Locale Zh Tw

Reference data for the Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan) locale — endonym 繁體中文 (台灣), written in the Han (Traditional) script, left-to-right (LTR).

Identifiers

• BCP 47 tag: zh-TW
• ISO 639-1: zh
• ISO 639-3: cmn
• Script: Hant (Han (Traditional))
• Region: TW (Taiwan)
• Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)

Speakers (approximate)

• L1 (native): 14,000,000
• L2 (additional): 6,600,000
• L1+L2 (total): 21,000,000

Base locale

This is a regional variant of Locale Zh 001 (Chinese), the base/macro locale for this language.

Pluralization

CLDR plural categories for this locale: other (1 form).

• other — everything else (e.g. 0~15, 100, 1000, 10000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Apply Locale Zh 001 with Taiwan conventions (Traditional Chinese, Taiwan).

• Script and standard: Traditional characters per the Ministry of Education's standard forms; the Mandarin spoken base is Guoyu. Use zh-Hant-TW. Zhuyin (Bopomofo) is the phonetic system, not Pinyin.
• Punctuation: the Ministry of Education's 重訂標點符號手冊 sets the rules; quotation marks 「 」 and 『 』; book-title marks 《 》 and 〈 〉; use full-width forms.
• Vocabulary: 軟體 (software), 網路 (network), 預設 (default), 檔案 (file), 資訊 (information), 程式 (program), 伺服器 (server), 使用者 (user), 影片 (video), 滑鼠 (mouse), 列印 (print), 選單 (menu), 支援 (support), 資料 (data), 硬碟 (hard drive).
• Dates and currency: Gregorian dates in daily use; the Republic of China era year is used in government documents (民國115年 is 2026). Currency New Taiwan dollar (NT$, 新臺幣 元).
• Tone: polite, softer, and more indirect than Mainland copy; 您 is used for formal service.
• Spoken variety: Taiwanese Hokkien and Hakka are separate languages; do not write them in Traditional Chinese localization unless the project requires it.

Common pitfalls

• Using Mainland terms (软件, 默认, 信息) written in Traditional characters.
• Using Simplified characters or “ ” quotation marks.
• The general pitfalls in Locale Zh 001 also apply.

Learn more

• Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
• Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
• Microsoft Localization Style Guide, Chinese (Traditional) (https://aka.ms/chinese-traditional-styleguide)
• Taiwan Ministry of Education, 重編國語辭典修訂本 (Revised Mandarin Chinese Dictionary)