Translate a technical data sheet into Simplified Chinese

What changes when a data sheet goes into Chinese

A data sheet is mostly short labels, tables and values. Chinese uses far fewer characters than English or French for the same content, but each character is wider, so the space a label takes in a table cell changes little. Do not plan on Chinese freeing up room for an extra column.

• No spaces between words: a line can break between any two characters. In a narrow cell, a label such as 额定电压 ("rated voltage") may wrap onto two lines.
• Full-width punctuation: the colon after a label becomes ：. Rated voltage: 230 V becomes 额定电压：230 V.
• No plural forms: Chinese has a single form (CLDR category other). Constructions like "item(s)" or "1 input / 2 inputs" disappear; the number itself carries the information.
• Mixed scripts: codes, designations and symbols (IP65, M8×1.25, Ref. ABC-200) stay in Latin letters among the hanzi. That is normal practice on a Chinese data sheet.

Numbers, units and standards: the Chinese-specific traps

Values are the core of a data sheet, and this is where conventions matter most.

• Decimal separator: Chinese uses a point. If your source is in French, German or Spanish, 2,5 kg must become 2.5 kg; a stray comma in a table can be read as a thousands separator.
• Ranges: Chinese data sheets often write intervals with a full-width tilde, for example 工作温度：−20～+60 °C for "operating temperature: −20 to +60 °C".
• Unit symbols: mm, kg, MPa, °C, V and A stay as they are; only the surrounding labels are translated. Imperial values (inches, psi) are not converted: if the Chinese market needs metric figures, add them to the source.
• Cited standards: a reference such as EN 60529 or UL 94 is reproduced as is. Translation does not swap it for an equivalent Chinese GB standard; establishing equivalence is a job for your engineering or compliance team.

If a value must change for China (supply voltage, plug type, climate range), edit it in the source file before uploading.

What Manuce returns, and what it does not do

Your sheet is translated by Dédale, the engine specialised in technical documents. The file comes back in its original format (Word, PDF, PowerPoint, Excel, plain text, Markdown, HTML, RTF or CSV), layout included: specification tables stay tables, Excel cells stay cells. For a sheet of around 900 words, the translation is delivered within minutes and kept in your client area. Chinese carries a ×1.6 coefficient on the per-word rate.

What Manuce does not do:

• Traditional Chinese (Taiwan, Hong Kong) is a separate language: choose it on its own if your distributor is in Taipei rather than Shenzhen.
• A scanned PDF, with no selectable text, cannot be read.
• No sworn or certified translation: if an authority requires a translation certified by a sworn translator, you will need one.
• No recalculation of values and no conversion of standards.

Preparing the data sheet before upload

• Upload the native file rather than an exported PDF: a Word or Excel file remains editable if a Chinese label overflows its cell.
• Check that the text is selectable in your PDF. As with a scan, a table of values pasted in as an image cannot be read.
• Type units as text, not as pictograms: "IP65" typed on the keyboard is kept, an icon is not translated.
• Plan for a Chinese font: a Latin font such as Arial has no Chinese characters. Use a template font that covers them, otherwise readers may see empty boxes or a substitute font, depending on their computer.
• Keep designations consistent in the source: if the same part is called "flange" on one page and "collar" on the next, the Chinese version will mirror that inconsistency.

Checking the Chinese version

Before you pay, the free sample translates one paragraph of your sheet at the chosen level. Pick a passage with values and a product reference, then check:

1. that codes and brand names have stayed in Latin script (ABC-200 must not be translated);
2. that decimals use a point and ranges are readable;
3. that punctuation is full-width (：, ，, 。) in sentences and labels.

On the delivered file, open it on a machine with Chinese fonts installed and go through every table: a unit separated from its number at a line end (230, then V on the next line) is fixed by widening the column. Finally, have the sheet read by a Chinese-speaking engineer or distributor, who will know whether the terminology matches what your customers in China actually use.

In practice

1. Prepare the data sheet in its native format, with selectable text.
2. Upload the file, select Simplified Chinese and review the instant quote.
3. Check the free sample on a paragraph containing values and references.
4. Download the translated sheet and check tables, decimals and fonts on a machine with Chinese installed.