Introducing Engadget China

We're still ironing out some bugs and making a bunch of improvements, but it was getting really difficult not to blurt out that we're launching Engadget China, a new Chinese language version of Engadget. The site is edited by Jason Chiang and will feature translations of Engadget posts, as well as original stuff specifically for the Chinese market, and will be the first of several foreign language editions of Engadget that we'll be launching in the coming months.

[Timmah! @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Wow congratulations guys! Good to see you expanding and prospering :)

[Jason @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

We're looking for folks in Japan and Korea to help blog... so if you're interested contact me at jason at calacanis dot com.

[Timmah! @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

^^^ wtf is up with Demarn #1 and #3? Were u dropped as a child?

[a.sintic @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Let's PLEASE not start this stupid "First Post" crap. I see it enough on other sites. NOBODY CARES!!!
Congrats on expanding the site, that's great news.

[ZuZ @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Hey guys... its good to hear that ur expanding ur services to other languages.... i hope to see an arabic version of Engadget.com .... for help in translation to arabic plz do contact me.

[Psythor @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Please don't do what Google do and filter out all of the anti-China and pro-democracy stuff!

[Cullen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I will gladly lend my services to translate this site to h4x0r sp33|<. or how about an engrish version? just babelfish it like 20 times and then back to english and you should have something worth while. I would like to see an arabic and spanish version, though. really good to see you guys working so ahrd on this :] keep it up.

[amnesia @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

i wish there was an Arabic version of Engadget, there ARE no proper dedicated tech sites that I know of and I'm sure it'd be a hit.

[VVV @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Hey I could help for a spanish and/or french version if you want...just contact me

[msafi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

another vote for arabic.

and i hope that these expansions are monitored carefully and closely so that engadget doesn't lose it's name, quality and fun.

keep it up!!!

[Derek M. @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

How much longer untill theres an engadget canada... thats where the real market is.(I was laughing during this whole post)

[VVV @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Actually Derek Engadget Canada would be great for the Franch Canadians it could be engadget quebec or something like that, I wouldn't mind doing the translation to french

[Spanky Mulrooney @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Everybody Wang Chung Tonite!!

[Daimaou (Akihabara News) @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

WOW ! That is cool ! You were more lucky than us, I m trying to get Chinese (and other languages) For Akiba but could not find someone to help :(, Anyway that an AMAZING NEWS !

[ubi de feo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

If you're up for an italian version...
;)

ciao.ubi

[Dave @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

It better not be biased

[Dullicky @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Okay, but as long as I don't have learn Chinese.... Happy new frontiers

[mike @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

good stuff engadget.. Traditional Chinese.. :D:D .. I was afraid it would be mainland china *groan

[fabulously @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

gosh you did it~but i prefer the english version.

[venture160 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

why did you go with traditional chinese!! ugh, now my two years of Mandarin study seems frivilous! i can read most of them but some of them to me are strange as I have been studying simplified characters. I guess this way you can target Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan, and alot of mainland Chinese readers, so it was smart in that aspect.

[silentio @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Why traditional chinese? Mainland china uses simplified, and to #20, so does Singapore.

[narco @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

?????????????????????

[Jon @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Considering the fact that the average yearly income for the target range of adults (18 -35) of Engadget is less than US $10,000 a year (82770 RMB) in Mainland, China...and that the freedom of speech and political dissent is possible on a webpage like this, I don't see it neccessary to include mainland China's simplified Chinese in the website.

None of them would be able to afford most of the stuff featured here.
And most of the stuff featured on Engadget wouldn't be purchaseable in China - despite the fact most of it is manufactured there.

I used to live in ShangHai. Besides a government owned superstore, you wouldn't be able to find 1/3 of the stuff on Engadget. In Japan and Korea however, you'd be able to buy this stuff easily so I suggest you concentrate on those markets.

[archimedes @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I can also help with la versi?n espa?!!

****
It would be great to have an engadget in spanish. Theres lots of gente wanting to know MAS!! about them gadget thingies.

Saludos Cordiales

[hafa @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

not only its displayed in chinese, its on Chinese Traditional BIG5 coding, which is what TAIWAN is using.

way to go! good old M.I.T. i am proud of you!

[Ingen Ra @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

WORLD DOMINATION! one step at a time.

[JIMMY @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

good job!!
traditional chinese is good because both mainland china peoplep and taiwanese people can ready it. To #21, you should definitely study traditional chinese... and read World Journal which is also in Traditional Chinese. Mainland Chinese people are also picking up traditional Chinese slowly right now.

One thing though... it will be better if the encoding can be UTF-8. I bet in the future localized version of browsers, for UTF-8 pages there should be an option to switch traditional and simplified chinese on the fly... so please do UTF-8 if possible...

[Adam @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Traditional?? Grrrr.

