system with deep historical roots.

Chinese is distinguished by a great deal of internal diversity. To date, some 1500 varieties of spoken Chinese have been identified. Many variants of spoken Chinese are different enough to be mutually incomprehensible. In fact, the intelligibility between any two of the Chinese dialects is less than that between any two Romance languages. Furthermore, the dialects themselves are far from uniform. There is a great deal of variation within the dialects themselves which also affects intelligibility.

Chinese is usually classified into these major dialect groups:

• Mandarin
  Mandarin is the major dialect of China both in terms of number of speakers (about 70% of the total population) and political importance.The term Mandarin is an English translation of guān-huà 'official language', i.e., the dialect spoken in Běijīng. The Běijīng dialect has been the standard for the official language of China for many centuries. Because of geographical and political considerations, the language came to be known by different names: in the People's Republic of China it is called pŭtōnghuà 'common speech', in Taiwan it is called guóyŭ 'national language', and in Singapore and Malaysia it is called huáyŭ 'Chinese language.' Although pŭtōnghuà, guóyŭ and huáyŭ are all technically based on the Běijīng dialect, they differ from the dialect spoken in Běijīng. They also differ from each other mostly in pronunciation and vocabulary.
• Wú
  The Wú dialects, also known as Shanghainese, are spoken by some 77 million people along the lower Yángzĭ River and the provinces of Jiāngsū, Zhèjiāng and Ānghuī, including China's largest city of Shànghăi.
• Yuè
  The Yuè dialects, also known as Cantonese, are spoken by 71 million people in the province of Guăndōng and the city of Guăngzhōu (Canton), as well as in Hong Kong, and in expatriate Chinese communities and Chinatowns in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States. Most Chinese loanwords that made their way into English came from Cantonese, rather than from Mandarin.
• Mĭn
  The Mĭn dialects, also known as Taiwanese, Fukkianese, Hokkienese, and Amoy, are spoken by close to 60 million people in Táiwān, the Fújiàn province, and Hăinán Island in the Gulf of Tonkin. Most Chinese in Táiwān and Singapore speak Mĭn as their first language because they are descendants of Mĭn speakers from Fújiàn province.
  Hakka (kè-jiá)
  The Hakka dialects are spoken by over 30 million people throughout southeastern China. The Hakka people were settlers who came from northern China. The name Hakka means 'guest'.
• Jìnyǔ
  The Jinyŭ dialects are spoken by 45 million people in a large area of northern China, west of Beijing, including the provinces of Shănxī, Shānxī, Héběi, Hénán, and Inner Mongolia.
• Xiáng
  The Xiáng dialects, also known as Hunanese, are spoken by 36 million people in Húnán, Sichūan, Guăngxī, and Guăndōng provinces.

• Gàn
  The Gàn dialect is spoken by 21 million people in Jiangxi, and some parts of Ānghuī, Húnán, Jiāngsī, and Fújiàn provinces.

--From "aboutworldlanguages"

Localization Cost Savings, Part One: Away with Words

July 26, 2011 by Alyssa Paris 

In Spanish they say, “Lo bueno, si breve, dos veces bueno.” The good, when brief, is doubly good. Brevity is considered a virtue in most communication circles. In the world of translation, however, brevity is even more: it’s a money saver.
The first thing any localization vendor will tell you about the cost of translation is that it's a direct function of word count. The more words your document, brochure, program, app or website contains, the higher the cost for translating it. Rather straightforward, right?
Containing your localization budget through reducing word count at the pre-translation stage requires a challenging time investment on your part, as no one can really perform an “audit” of your resources in your stead. To execute this effectively, you need either to distinguish between must-have and nice-to-have content through a complete content review, or pare down all of your source texts across the board through avid and diligent editing. It would definitely be easier to simply send all of your files to your language partner and hope for the best.
Yet when implemented, this phase of content review will ultimately pay off two-fold: it will save you a good sum of money on translation across all target languages, and it will make your end product better, since content that has been reviewed with a global audience in mind can be rendered more accurately.
Here are a few ideas for reducing your content as you go global with your program or product.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
What are some ingenious ways to do away with words in the context of your product? You may have the ability to substitute appropriate imagery, for example. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. Take the example of the Apple iPhone OS. English has the wonderful benefit of offering two practical and short words for the settings buttons: on/off. But in most languages, the translation would occupy the whole width of the phone screen and result in what we call TVA: total visual awkwardness. Here is what Apple did to solve that problem:

