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Did you know that Chinese is the second most-spoken language in the U.S. home, after Spanish?
Take a look at these numbers from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Key facts about the Asian-American population in the U.S.:
- 93% live in metropolitan areas
- 60% have an income of $50,000+
- 50% hold professional positions
- 63% have credit cards
- 47% of Chinese Americans are regular users of the Internet. In fact, the highest penetration rate of Internet and technology in the country is among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, followed by Caucasian households and then Hispanic Americans, according to Jupiter Communications
- The 10 top states for Asian-American women business owners are California, New York, Texas, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Washington, Maryland, Florida, and Virginia.
- 83% of the Chinese population prefers in-language communications
This piece of information is your golden key, your “fortune cookie” (no pun intended). Marketers and researchers agree that the Asian-American market is huge and untapped.
So, now that you know, how do you communicate in Chinese in the U.S?
Well, you need to keep in mind a few key facts.
First, there are two basic forms of the language, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese;
the main difference between them is that Simplified and Traditional Chinese are variations of the
written language. So, basically, it's just a change in characters or what the “letters” look like.
Due to a reform in the late 1950's that was enforced in Mainland China only, some characters were simplified in appearance.
The characters of Traditional Chinese look more complex than the characters
of Simplified Chinese.
Simplified Chinese 
Traditional Chinese 
However, this did not affect Taiwan or any other community outside Mainland China.
Therefore, Chinese people in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and other overseas regions are still using
traditional characters.
Keep in mind that in Chinese translations, it is important to determine whether simplified or
traditional Chinese should be used for a particular target market.
What about Cantonese and Mandarin?
Mandarin is the main Chinese language. Cantonese is one of the Chinese dialects.
Cantonese is more popular among Chinese living overseas.
The ratio of Cantonese and Mandarin in speakers among U.S. Chinese is about 5:1.
Mandarin and Cantonese are related to their oral expression only.
Which version of written Chinese is appropriate for your target market?
If the target audience is in Mainland China, translations should be done either in simplified
Chinese or the GB encoding system; if the target market is a region outside of the Chinese mainland
such as the U.S. Market, traditional Chinese and the Big 5 encoding system should be used.
Converting flies from one encoding system to the other requires almost the same amount of work
as does proofreading of translation. It is not as simple as clicking “convert file to.”
Now, if the translation needs to be conversational (like translating a sales training manual,
for example), it becomes more complex, because the language habits of different regions have to be
taken into consideration.
Translated documentation must employ the language customs and styles of the target market, nothing you haven’t heard from me before.
Experts say Songti.
According to the experts, one of the most popular Simplified Chinese fonts is Songti,
which appears in the main body of most publications. Now you know which font you should be using!
For specific guidelines about multicultural principles for the marketing and advertising fields,
click here.
I hope this article has been of help if you are considering speaking to this market.
If you have any questions or comments, please let me know. Just email or call me.
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