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Mandarin or Putonghua is spoken by 1.3 billion people, i.e. 20 percent of mankind. At the same time, Chinese is the most spoken first language in the world and one of the largest future markets for technical translations.

In addition to Putonghua, many Chinese continue to speak the dialect of the particular region in which they live. These dialects present such major differences that oral communication between the diverse speakers becomes virtually impossible. The differences between the dialects in pronunciation and vocabulary are comparable to the differences between the individual Romance languages.

Notwithstanding, almost all Chinese (85%) speak the standardised high-level language Putonghua. This amounts to a "common language" and it is the official in China. Putonghua is based on the dialect that is spoken in Peking.

Two written versions of Chinese are in use these days: simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese. In 1955 the People's Republic of China undertook a script reform, in the course of which most of the frequently used characters in traditional Chinese were simplified on the basis of Putonghua. The goal of this script reform of traditional Chinese was to make it easier for the majority of the population of the People's Republic of China, in rural areas in particular, to learn how to read and write.

The modern script of the simplified Chinese spans dialects uniformly and as a consequence represents a significant moment in the unity of China.

Over the course of the script reform, the Chinese administration adopted simplified Chinese as the standard in printing and promoted its propagation. Today, simplified Chinese is the official language of China and it has been taught in schools across the country since 1956. As a result, people in the West typically speak of a single Chinese language.

Therefore, the source language of a Chinese-German translation is, in the main, simplified Chinese. The same applies for the target language of a German-Chinese translation (when the export target is the People's Republic of China or Singapore).

Today, though, the classical long characters of traditional Chinese are used as ever, in many cases in parallel, and are returning to everyday life more and more. In Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, where Mandarin is also considered as the standard language, the tradition of writing with long characters remains unbroken up to the present. On Taiwan, printing the abbreviated characters is in fact forbidden. The written language in Taiwan and Macao is traditional Chinese. Which script ought to be used for a technical translation from the German into the Chinese is determined by your translation's primary target market: If the primary target market is the People's Republic of China or Singapore, then it is recommended to use Putonghua written in simplified Chinese. If the primary target market of your German-Chinese translation is Taiwan or Hong Kong, then Mandarin should also be used, but the script written in traditional long characters.

If you want to do business successfully both markets, then your German-Chinese translation should be translated in simplified Chinese and in traditional Chinese.