The use of line and color here convey the functionality of these buttons for Spanish-speaking users. There’s one caveat, however: when you are selecting your cons and graphics, be sure to choose images that are culturally relevant and appropriate for the markets you are entering.
Mumbling is international.
If you are going to new markets with a game, multimedia file or eLearning platform, you may want to consider how to do away with some spoken words as well, as they require expensive studio time. The creators of Little Big Planet, a best-selling PlayStation 3 game, significantly reduced their costs around voice talent recordings by using the “international mumble”. These garbled sounds are universal in that they can be understood to represent dialogue in the majority of cultures. They are “translated” through subtitles and pop up dialogue boxes.

A little English here and there could be acceptable.
If you're adapting your software program or website for new language markets, you may want to consider leaving the back end or administrative features in English. Programmers around the world use common programming languages and are usually comfortable with basic computer English. It would be ideal, of course, to have this portion of your product localized as well but if you're on a budget, this is one sure way to save big in both website and software localization.
Similarly, with translation of marketing communications materials, you may find some brand names, slogans, taglines or catch phrases can be left in English in certain contexts. Sandwich-maker Subway, for example, advertises in Gerany using the English, “Subway. Eat Fresh” on its billboards. Directions to locations are provided in German, however.
Synonyms are superfluous.
In international SEM, translating or transcreating each source language keyword for PPC ads, SEO and website keyword seeding can prove to be expensive. You can reduce costs by looking at similar keywords and selecting one or two that describe what you’re going for. Ask for your language vendor’s input as to how best to represent these core ideas in the target language For example, instead of translating “fast”, “rapid”, “high-speed” and “quick”, your vendor can come up with the most frequently used equivalent that best conveys these adjectives in each target language.

