北市卫医字第xxxx号

15:04 Jun 4, 2016 

Please refer to the Chinese and English versions of the same Taiwan government regulation at these two web pages in comparison, and you'll find that:
The part preceding the 字 & No. usually shows the place where the document is issued. The 字 (Words) are usually short forms of the category that the document belongs to. That's why I suggest keeping "Taipei City" separate from the Number.
1. http://law.moj.gov.tw/Eng/news/news_detail.aspx?id=9330
2. http://law.moj.gov.tw/News/news_detail.aspx?id=122603
(By the way, we are not raising any issue here. I think everyone will agree that we are just trying to find out what the best way is for the translation.)

09:17 Jun 4, 2016 

Shirley, you should suggest the answer since you're knowledgeable about the Taiwan system.

19:13 May 19, 2016 

I would get the policy clarification from the customer directly or via agency. If you are not able to get answer, Just provide a disclaimer specifying the Romanization system you are adopting for your translation.

16:27 May 19, 2016 

To the best of my understanding, I did not claim there is an official way of translating or transliterating such reference numbers in Taiwan. I only did mention that "it is usually the case that people will either spell out the Pinyin for each character for transliteration or translate this reference number word by word, and it is seldom the case that people use a hybrid method by combining the above two options for the same reference number".

For transliteration, people usually either use 漢語拼音 or 通用拼音 in Taiwan. However, their preference is a very sensitive issue. For details, please see https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/台灣的拼音系統爭議

I usually follow the transliteration method used by Taiwan Post Office, which uses 漢語拼音.
See: http://www.post.gov.tw/post/internet/Postal/index.jsp?ID=207...

15:52 May 19, 2016 

In your opinion, should it be "BeiShi" or "PeiShi?"
The former is Pinyin used in China, and the spelling in the latter is confusing and may not be understood at the first glance.
By the way, I don't think there is already an official way of translating this in Taiwan. If there is, to my knowledge, it should be announced by the Government Information Office of the Executive Yuan.

10:24 May 19, 2016 

Hi jarv95888,

Your reasoning may be right. But it is usually the case that people will either spell out the Pinyin for each character for transliteration or translate this reference number word by word. It is seldom the case that they use a hybrid method by combining the above two options for the same reference number.

14:32 May 18, 2016 

"字" refers to the transliterated words "WeiYi"--卫医 (Health and medicine). I don't think it should be translated, just like "第" and "号" which function to mean the serial number (xxxx). You don't have to literally translate "第" and "号."

13:58 May 18, 2016 

Thanks so much for the insight, Shirley. I'll defer to your judgment on this one, as I've worked primarily with texts from the Mainland. :-)

05:57 May 18, 2016 

When I say "Pinyin", I mean the second option. That is, to spell out the Pinyin for each character: Bei Shi Wei Yi Zi No.xxxx.

05:50 May 18, 2016 

This transliteration (BSWYZ No.xxxx) is mostly used in China, but not in Taiwan. In Taiwan, you can use Pinyin for transliteration or translate this reference number word by word.

03:52 May 18, 2016 

As suggested.

03:22 May 18, 2016 

Just use Pinyin.