Translate a safety data sheet into Chinese (Simplified)

A Chinese SDS expects 16 sections and fixed terminology

In mainland China, the content and order of a safety data sheet are governed by the national standards GB/T 16483 and GB/T 17519. The 16 GHS sections are the same as on an EU, UK or US sheet, but their Chinese headings are established wording. The document is usually titled 化学品安全技术说明书, and the sections read, for example:

• 第2部分 危险性概述: hazard identification;
• 第8部分 接触控制和个体防护: exposure controls and personal protection;
• 第14部分 运输信息: transport information.

These headings are not open to free rendering: an importer or inspector looks for them word for word. The same applies to the signal words, 危险 for ‘Danger’ and 警告 for ‘Warning’, and to hazard statements, whose Chinese text is standardised: H302 reads 吞咽有害, H225 高度易燃液体和蒸气. A loose paraphrase may be correct in substance, but it marks a sheet that has not been checked.

What changes when the target is Simplified Chinese

• Length: Chinese text uses two to three times fewer characters, but each character is wider. In the tables of sections 3, 8 and 9, the space taken changes little: cells neither overflow nor empty out.
• Punctuation: running text uses full-width punctuation (，。：) with no spaces between words. CAS numbers, formulas and units stay in Latin script: CAS 64-17-5, mg/m³, °C.
• Numbers: Chinese uses a decimal point. If your source writes ‘12,5 °C’ in the continental style, it must become 12.5 °C; a stray comma can be read as a thousands separator. Check section 9 in particular.
• Plurals: Chinese has a single form. ‘8 hours’ becomes 8小时 with no agreement to get wrong, which removes one class of error.
• Fonts: a Latin font has no Chinese characters. If your template forces one font throughout, the recipient will see empty boxes or a substitute font. Set a Chinese font for East Asian text.
• Simplified or Traditional: this page covers Simplified Chinese (mainland China, Singapore). For Taiwan or Hong Kong, order Traditional Chinese, which Manuce treats as a separate language.

What Manuce delivers, and what it does not

Your SDS goes to Curie, Manuce's scientific and medical specialist. You upload a Word, PDF, Excel, RTF, HTML or text file and get back the same format, with tables, section numbering and pictograms where they were. A typical sheet of around 4,500 words (12 pages) is delivered within minutes and kept in your client area. Chinese carries a surcharge: a ×1.6 coefficient on the per-word rate.

What Manuce does not do:

• it cannot read a scanned PDF (an image with no selectable text);
• it translates the content as it stands: it does not replace REACH, CLP or OSHA references in section 15 with Chinese regulations, swap your exposure limits in section 8 for Chinese values (standard GBZ 2.1), or change your emergency number to one reachable in China;
• it does not reclassify the mixture under Chinese standards;
• it does not produce certified (sworn) translations.

For a sheet going to an importer, the Professional level is the one intended for documents ready to send; Premium adds a cross-review.

Preparing the file and checking the Chinese version

Before uploading:

• upload the Word file or the export from your SDS authoring software rather than a PDF where possible; if all you have is a scan, start again from a version with selectable text;
• update the source first (revision date, version number), as the Chinese sheet will carry them over;
• note what must stay unchanged: trade name, product code, CAS and EC numbers. Check in the free sample that the trade name has not been translated.

After delivery:

• confirm that all 16 sections are present and in order;
• compare H and P codes line by line with the source: each code needs its Chinese text and none should be missing;
• reread the figures in section 9 (decimal points, units);
• open the file on a machine without your fonts to check that the characters display;
• have your importer or regulatory contact adapt sections 1, 8 and 15.

In practice

1. Export your SDS as Word or as a PDF with selectable text.
2. Upload the file, choose Simplified Chinese and read the free sample.
3. Accept the quote and download the translated sheet in its original format.
4. Check the H and P statements, section 9 and the character display.
5. Have sections 1, 8 and 15 adapted to Chinese requirements.