“軟體” or “軟件”: This Isn’t a Typo, It’s a Cross-Strait Convention

Character Form Differences, Heteronyms, and Typos: Three Kinds of ‘Not the Same’

Seeing a Simplified Chinese article use “軟件” and converting it to Traditional Chinese still yields “軟件”—the character forms are perfectly correct. But a reader in Taiwan would say “軟體.” The difference here is not a typo, but a heteronym (異名詞).

Only by separating these three matters can you avoid errors during conversion:

• Character form differences: The same concept is written with different hanzi (Chinese characters) on the two sides of the strait, e.g., 車/车, 書/书. This is a mechanical correspondence that can be handled by a machine.
• Heteronyms: The same concept is referred to by different words on the two sides of the strait, e.g., “軟體” vs. “軟件” and “網路” vs. “網絡.” The character forms are all correct; only the usage conventions differ.
• Actual typos: For example, writing “程式” as “呈式”—both the character forms and the word are incorrect.

Treating a heteronym as a typo to “correct” is, on the surface, proofreading, but in practice it may corrupt the meaning.

Examples of Cross-Strait IT Terminology Differences

Here are common heteronym pairs; the Taiwan term is on the left, the Mainland China term on the right:

The pair “程式／程序” requires special attention. “程序” is also an everyday term in Taiwan, referring to legal procedures, administrative processes, or workflows. If an automated tool blindly replaces all instances of “程序” with “程式,” legal documents would be corrupted; “行政程式” would not convey the intended meaning at all.

The Hong Kong and Macau regions also have their own usage conventions, which do not entirely match Taiwan’s. Examples include “巴士” (bāshì) vs. “公車” (gōngchē) and “的士” (díshì) vs. “計程車” (jìchéngchē). Heteronyms are not a simple binary division between the two sides of the strait; they represent vocabulary choices that have evolved independently in multiple regions.

Character Form Conversion and Term Conversion Are Two Separate Things

Character form conversion is a mechanical operation. A set of correspondence tables and a conversion engine can turn 简 into 簡 and 软 into 軟. This is relatively straightforward.

Term conversion requires contextual judgment. The same string “程序” in a technical document might be a heteronym for “程式,” but in a legal document it is the term originally used in Taiwan. A machine cannot distinguish between these two scenarios; human review is necessary.

Therefore, for texts intended for external publication that need localization, the correct sequence is:

1. Convert character forms first: Use a machine to mechanically convert Simplified Chinese characters to Traditional Chinese.
2. Then review terms word by word: Have someone familiar with cross-strait terminology differences judge, based on context, which terms need replacement and which should not be altered.
3. Human review is essential: An automated tool will blindly change “程序” to “程式”—this is precisely where manual intervention is needed.

How This Site Handles Such Heteronyms

This site maintains a cross-strait heteronym table, marking this type of terminology difference separately. The purpose of the marking is not to judge which side is “right” or “wrong,” but to let readers know that these two terms refer to the same thing, differing only by region of use.

By managing heteronyms separately from typos, we can avoid the automated conversion process eliminating legitimate usage, and we can help readers understand: seeing “軟件” requires no correction, only the knowledge that it is a normal way of writing in another linguistic context.