Translate a product catalogue into Simplified Chinese

What Chinese changes in a catalogue

A catalogue is built on short labels repeated hundreds of times: ‘Material’, ‘Dimensions’, ‘Available colours’, ‘New’. In Simplified Chinese these markers change shape, not just wording.

• No capitals, no italics. A ‘NEW IN’ banner in capitals becomes 新品; an italicised ‘Limited edition’ becomes 限量版. Slanted characters read poorly, so emphasis moves to bold, colour or size.
• Full-width punctuation, no spaces. ‘Material: cotton’ is written 材质：棉; commas and full stops become ， and 。. There are no spaces between words.
• No plurals, but measure words. Chinese has a single plural category: ‘1 item’ and ‘3 items’ share one form (1件, 3件). Each object, however, takes its own measure word: 一双鞋 (a pair of shoes), 一台咖啡机 (a coffee machine), 一套餐具 (a dinner set). A wrong one stands out at once.
• Numbers and dates. Large quantities are often counted in tens of thousands: 12,000 units can be written 1.2万件. Dates run year-month-day: 2025年9月.
• Register. Western taglines often rely on puns or allusion; Chinese sales copy favours brief phrasing and clearly stated benefits.

Fonts, text boxes and line breaks

A Chinese translation uses two to three times fewer characters than most European source texts, but each character is wider. The space taken changes little: a product card that fitted its box usually still fits, without the room you sometimes gain with other languages.

• Fonts. A Latin font has no Chinese characters. If your brand guidelines specify a Latin typeface, the software will display the hanzi in a substitute font, or as empty boxes on a machine without one. When reworking the layout, choose a font that covers Simplified Chinese, such as Noto Sans SC or Source Han Sans.
• Line breaks. Chinese breaks between any two characters, without hyphens. Check that no line starts with ， or 。, and that a short product name such as 保温杯 (insulated cup) is not split across lines in a narrow column.
• Mixed text. Product codes, dimensions and standards stay in Latin script inside the Chinese: REF-2041-B, 120 × 60 cm, USB-C. This is normal; just check alignment in specification tables.

What Manuce returns, and what it does not do

Your catalogue goes to Calliope, the engine specialised in marketing and sales: it translates taglines, descriptions and technical labels in the register of a sales document. Manuce accepts Word, PDF, PowerPoint, Excel, plain text, Markdown, HTML, RTF and CSV, and returns the file in its original format, layout included. A typical catalogue of around 10,000 words is delivered within minutes and stays available in your client area. For a catalogue aimed at Chinese distributors, the Professional level is the usual choice; Premium adds a cross-review.

What Manuce does not do:

• it cannot read a scanned PDF: if you cannot select the catalogue's text, there is nothing to translate;
• it only handles the formats listed: export a desktop-publishing file to a PDF with selectable text, or to Word;
• it does not produce certified (sworn) translations: if a declaration of conformity attached to the catalogue must be certified by a sworn translator, you will need one;
• it translates into Simplified Chinese (mainland China, Singapore); Traditional Chinese (Taiwan, Hong Kong) is a separate language, ordered separately;
• it translates the text but does not make your commercial decisions: currency, size chart and Chinese brand name remain your call.

Preparing the file and checking the Chinese version

1. Settle the currency first. Euros, pounds, dollars or yuan, written ¥199 or 199元: if you are switching currency, change the amounts in the source file before uploading, so the translation starts from the right figures.
2. Adapt sizes. Clothing sold in China often uses a height/chest notation such as 165/88A; a ‘UK 10, 12, 14’ or ‘EU 38, 40, 42’ chart left as it is means little to buyers.
3. Structure an Excel catalogue. One column per field (code, name, description, material). Product codes and EAN barcodes should come back unchanged: check this in the free sample.
4. Check brand names. A name may stay in Latin script or receive a Chinese equivalent. If your brand already has a registered Chinese name, check in the sample and then in the translation that it appears in that form, and correct it if not.
5. Proof the final layout. Have a Chinese-speaking reader check the cover, the taglines and one specification page: font, line breaks, full-width punctuation, measure words.

In practice

1. Export the catalogue to Word, a selectable-text PDF, Excel or PowerPoint, with currency and size chart already decided.
2. Upload the file, choose Simplified Chinese and a level: the quote appears straight away.
3. Read the free sample: brand names, product codes, full-width punctuation.
4. Pay and download the translated catalogue in its original format.
5. Check fonts, line breaks and tables on the proof before printing or publishing.