Traditional Chinese localization serves the Taiwan market, Hong Kong, Macau, and the large overseas Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia and North America. Traditional Chinese is a distinct localization target from Simplified Chinese — while both use Chinese characters, the character sets differ, vocabulary conventions differ, and cultural references differ between the markets. Games that ship a single ‘Chinese’ localization covering both Simplified and Traditional Chinese often produce suboptimal results for one or both markets. SandVox provides dedicated Traditional Chinese localization for Taiwan and Traditional Chinese-reading markets.

Text Expansion & Technical Considerations

Traditional Chinese text density is similar to Simplified Chinese — both are highly compact compared to European languages. Text expansion from English to Traditional Chinese typically results in shorter strings, as Chinese can express in 3–5 characters what takes 5–10 English words. UI designed for English may have comfortable space for Traditional Chinese text, but CJK font rendering requirements still apply.

Cultural & Technical Considerations for Traditional Chinese Localization

• Traditional vs. Simplified character set — Traditional Chinese uses the full historical character forms used in Taiwan and Hong Kong; Simplified Chinese uses reformed abbreviated forms used in mainland China. They are not interchangeable.
• Taiwan market conventions — Taiwanese players have specific gaming vocabulary conventions that differ from mainland Chinese usage, particularly for game genre terminology
• Hong Kong market differences — Hong Kong Traditional Chinese incorporates Cantonese influences in informal usage; for games targeting Hong Kong specifically, Cantonese-influenced vocabulary may be preferred
• Cultural references — Taiwan and mainland China have different contemporary cultural contexts; games targeting Taiwan should avoid mainland-Chinese-specific references
• Font rendering — Traditional Chinese requires fonts with the complete Traditional Chinese character set; simplified-only fonts will render many Traditional Chinese characters incorrectly

What We Localize for Traditional Chinese Markets

• English to Traditional Chinese game translation for Taiwan and Traditional Chinese-reading markets
• Taiwan market vocabulary conventions distinct from Simplified Chinese
• Hong Kong variant Traditional Chinese as needed
• CJK font support assessment for Traditional Chinese character rendering
• In-engine LocQA for Traditional Chinese rendering across all platforms

SandVox provides dedicated Traditional Chinese localization distinct from Simplified Chinese, with Taiwan-market vocabulary conventions and proper Traditional Chinese character rendering.

Frequently Asked Questions