国家代号与区号

Countries and Regions  国家或地区      国际域名缩写  电话代码   时差

Angola                  安哥拉              AO              244          -7

Afghanistan              阿富汗              AF               93           0

Albania                  阿尔巴尼亚          AL               355          -7

Algeria                  阿尔及利亚          DZ               213          -8

Andorra                 安道尔共和国        AD              376          -8

Anguilla                 安圭拉岛            AI               1264         -12

Antigua and Barbuda        安提瓜和巴布达     AG              1268         -12

Argentina                阿根廷              AR              54           -11

Armenia                 亚美尼亚            AM              374          -6

Ascension                阿森松                                247          -8

Australia                 澳大利亚            AU              61           +2

Austria                  奥地利              AT               43           -7

Azerbaijan                阿塞拜疆            AZ              994          -5

Bahamas                 巴哈马              BS               1242         -13

Bahrain                  巴林                BH               973          -5

Bangladesh               孟加拉国            BD               880          -2

Barbados                 巴巴多斯            BB               1246         -12

Belarus                  白俄罗斯            BY               375          -6

Belgium                  比利时              BE               32           -7

Belize                   伯利兹              BZ               501          -14

Benin                   贝宁                BJ               229          -7

Bermuda Is.               百慕大群岛          BM              1441         -12

Bolivia                  玻利维亚            BO               591          -12

Botswana                博茨瓦纳            BW              267          -6

Brazil                   巴西                BR               55           -11

Brunei                   文莱                BN               673          0

Bulgaria                  保加利亚            BG               359          -6

Burkina-faso              布基纳法索          BF               226          -8

Burma                   缅甸                MM             95           -1.3

Burundi                  布隆迪              BI               257          -6

Cameroon                喀麦隆              CM              237          -7

Canada                  加拿大              CA              1            -13

Cayman Is.               开曼群岛                              1345         -13

Central African Republic     中非共和国          CF               236          -7

Chad                    乍得                TD               235          -7

Chile                    智利                CL               56           -13

China                   中国                CN               86           0

Colombia                哥伦比亚            CO               57           0

Congo                   刚果                CG               242          -7

Cook Is.                 库克群岛            CK               682          -18.3

Costa Rica                哥斯达黎加          CR               506          -14

Cuba                    古巴                CU               53           -13

Cyprus                  塞浦路斯            CY               357          -6

Czech Republic            捷克                CZ               420          -7

Denmark                 丹麦                DK              45           -7

Djibouti                  吉布提              DJ               253          -5

Dominica Rep.            多米尼加共和国     DO              1890         -13

Ecuador                  厄瓜多尔            EC               593          -13

Egypt                   埃及                EG               20           -6

EI Salvador               萨尔瓦多            SV               503          -14

Estonia                  爱沙尼亚            EE               372          -5

Ethiopia                 埃塞俄比亚          ET               251          -5

Fiji                     斐济                FJ               679          +4

Finland                  芬兰                FI                358          -6

France                   法国                FR               33           -8

French Guiana             法属圭亚那          GF               594          -12

Gabon                   加蓬                GA              241          -7

Gambia                  冈比亚              GM              220          -8

Georgia                  格鲁吉亚            GE               995          0

Germany                 德国                DE               49           -7

Ghana                   加纳                GH               233          -8

Gibraltar                 直布罗陀            GI               350          -8

Greece                   希腊                GR               30           -6

Grenada                  格林纳达            GD               1809         -14

Guam                   关岛                GU               1671         +2

Guatemala                危地马拉            GT               502          -14

Guinea                   几内亚              GN               224          -8

Guyana                  圭亚那              GY               592          -11

Haiti                    海地                HT               509          -13

Honduras                 洪都拉斯            HN              504          -14

Hongkong                香港                HK              852          0

Hungary                 匈牙利              HU              36           -7

Iceland                  冰岛                IS                354          -9

India                    印度                IN               91           -2.3

Indonesia                印度尼西亚          ID               62           -0.3

Iran                     伊朗                IR               98           -4.3

Iraq                     伊拉克              IQ               964          -5

Ireland                  爱尔兰              IE                353          -4.3

Israel                    以色列              IL                972          -6

Italy                    意大利              IT               39           -7

Ivory Coast               科特迪瓦                              225          -6

Jamaica                  牙买加              JM               1876         -12

Japan                   日本                JP               81           +1

Jordan                   约旦                JO               962          -6

Kampuchea (Cambodia )     柬埔寨              KH              855          -1

Kazakstan                哈萨克斯坦          KZ               327          -5

Kenya                   肯尼亚              KE               254          -5

Korea                   韩国                KR               82           +1

Kuwait                  科威特              KW              965          -5

Kyrgyzstan               吉尔吉斯坦          KG               331          -5

Laos                    老挝                LA               856          -1

Latvia                   拉脱维亚            LV               371          -5

Lebanon                 黎巴嫩              LB               961          -6

Lesotho                 莱索托              LS               266          -6

Liberia                  利比里亚            LR               231          -8

