Chinese (Traditional) translation services

Chinese (Traditional) translation is priced per word for text and per minute for audiovisual, depending on volume, subject matter and turnaround, with market-specific terminology research included rather than billed separately. Send your files and we'll come back with a free, itemised quote, backed by our Price Match Promise.

No, and this is the decision worth getting right first. Both write traditional characters, but everyday and technical vocabulary differs, and underneath them the spoken languages differ too: Mandarin in Taiwan, Cantonese in Hong Kong, where more than 88% of people speak it at home. Copy localised for one market does not automatically read naturally in the other — some terms simply feel off. We confirm the market at the brief and assign a translator from it.

Not reliably, and this direction is the harder one. Simplification merged several distinct traditional characters into a single simplified character, so converting back means choosing between them: 干 has to become 干, 乾 or 幹 depending on whether the sentence means shield, dry or do, and 后 has to become 后 or 後. An automatic converter has to guess from context and will sometimes guess wrong. We translate from your source text instead.

Yes. Native Taiwanese or Hong Kong linguists translate directly into traditional Chinese from your source material, and a second native linguist from the same market independently reviews every text, confirming that terminology and register match that audience rather than reading like a converted mainland original.

Tell us and we will be straight with you about the trade-off. For most marketing and brand work the two are worth doing separately, because the vocabulary differences are exactly where a reader notices that copy was not written for them. For internal, technical or reference material one version often serves both, and we will flag the handful of terms where the markets diverge so you can decide.

Yes — translation, subtitling and voice over all come from one team, working to a single glossary throughout. For voice over the market matters even more, because Taiwan records in Mandarin and Hong Kong in Cantonese: they are different actors, not different accents.

Yes — audiovisual is our specialisation. We deliver spotted SRT/VTT and timed two-column voice-over scripts, plus translated text when you need it.

Macau writes traditional characters and speaks Cantonese, so it is served by the same work as Hong Kong in almost every case. Where a project is specifically for Macau we will say so at the brief rather than assume it.

Most short documents are delivered within 24 to 48 hours. Word count, subject complexity and turnaround all move the date, and your project manager will confirm the timeline at the start.

Less than people expect: the document, script or subtitle file, its word count, what the text is actually for, and the date you need it by. A draft is fine — we would rather quote on what exists than wait for a final version that eats your deadline. A named project manager comes back with an itemised quote, normally within four working hours.

More than half of enquiries get a reply within thirty minutes during office hours (Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm UK time), and the itemised quote normally follows within four working hours. After that you have one dedicated project manager who owns the job from brief to final file — not a ticket queue, and not a different name on every email. If it is easier, call +44 207 095 5730 and ask for them by name.

Yes, and it is one of the commonest reasons people get in touch. Tell us it is for a pitch and you get a figure you can put in front of your own client, itemised so it stands up to being picked apart, with no obligation and no follow-up sales calls if the pitch goes elsewhere. If it lands, the quote still holds and we already know the project.