Chinese is the world's most spoken native language family — 1.3 billion speakers across mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and the global diaspora — written in Simplified or Traditional script and spoken in dozens of major dialect groups.
Free quote in 10 minChinese is not one language but a family — Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Shanghainese, Hakka, and more — sharing a common writing system that exists in two distinct scripts: Simplified Chinese (used in PRC, Singapore, Malaysia) and Traditional Chinese (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, overseas diaspora). Day Translations is your single source for the entire Chinese-language family: USCIS-certified document translation, NMPA pharmaceutical submissions, Taiwan TFDA filings, Hong Kong DH compliance, and dialect-specific interpretation matched to the right region, script, and register.
From USCIS-accepted certified translations of mainland Chinese, Taiwanese, Hong Kong, Macau, and overseas Chinese civil documents, to NMPA marketing-authorisation submissions in Beijing, TFDA registrations in Taipei, and Hong Kong Department of Health compliance work — Day Translations is your single source for Chinese in every script, dialect, and regulatory regime.
USCIS-accepted certified translations from Simplified Chinese (mainland China civil documents — 出生证, 结婚证, 户口本) and Traditional Chinese (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, overseas — 戶口名簿, 中華民國護照). Signed certification statement on letterhead, accepted nationwide.
PRC contracts under the Civil Code (2020), Taiwan commercial documents under the Company Act, Hong Kong common-law commercial documents under the Basic Law, Macau civil-law documents, and cross-border M&A documentation requiring both Simplified and Traditional script versions.
NMPA (formerly CFDA) marketing-authorisation dossiers, Taiwan TFDA registrations, Hong Kong Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance submissions, Section 1557 vital documents for US Chinese-American communities, and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) documentation.
Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien (Taiwanese), Shanghainese, Hakka, and other major Chinese dialects. Consecutive, simultaneous, OPI, and VRI. Court-certified for federal immigration courts nationwide — matched by dialect and regional origin, not generic Chinese.
Simplified Chinese for mainland China, Singapore, and Malaysia. Traditional Chinese for Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Plus market-specific adaptation for Great Firewall (mainland China lacks Google, Facebook, YouTube — substitute Baidu, WeChat, Weibo, Tmall), Taiwan platform ecosystem, and HK bilingual environment.
Broadcast-quality subtitling and voice-over for CCTV, Phoenix, TVB, ETtv, iQiyi, Tencent Video, Bilibili, and Cantopop/Mandopop entertainment. Voice talent across PRC, Taiwan, HK, Macau, and overseas Chinese-American communities. Dialect-matched for diaspora content.
China is the world's second-largest pharmaceutical market, and its regulator — the NMPA (National Medical Products Administration, which superseded the CFDA in 2018) — has progressively harmonised with ICH since China joined as a full member in 2017. NMPA marketing-authorisation dossiers require Simplified Chinese documentation aligned to the China-specific Common Technical Document (CTD) format. Taiwan's TFDA operates a parallel Traditional Chinese regulatory framework; Hong Kong's Department of Health regulates separately under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, also in Traditional Chinese; and Macau's Health Bureau (Serviços de Saúde) maintains a distinct Traditional Chinese-Portuguese framework.
In the United States, Chinese — encompassing Mandarin, Cantonese, and other major dialects — is the most spoken Asian language with over 5.5 million speakers. Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act requires qualified Chinese interpreters and translated vital documents in federally funded healthcare, with dialect specificity now legally recognised: Cantonese-speaking communities in San Francisco and NY Chinatown cannot be served by Mandarin substitutes, and vice versa.
Across medical and legal — our specialists have already touched every type you’re likely to send.
The Chinese-language world spans four distinct legal systems: the PRC Civil Code (2020) socialist civil-law system, the Taiwan civil-law system rooted in pre-1949 Republican legal tradition, the Hong Kong common-law system preserved under the Basic Law's One Country Two Systems framework, and the Macau Portuguese-derived civil-law system. Day Translations' Chinese legal team includes specialists in each jurisdiction — PRC mainland for NMPA, SAFE, and NDRC compliance; Taiwan for TIPO and TFDA; Hong Kong for common-law commercial work and HKEX listings; and Macau for gaming-code compliance. We also support US federal immigration courts and federal commercial litigation involving Chinese-language evidence.
Requires meaningful language access in federally funded programs. Chinese — both Mandarin and Cantonese — is among the top three most-requested federal interpreter languages nationwide.
