There are seven major groups of Chinese dialects that are differentiated on the basis of phonological features, vocabularies and grammar. The major dialect groups are: Baifanghua (known as Mandarin), Wu, Yue (known as Cantonese), Min, Kejia (known as Hakka), Xiang, and Gan. The terms “Mandarin” and “Cantonese” are bound to confuse most Americans and other non-Chinese. The main thing to remember is that Mandarin is the official language of mainland China , is taught throughout the country, and is understood by more than a billion people. Cantonese, on the other hand, is one of many dialects within the realm of the Chinese language. “ Simplified” and “traditional” Chinese are not languages but writing systems, each containing different sets of characters used to express the same language, Mandarin.

Historically, “traditional” Chinese was the only writing system of this mostly spoken language. In recent years – from 1956 to 1986 – the government of China 's communist party tried to simplify the traditional writing system. Accordingly, 2,235 characters were simplified, and the resulting “simplified” Chinese is used in mainland China and Singapore .

The interpreter needs to always ask whether the requirement is Mandarin or Cantonese. The translator, however, must ascertain whether a document is to be done in “simplified” or “traditional” Chinese.

Unfortunately, most end-clients are not at all sure what they need, so as language service providers, it is our job to help them choose the right form. This is best answered by determining the target market.