Chinese video translator

Chinese (Mandarin)

Chinese (Mandarin) is selected when you start from this page. Add any other language in the same job; each is priced on its own.

Lip sync, on or off

On, the speakers' mouths are rendered again to match the Chinese lines. Off, your picture stays exactly as it was and only the voice changes.

Proofread the Chinese script

Read the transcript beside its Chinese translation, line by line, and correct it before anything is voiced. Or upload your own Chinese .srt or .vtt and the dub says exactly those lines.

Chinese subtitles in the picture

When the dub comes back with its Chinese script, style the subtitles and export a copy with them burned in, set in Noto Sans SC unless you pick another font.

Mandarin, with Simplified characters

Sonilo dubs Mandarin, the spoken standard across mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore. The script and its subtitles are written in Simplified characters, as used in mainland China and Singapore. Readers in Taiwan and Hong Kong use Traditional characters, so plan for that if written Chinese matters for your audience there.

Cantonese is a different spoken language

Hong Kong, Macau and much of Guangdong speak Cantonese, which a Mandarin speaker cannot simply follow. Sonilo does not dub Cantonese today. Mandarin is widely understood in those places, but it will not feel local to a Cantonese speaking audience.

Chinese is compact on screen and in time

Chinese often expresses an idea in fewer syllables than English, so a translated line can finish early. With lip sync on, the mouths are rendered again to match the Mandarin; with it off, keep the timing in mind and let a slightly fuller line stay rather than trimming every one.

Names, brands and numbers

Foreign brand and product names often have an established Chinese name, and using the wrong one confuses viewers. While you proofread, check that each name matches how your brand appears in Chinese, and read prices and large numbers, which Chinese counts in units of ten thousand, once aloud.

Brands selling to Chinese consumers

Product videos and ads in Mandarin reach shoppers in China and in Chinese communities abroad. Translate the master, check that the Chinese brand name and claims are exactly right, and download the Mandarin cut for each platform.

Education and online courses

Course creators and universities can offer lessons in Mandarin to students in China and Singapore. Proofread technical terms so they match the vocabulary students already use.

Short dramas and entertainment

Series and short dramas made in English, Korean or Japanese can reach Mandarin speaking viewers. Turning lip sync on makes the actors appear to speak Mandarin; leaving it off keeps the original picture untouched.

Companies with teams in China

Multinationals can give staff in China training, product updates and leadership messages in Mandarin, using the same videos the rest of the company watches.

The soundtrack stays

Sonilo keeps the original background music and sound effects and replaces only the speech, with lip sync on or off.

The speaker’s own voice

Sonilo keeps the speaker’s own voice in the new language, so the translated speech sounds like the person in your video, not a stock voice. There is no voice to record or set up.

Lip sync, when you want it

On: mouths are re-rendered to match the new language. Off: your original picture stays untouched and only the voice is replaced.

You approve the words

The translation is a script you can read and correct first. A product name, a joke, a line of dialogue: fix it before it is spoken.

Your subtitles, spoken

Upload an .srt or .vtt for a language and the dub says exactly those lines, instead of a machine translation of them.

Music for the new cut

Sonilo also adds music to video. If a translated version needs its own soundtrack, add music to it in the same account.