US federal courts must provide certified Chinese interpreters with dialect specificity. Mandarin and Cantonese are distinct certifications; Hokkien and Shanghainese require separate specialists.
Mainland China's 2020 Civil Code unified previously fragmented civil legislation. NMPA pharmaceutical regulation has progressively harmonised with ICH while maintaining China-CTD format.
Taiwan operates a Republican-era civil-law system distinct from mainland China. TFDA pharmaceutical regulation, TIPO intellectual-property law, and Taiwan Company Act apply Traditional Chinese documentation requirements.
Chinese is spoken across mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, and by a vast global diaspora of over 50 million people. Different markets demand different scripts, dialects, and registers — generic Chinese translation is not enough.
Mainland China is the world's second-largest economy, the largest e-commerce market, and a distinctive consumer market operating behind the Great Firewall — Google, Facebook, YouTube, and most Western platforms are blocked. Localisation for the mainland market means Simplified Chinese, with platform-specific adaptation for Baidu (search), WeChat (messaging and social), Weibo (microblogging), Tmall and JD.com (marketplace), Bilibili (video-sharing), and Douyin (short video). Taiwan operates a Traditional Chinese commercial environment with its own platform ecosystem and consumer preferences distinct from mainland China.
Hong Kong remains a global financial hub operating in bilingual English-Traditional Chinese, with the HKEX, HKMA, and SFC as central regulators. Singapore is officially bilingual English-Mandarin (with Simplified Chinese) and a major Asian financial centre. Malaysia hosts a Chinese-Malaysian population of approximately 6.5 million, primarily Hokkien, Cantonese, and Hakka background, using Simplified Chinese. Day Translations' Chinese localisation team includes in-country reviewers in Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
USCIS for all Chinese-source civil documents, federal commercial litigation
NMPA, TFDA, HK DH, Section 1557, TCM documentation
Mainland CSRC, Taiwan FSC, HKMA-SFC, Singapore MAS — banking and capital markets
Software localisation for both scripts, mainland Great Firewall adaptation
Tmall, JD.com, Shopee, Taobao, Lazada — multi-market product listings
Technical documentation, safety materials, supply-chain communications
CCTV, Phoenix, TVB, ETtv, iQiyi, Tencent Video, Bilibili
Academic transcripts from all Chinese-language universities, USCIS academic equivalency
We confirm target script (Simplified vs Traditional), target jurisdiction (PRC, Taiwan, HK, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, US diaspora), and required dialect for any spoken work.
Chinese projects are routed to the right specialist — never a generic Chinese translator. Mandarin work to Mandarin natives, Cantonese to Cantonese natives, NMPA work to mainland-experienced linguists.
Human translation with proper script, dialect, register, and regulatory phrasing for the target market — not a generic Chinese rendition.
Second qualified native linguist reviews — verifying script, register, terminology, and cultural appropriateness.
Final files with certificate of accuracy, project glossary, and quality assurance documentation. USCIS-accepted format.
“We file Chinese-related USCIS and federal-litigation matters across the full diaspora — mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, and Malaysia. Day Translations is the only language partner I trust to get the script right and route Cantonese versus Mandarin correctly. They never substitute a Mandarin translator for Cantonese work.”
“Our pharmaceutical company submitted three NMPA marketing-authorisation dossiers plus parallel Taiwan TFDA filings. Day Translations handled Simplified Chinese for Beijing, Traditional Chinese for Taipei, and the distinct China-CTD vs Taiwan-CTD formatting. Both regulators had no language-related queries.”
“Our HKEX listing required parallel English-Traditional Chinese documentation; six months later our Shanghai STAR Board listing required Simplified Chinese. Day Translations executed both correctly, with the regulatory-register distinctions between HK common-law disclosure and STAR Board PRC requirements handled flawlessly.”
Real answers — not boilerplate. If you don’t see your question, our team responds in under 60 minutes, 24/7.
Ask a specialistSimplified Chinese (简体字) is the script reformed by the People's Republic of China in the 1950s and 1960s to improve literacy, replacing many characters with simplified forms. It is used in mainland China, Singapore, and Malaysia. Traditional Chinese (繁體字 / 正體字) retains the unmodified historical character forms and is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and the historic overseas Chinese diaspora (San Francisco Chinatown, NY Chinatown, Vancouver, Toronto, London, Sydney). Choosing the right script for your audience is essential — using Simplified Chinese for a Taiwanese audience signals cultural and political insensitivity, and vice versa. Day Translations assigns projects by target jurisdiction.
