How to translate a Chinese PDF to English

How to translate a Chinese PDF with LoreAI

1. Use the PDF the issuer gave you. A PDF downloaded from a university or registry reads better than a scan of a printout. A clean scan is the next best.
2. Create a free account and upload it. Your first document is free, up to 3 pages and 3 MB. Several records can go in one PDF.
3. Leave the source on Auto-detect and choose English. There is no setting for simplified or traditional characters. LoreAI recognizes both.
4. Download the Word file. Transcripts come back as Word tables with the same rows and columns.
5. Check dates, numbers and names. Convert Republic of China years, count the digits of every ID and match each name to the passport.

What our test of a mixed Chinese PDF showed

On November 3, 2026, we ran specimen-records-zh.pdf through LoreAI twice, with the same result both times. Page 1 is a degree certificate from an invented Taiwan university in traditional characters. Page 2 is a transcript from an invented mainland university in simplified characters.

Two scripts in one file

Both pages were recognized and translated in one upload, with no setting changed.

Taiwan dates

中華民國八十七年五月十二日 became 12 May 87 of the Republic of China. The year was not converted to 1998.

Mainland dates

2019年9月1日 became 1 September 2019.

Resident ID

The 18-digit number 110105199803127716 came through intact.

Grades

Numeric scores stayed as written, and the grade words 优秀 and 良好 became Excellent and Good.

Names

陳怡君, 王磊 and 林志明 became Chen Yijun, Wang Lei and Lin Zhiming in pinyin, without the characters in brackets.

Certificate number

（112）示大字第004521號 became (112) Shida No. 004521. The prefix was romanized, so keep the original next to it.

Seals

The text inside the round seals did not appear in the Word file.

Every number was right. What still needs a person is the Western year, the passport spelling of each name and the wording of the seals.

Traditional characters, ROC years and Taiwan names

Documents from Taiwan use traditional characters and usually count years from 1912, the first year of the Republic of China (民國). To get the Western year, add 1911, so 民國112年 is 2023. Many Taiwan certificates write the year in characters, as in 一一二 or 八十七, which LoreAI read correctly in our test but did not convert.

Names are the other trap. LoreAI writes Chinese names in Hanyu Pinyin, the system used in mainland China. Passports from Taiwan and Hong Kong often spell names another way, such as Chen Yi-chun or Chan for 陳. Change the Word file to the spelling in the passport, and use it the same way on every page.

Hong Kong documents also use traditional characters, but with Western years. If your PDF is a photo of a household register or a notarial certificate rather than a file, see the Chinese image translation guide.

Do Chinese transcripts for WES need a translation?

For a mainland Chinese degree going to World Education Services, the usual route is a verification report sent from China, not your own translation. CSSD, which runs the CHSI site, sends the online verification reports for the qualification and degree certificates to WES, with an English version you order under English Report Delivery[1]. A transcript verification report takes about one month to complete[1].

The online verification reports come as a printout, a PDF or an email[2]. Start the WES application first and read its document list for your country. The WES translation requirements guide explains when WES wants a translation as well. A LoreAI translation helps you read your own records and check that every course and grade matches.

Chinese PDFs for USCIS

For USCIS, any document in Chinese comes with a full English translation that the translator certifies as complete and accurate, and a statement that the translator is competent to translate from Chinese into English[3].

Public documents issued in mainland China since November 7, 2023 need only an apostille from the Foreign Affairs Office before they are used in the US, with no consular authentication[4].

LoreAI is not a certified translation service and does not sign translations. A person who reads Chinese checks the Word file against the PDF, adds the Western years and passport spellings, and signs the certification. See USCIS translation requirements for what the statement covers.

Questions people ask