Libya                   利比亚              LY               218          -6

Liechtenstein             列支敦士登          LI                423          -7

Lithuania                立陶宛              LT               370          -5

Luxembourg              卢森堡              LU               352          -7

Macao                   澳门                MO              853          0

Madagascar               马达加斯加          MG              261          -5

Malawi                  马拉维              MW             265          -6

Malaysia                 马来西亚            MY              60           -0.5

Maldives                 马尔代夫            MV              960          -7

Mali                    马里                ML              223          -8

Malta                   马耳他              MT              356          -7

Mariana Is                马里亚那群岛                          1670         +1

Martinique               马提尼克                              596          -12

Mauritius                 毛里求斯            MU              230          -4

Mexico                  墨西哥              MX              52           -15

Moldova, Republic of       摩尔多瓦            MD              373          -5

Monaco                 摩纳哥              MC              377          -7

Mongolia                 蒙古                MN              976          0

Montserrat Is             蒙特塞拉特岛        MS              1664         -12

Morocco                 摩洛哥              MA              212          -6

Mozambique              莫桑比克            MZ              258          -6

Namibia                  纳米比亚            NA              264          -7

Nauru                   瑙鲁                NR               674          +4

Nepal                   尼泊尔              NP               977          -2.3

Netheriands Antilles        荷属安的列斯                          599          -12

Netherlands               荷兰                NL               31           -7

New Zealand              新西兰              NZ               64           +4

Nicaragua                尼加拉瓜            NI               505          -14

Niger                    尼日尔              NE               227          -8

Nigeria                  尼日利亚            NG               234          -7

North Korea              朝鲜                KP               850          +1

Norway                  挪威                NO              47           -7

Oman                   阿曼                OM              968          -4

Pakistan                 巴基斯坦            PK               92           -2.3

Panama                  巴拿马              PA               507          -13

Papua New Cuinea          巴布亚新几内亚     PG               675          +2

Paraguay                 巴拉圭              PY               595          -12

Peru                    秘鲁                PE               51           -13

Philippines               菲律宾              PH               63           0

Poland                  波兰                PL               48           -7

French Polynesia          法属玻利尼西亚     PF               689          +3

Portugal                 葡萄牙              PT               351          -8

Puerto Rico               波多黎各            PR               1787         -12

Qatar                   卡塔尔              QA              974          -5

Reunion                 留尼旺                                262          -4

Romania                 罗马尼亚            RO               40           -6

Russia                   俄罗斯              RU               7            -5

Saint Lueia               圣卢西亚            LC               1758         -12

Saint Vincent              圣文森特岛          VC               1784         -12

Samoa Eastern            东萨摩亚(美)                          684          -19

Samoa Western            西萨摩亚                              685          -19

San Marino               圣马力诺            SM              378          -7

Sao Tome and Principe      圣多美和普林西比   ST               239          -8

Saudi Arabia               沙特阿拉伯          SA               966          -5

Senegal                  塞内加尔            SN               221          -8

Seychelles                塞舌尔              SC               248          -4

Sierra Leone              塞拉利昂            SL               232          -8

Singapore                新加坡              SG               65           +0.3

Slovakia                 斯洛伐克            SK               421          -7

Slovenia                 斯洛文尼亚          SI                386          -7

Solomon Is               所罗门群岛          SB               677          +3

Somali                   索马里              SO               252          -5

South Africa              南非                ZA              27           -6

Spain                    西班牙              ES               34           -8

Sri Lanka                斯里兰卡            LK               94           0

St.Lucia                  圣卢西亚            LC               1758         -12

St.Vincent                圣文森特            VC               1784         -12

Sudan                   苏丹                SD               249          -6

Suriname                 苏里南              SR               597          -11.3

Swaziland                斯威士兰            SZ               268          -6

Sweden                  瑞典                SE               46           -7

Switzerland               瑞士                CH               41           -7

Syria                    叙利亚              SY               963          -6

Taiwan                  台湾省              TW              886          0

Tajikstan                 塔吉克斯坦          TJ               992          -5

Tanzania                 坦桑尼亚            TZ               255          -5

Thailand                 泰国                TH               66           -1

Togo                    多哥                TG               228          -8

Tonga                   汤加                TO               676          +4

Trinidad and Tobago        特立尼达和多巴哥   TT               1809         -12

Tunisia                  突尼斯              TN               216          -7

Turkey                  土耳其              TR               90           -6

Turkmenistan             土库曼斯坦          TM              993          -5

Uganda                  乌干达              UG               256          -5

Ukraine                  乌克兰              UA              380          -5

United Arab Emirates       阿拉伯联合酋长国   AE               971          -4

United Kiongdom          英国                GB               44           -8

United States of America     美国                US               1            -13

Uruguay                 乌拉圭              UY               598          -10.3

Uzbekistan               乌兹别克斯坦        UZ               233          -5

Venezuela                委内瑞拉            VE               58           -12.3

Vietnam                 越南                VN               84           -1

Yemen                  也门                YE               967          -5

Yugoslavia                南斯拉夫            YU               381          -7

Zimbabwe                津巴布韦            ZW              263          -6

Zaire                    扎伊尔              ZR               243          -7

Zambia                  赞比亚              ZM              260          -6