Chinese Converter

How to Use the Chinese Converter

Why Chinese Has Multiple Written Forms — And Why It Matters in ASEAN

10 Things to Know About Chinese Script Conversion

Frequently Asked Questions

• What's the difference between Simplified and Traditional Chinese? +
  Simplified Chinese reduces the stroke count of common characters (e.g. 龍 → 龙, 後 → 后), introduced in Mainland China in 1956. Traditional Chinese preserves the older forms still used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and most overseas Chinese communities outside Singapore and Malaysia. Beyond stroke reduction, the systems also differ in word choice (vocabulary), punctuation conventions, and occasionally word order. About 2,200 characters were officially simplified, but Traditional has remained largely unchanged for centuries.
• Why are Taiwan and Hong Kong variants different from each other? +
  Both regions use Traditional characters, but they diverged on which traditional forms are "standard" plus vocabulary. Taiwan follows the Ministry of Education standard form (often called 國字標準字體). Hong Kong follows the Hong Kong Supplementary Character Set, which includes Cantonese-specific characters and slightly different glyph standards. The differences are subtle for most everyday text but matter for publishing, subtitles, and legal documents — which is why OpenCC ships separate dictionaries for each.
• What does "with vocabulary" mean? Why does it matter? +
  The "+ vocabulary" modes (twp/cnp) do phrase-level substitution, not just character-by-character. Without it, "软件" becomes "軟件" (character conversion only). With it, "软件" becomes "軟體" — the actual word Taiwanese readers use. Same for 程序 → 程式 (program), 信息 → 資訊 (information), 鼠标 → 滑鼠 (mouse). For marketing copy, technical docs, or anything where natural-sounding regional Chinese matters, you almost always want vocabulary mode.
• Is my text sent to your servers? +
  No. All conversion runs client-side in your browser using the OpenCC engine (loaded as a 1.1 MB JavaScript bundle on first input). Your input text, output text, and the conversion process never touch our servers. This matters for legal drafts, financial materials, internal memos, or anything covered by PDPA / GDPR data-residency requirements. You can verify by opening DevTools → Network and watching what happens when you type — only the bundle loads, no upload of your text.
• How accurate is OpenCC compared to AI translation? +
  OpenCC is a dictionary-based converter, not a translator, and that is both its strength and its limit: it never invents a character the way a language model can, but it also cannot read context the dictionary does not already cover. For running prose in modern standard Chinese it is reliable — the dictionary holds multi-character entries, so 头发 → 頭髮 and 干杯 → 乾杯 are right and convert back to the original. Names are where it fails, and it fails silently. Simplification merged several distinct Traditional characters into one, and going back the dictionary picks whichever is commonest rather than asking whether the string is a name: 我姓余 becomes 我姓餘 and 干先生 becomes 幹先生, both wrong. Yet 范冰冰 and 钟先生 come out right, because those names are in the dictionary. Nothing on the page tells you which case you are in, so proofread names by hand. For classical Chinese (文言文), ancient names, or specialised technical terms not in the dictionary, OpenCC leaves the original characters unchanged rather than guessing.
• Which mode should Singapore users pick by default? +
  Singapore officially uses Simplified Chinese, so most input will be Simplified. If you're writing for a Singapore audience: no conversion needed. If you're publishing for Taiwan readers, pick "Simplified → Taiwan + vocabulary" (the default mode on this tool — cn|twp). If you're publishing for Hong Kong, pick "Simplified → Hong Kong" (cn|hk) — note HK doesn't have a separate vocabulary mode in OpenCC because Cantonese-specific terms are best handled manually.
• Can I convert classical Chinese (文言文)? +
  Yes, but with caveats. The character forms convert correctly — 學而時習之 (Traditional) ↔ 学而时习之 (Simplified) works fine. However, classical Chinese uses different vocabulary and grammar than modern Chinese, so the vocabulary modes (twp/cnp) won't add value. For classical text, use the plain modes (cn|t or t|cn). Classical idioms (成語) typically have stable forms across regions and convert cleanly.
• Why does the converter sometimes leave a character unchanged? +
  Three reasons. First, some characters are identical in both systems — 人, 中, 文, 大 don't need converting. Second, names of people, places, and brands often retain their original form by convention even when written in the other system. Third, a few rare or specialised characters may not appear in OpenCC's dictionary. If you spot an obvious miss, it's likely a dictionary gap — OpenCC is open-source on GitHub and accepts contributions.
• Is there a character limit and why? +
  Yes — 10,000 characters per conversion. This is a safety limit, not a technical one (OpenCC could handle millions). Conversion is debounced at 200 ms, and very long texts can briefly stall the browser tab while the dictionary engine walks the input. The 10K cap covers most use cases (a typical news article is 500-1500 characters; a long-form essay is 3000-5000). For larger batches, split your text into sections.
• Can I use the converted output for commercial work? +
  Yes. OpenCC is MIT-licensed and the converted text is your own work product — there's no licensing restriction from using this tool. We don't claim any rights to your input or output. The tool itself is free with no signup; we monetise through display advertising on the page, not through fees or paid tiers. For professional publishing, we still recommend a human review pass for register, tone, and any regional idioms the dictionary may have missed.

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