Misunderstandings and Reality!    

Overview

Differences between China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong

Chinese is a language with many local dialects. Some of these are so different that direct communication between the inhabitants of different regions is impossible.
The difference, however, is mostly limited to the spoken language, the written Chinese is more or less the same in view to grammar, despite different pronounciation of characters.
'Mandarin', the Chinese used as official language is very similar to the Peking (Beijing) dialect.

Written Chinese (concerns translations)

Usage of Traditional and Simplified Characters

• Traditional characters: Taiwan, Hong Kong  
• Simplified characters:   China
  

Regional Differences of Terminology

Due to the earlier and separate technical and scientific development of Taiwan and Hong Kong, as contrary to China, nowadays the existing difference is not limited to the characters themselves, but it involves especially a difference of the technical and scientific terms use in the various areas.

Various scientific and technical terms differ considerably. Companies, who need instruction manuals or web sites translated, often do not have their documents localized for the target region, and sometimes web sites targeting Taiwan may be written in simplified characters, or vice versa. At the best, a convenient conversion of characters using one of the popular conversion techniques is used. When requesting the translation of documents or web sites into Chinese, the client should ask the translator always whether an adaption to the terminology of the target area is appropriate, and if necessary a full localization should be requested.
For general applications like business correspondence, however, a localization may often not be necessary.

A translator from Taiwan or Hong Kong often is not capable to localize technical terms for use in China, as one from China may not be capable to adapt terminology for Taiwan. Despite of this, many will insist that they can handle both, in order to obtain more orders. A serious translation agency will employ the help of editors from the target region, if a full localization is requested.