Address in different language

Some of the people that I am sending a post card to prefer to have me write it in their language, which I do not know how to write in. For example Chinese and Russian. Should I just write it in English, or is there a way to print it and attach it to the postcard somehow? Thanks!

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Hi nichadwi,

Welcome to the forum! On the official site, if you go to the traveling postcard page, next to their address is a button that says “Print address”:

And if you click that, you can use the check boxes to select which address you want to print, and what other information you would like to print as well. Hope this helps!

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Although scrutiny already solved your question, you might want to have some fun with it and try to actually write the address in Chinese. There’s this crazy methodical way by PinkNoodle and other ones not so complicated, as copying by hand. If you have the time and feel like it, go for it! :slightly_smiling_face:

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And if all of that is too complicated, just write the English address. :wink:

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I can’t print out the addresses easily and I am too unsure to attempt to write foreign letters, so I just write the address with the Latin letters (and somebody gotta keep the post office’s translators at work, right…?) I have couple of times printed out the address when it was about a trade, and it seems like there isn’t much difference between travel times (just a day or two). Just make sure to leave little of empty space under the address or on the side, so the post office can fill in the address in their script.

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With Russian addresses I handwrite the address. Most letters are similar to our alphabet. Chinese addresses I print.

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You have laernt one alphabet - and you did it as a little child.
Believe me, you can do it again!
Chinese looks tricky, but then: Just like your handwriting doesn’t look exactly as the the Latin print on your computer screen, Chinese handwriting also looks slightly different for every writer, and it still remains legible for the postman. Anyway, he has always been able to decipher my chinese handwriting, even though I haven’t got a clue what I’m doing :slight_smile:

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I bought a label printer and always print the addresses in the language the recipient if they provide it. Those cards arrive more quickly and disappear less frequently than cards addressed in latin letters to a country that does not use them.

It is my understanding that in China the translator travels from post office to post office, so cards addressed in anything other than Chinese sit in a box waiting for the translator to come once a week, or whatever that periodicity is. I think the more rural the area, the longer that wait becomes.

I have also heard from recipients that an address label with the translated address in the home language is also sometimes used. The care taken when placing this label is not always what the sender might desire, and sometimes correspondence information gets covered. Such are the hazards of sending postcards across language boundaries.

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