#28, yeah sure, they love their traditional over here. ;(

[Q3Q @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Way to go.

I second comment post #28 regarding the use of UTF-8 encoding.

For those who have problem to read traditional Chinese, you can download a FireFox plugin to "automatically" trranslate the webpage on the fly between simplified and traditional Chinese. The plug-in is available here:

[Calvin L @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Cool! a wonderful move...

I am a overseas studnet from HongKong and now studying in Australia... however I perfer the English engadget because it's a good source of english reading for student(?), but when the chinese come out it seems even better!

This move will surely increase the profit of engadget Ads income. I guess Engadget have someone master on marketing.

Anyway,
Thx Engadget!
Good move!

[010111 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

i am moderately curious how well the smarmy jokes and sass and references to random obscure pop culture will translate over to chinese. that's the main reason i even read engadget.

[Lawrence Sheed @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

#24 - talking absolute sh!t...

This isn't the 80's.

Mainland China is waaaay past that era in the cities.

You can find 150% of what you see in engadget in the stores locally, sometimes months before engagdget has even posted about it.


Go look at sites like taobao.com or pchome.net for an idea of whats for sale on ebay/ tech sites (ebay china sucks). Most people here have good incomes, and no expenses. The 20-30 crowd generally lives at home, and can afford to buy Gucci and Versace, so I think the 100/200$ toys are definitely affordable to the Gen X / Gen Y market here.

Simplified Chinese would be nice, but I guess they've got a Honkie doing it, so its Trad for now...

[Roygbiv @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I'm Taiwanese, and I can see that Jason seemed to have used some kind of translator because even though nothing's lost, the translations comes nothing close to the humor of original engadget posts :(

Anyway, good to see engadget expanding!

[JS @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I'm guessing Japanese and Korean versions of the site will get posts that won't be available to the rest of us for months, if at all.

In fact, maybe you can tell us about them. Once we know we are missing some great posts we can then comment "Those Japanese and Koreans get all the best posts!" etc.

I can�t wait for Engadget New Zealand. We are just a hotbed of consumer gadgetry and technical development.

[Charlie @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Way to go #34. Although we'll probably see Engadget AU first. They've got 5 times the population and probably 10 times the buying power. On the other hand, the US/EU-centric Engadget works for me, too. I've got friends traveling between NZ and US on a regular basis so I can get my fixes. :)

Also, please don't get politics involved. Some people have a giant ego and just couldn't tolerate any comments from the other side.

[patrick dodds @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Good for you. Re: censorship etc - to echo previous poster, don't do a Google: keep it as near to the original as possible could you? Freedom's even more important than your expansion.

[Rafael Delfin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Very excited for you guys, and will also be more than happy to participate in a future edition for Engadget EN ESPA?L.

(Neutral Spanish Translator here, with background/Master in IT).

Cheers,
Rafa.

[ahdoo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Good job. The translation sounds funny but it's a good start. The use of traditional chinese seems to focus on markets such as HK, Taiwan or Overseas. I'm sure you guys have plans on doing simplified chinese in the future, (actually pretty easy). Believe me, some ppl in mainland china do have the income to buy these fancy fun new toys. Keep up the good work!

[joec @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I wonder if the Chinese version will remain a translation of the English website.. Or will we get to see any Chinese exclusives from time to time.

[james hang @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

If you need some assistance I offer help with translation.

#20: It's not a matter of people can or cannot afford the items listed here. Nor the availability. With 6-figure income and living in California I still won't buy most of the items listed on Engadget. Hey, if I cant afford the new Bently doesnt mean I cant read and admire the new automotive technology.

Power of the Internet, my friends. Once our brains are stretched with new and innovative ideas we will figure out even more ways to entertain ourselve and have more fun using technologies.

[Eduardo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

For those of you trying to translate to spanish.... why? Y depende si quieres atraer la populacion espa? o la mexicana.......

but then again nice job engadget with the expansion... now go and exploit.. you are now part of the bourgeoise. WOOOHOO go chinese engadget..

[cLOUDFAn @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

totally agree w/ #32 (altho it should be #23 who is talking BS)

[talal @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

i'll also help with an arabic version. Saw quite a number of people that were interested in that here.
It'd be great.
You'd be targetting over 20 nations.

[talal @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

i'll also help with an arabic version. Saw quite a number of people that were interested in that here.
It'd be great.
You'd be targetting over 20 nations.

[Teccrom @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

It's complete bs talking about that the mainland chinese couldn't afford the things on engadget. I live in Sichuan, one of the provinces where the average income is like a tenth of Shanghai or Europe, still people drive around in BMW's and can afford fancy gadgets that i can't in Europe. :P
So I for one hope that you could do a Simplified version instead, because first: I can't read traditional (yet), second: most young people here can't either.