Chinese is a language family, not a single language. Day Translations covers all major Chinese spoken varieties: Mandarin (Putonghua / 国语 / 華語 — the official spoken standard of mainland China, Taiwan, and Singapore), Cantonese (粵語 — Hong Kong, Macau, Guangdong, and overseas Cantonese communities), Hokkien / Taiwanese (閩南語 — Taiwan, Fujian, Singapore, Malaysia), Shanghainese (上海話 — Shanghai and the Wu-speaking region), Hakka (客家話 — diaspora across Taiwan, Guangdong, Southeast Asia), and others. For written work, the choice between Simplified and Traditional script is primary; for interpretation, dialect specificity is essential.
NMPA (National Medical Products Administration) is the People's Republic of China's national regulator for pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and cosmetics. It superseded the CFDA (China Food and Drug Administration) in a 2018 reorganisation and now operates under the State Council. NMPA requires Simplified Chinese documentation for all marketing-authorisation submissions, post-marketing surveillance, and clinical-trial approvals. Since China joined the ICH as a full member in 2017, NMPA has progressively harmonised submission requirements, although it maintains a China-specific Common Technical Document (CTD) format that differs from the ICH international CTD. Day Translations supports NMPA submissions with mainland-experienced pharmaceutical translators.
USCIS requires certified English translations of all foreign civil documents. For Chinese-language applicants, this covers documents from any Chinese-speaking jurisdiction: mainland China (出生证, 结婚证, 户口本, 学位证书 — Simplified), Taiwan (戶口名簿, 結婚證書, 學位證書 — Traditional), Hong Kong (English-Traditional Chinese bilingual originals), Macau, Singapore (English-Simplified Chinese bilingual originals), and Malaysia. Police-clearance certificates from each jurisdiction differ — mainland PRC requires the Notarial Certificate of No Criminal Record, Taiwan issues the 警察刑事紀錄證明書, and HK the Certificate of No Criminal Conviction. Day Translations handles each with the appropriate script and jurisdiction expertise.
Chinese-Americans are the largest Asian-American community at approximately 5.5 million. San Francisco Bay Area hosts the oldest community (largely Cantonese-origin from Guangdong and Hong Kong). New York City Chinatowns — Manhattan, Flushing in Queens, and Sunset Park in Brooklyn — host a large mixed Cantonese-Mandarin community. Los Angeles San Gabriel Valley is a major Mandarin-origin community (substantial Taiwanese-American and mainland-China-origin population). Other significant communities include Boston Chinatown, Houston, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. Day Translations matches Chinese-American projects by dialect — Cantonese for SF Chinatown, Mandarin for SGV.
Yes. Taiwan's TFDA (Food and Drug Administration, under the Ministry of Health and Welfare) regulates Taiwan-market pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and cosmetics under a Traditional Chinese framework distinct from mainland NMPA. Hong Kong's Department of Health and the Pharmacy and Poisons Board operate under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, also in Traditional Chinese. Macau's Health Bureau operates a Traditional Chinese-Portuguese bilingual framework. Day Translations has specialised teams for each regulator and routes projects to native speakers familiar with each jurisdiction's specific terminology, submission templates, and regulatory phrasing.
Chinese-to-English translation typically results in text expansion — Chinese characters are information-dense, with each character carrying roughly the meaning of a syllable or short word in English. A Chinese paragraph translated into English commonly grows 30 to 60 percent in character count. English-to-Chinese translation produces text contraction in the opposite direction. This has major implications for UI/UX design, product packaging, and document layout. Day Translations' localisation team accounts for expansion and contraction in all software, app, website, and product-packaging projects, with developer-side guidance on character-limit planning.
Mainland China blocks Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Wikipedia (Chinese), and many other Western platforms via the Great Firewall (officially the Golden Shield Project). Localising for the mainland Chinese market requires platform-aware adaptation: WeChat replaces WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger for messaging and social; Baidu replaces Google for search; Weibo replaces Twitter; Tmall, JD.com, and Taobao replace Amazon; Bilibili and Douyin replace YouTube and TikTok; and so on. Day Translations' mainland localisation team understands the platform ecosystem and adapts brand and marketing assets accordingly — what works on Instagram does not transfer to Xiaohongshu (RED) without rework.
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