Have these translators ever had a conversation in English with another human being? Ever? Nobody says "nihao" when they want to be quirky while greeting their fellow man. They say hola, or bonjour, or guten tag, or whatever other language you can think of. There are like 20 languages the average English speaker would default to before landing on Mandarin. Shiki isn't based enough to truly appreciate the intricacies Chinese history anyway. He'd definitely be a Romaboo.