The foreign translation of geographical names is not only a matter of language, but also related to national strength and national discourse power.
Author: Zhou Wei Associate Professor, School of European Studies, Beijing Second Chinese College
Although human beings live in different parts of the world, most of the things around them are similar, and most of their feelings are similar, which is the basis for the existence of translation.
However, due to the difference in living environment, the historical and cultural background, the uniqueness of local customs and objects, and the differences in the cognition of various ethnic groups will be reflected in language. Things or concepts that exist in one linguistic culture and sometimes do not exist in another linguistic culture pose a challenge for translation.
How many translations of the word "hotpot" can be found?
Words that denote specific cultural things or concepts may be called "cultural words". The translation of cultural words has two main directions: transliteration (transliteration by pronunciation) and paraphrasing (transliteration by meaning), and transliteration can be divided into literal translation (literal translation) and translation by denotation (interpretation of the corresponding object of the descriptive text). For example, the Chinese "hot pot", transliterated as huoguo, literally translated as hot pot, is referred to as Chinese fondue (fondue is derived from French and is a Swiss cooking method that requires a continuously heated pot, eaten with small cut ingredients dipped in melted cheese). These three translations are more common, of course, there are other ways of translation, such as transliteration according to the English pronunciation of hwor-gwor, according to the literal meaning can be translated as fire stew, according to the referential translation can even further explain the "hot pot" thing.
On November 8, 2019, in the Chongqing Intangible Cultural Heritage Hot Pot Experience Area of the second CIIE, the "World's Largest Hot Pot" with a diameter of about 13 tons and a guinness world record attracted many visitors and merchants. China News Service reporter Han Haidan photographed
Each of the three translations has its own advantages and disadvantages. Transliteration is more convenient and uniform, but the meaning is not clearly conveyed; the literal translation is more interesting, but the corresponding specific things are not clear enough, and sometimes even cause ambiguity. Therefore, both translations need to correspond to pictures, objects or contexts in order for foreign readers to understand the object of the reference. According to the translation of the object, foreign readers are used to know things well or directly describe the counterpart, which is the easiest to understand, but sometimes it is not completely accurate, and the original name of the counterpart is also lost.
Why is the translation of geographical names related to the sovereignty of a country?
Place names are similar to cultural words, corresponding to places unique to China, and often contain rich cultural information. For the transliteration of Chinese geographical names, the use of Hanyu Pinyin for transliteration is the main method. This is the translation method with the least involvement of the translator, so it is relatively objective and easy to unify, and at the same time, it is more in line with the pragmatic habits of the phonetic text, and it will not affect the writing in the text. In addition, there is less ambiguity when transliterated place names back into Chinese, and it is easier for readers to translate back through the translated names.
It should be noted that the biggest difference between a geographical name and a cultural word is that it is related to the sovereignty of a State. Therefore, toponymic translations should adhere to the Chinese Hanyu Pinyin scheme. In recent history, China once used the Pinyin created by the West for Chinese, such as Weitoma Pinyin and Postal Pinyin, until 1979, when the United Nations Secretariat issued a notice using Hanyu Pinyin as the standard for transcribing Chinese names and place names in the Latin alphabet.
On April 1, 2021, the Chinese and English bilingual version of the Xinhua Dictionary was displayed in the exhibition area of the Commercial Press of the 34th Beijing Book Ordering Fair. As the first modern Chinese dictionary in New China, the Xinhua Dictionary was newly launched in the form of Chinese and English double solutions at this book ordering conference, taking on a new mission of international language and cultural exchanges. Photo by China News Service reporter Hou Yu
Hanyu Pinyin has always played a great role in the education of Chinese character recognition, but it has not been vigorously promoted in the occasion of foreign exchanges, such as many Chinese will give themselves a foreign name that has nothing to do with their real names when communicating with foreigners. In fact, to promote Chinese and Hanyu Pinyin to the world, it is advisable to start from the name and place name, use Hanyu Pinyin to brush the sense of existence in foreign exchanges, and slowly introduce and popularize it to foreigners.
How does the translation of place names "look at the meaning of the text"?
The role of many geographical names in the writing is only to indicate the place, so transliteration can generally achieve the most basic communication purposes. But in fact, place names have a certain meaning at the beginning, but many Western written symbols are phonetic symbols, and as the pronunciation changes, the meaning of place names slowly becomes unknown. Chinese characters have a unique advantage in this regard, many Chinese place names can be "wangwen shengyi", so translating the meaning of place names is also a choice.
The biggest benefit of paraphrasing place names is the image, which will leave a deeper impression on the reader. For example, the translation of "Yellow River" is certainly more impressive than Huanghe. Many place names in Chinese, just seeing their names can make people think of their origins, especially some scenic spot names. Translating the connotations of these place names will undoubtedly add to their charm and reflect the characteristics of Chinese characters.
In August 2021, Tangke Town, Ruoerge County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, scenery of the first bay of the Yellow River. China News Service reporter Wang Lei photographed
The paraphrasing is longer than the transliteration, consisting of at least two or more real words, which is not in line with the Western custom of expressing place names, and sometimes seems noisy in the text. In addition, paraphrased place names are also prone to backtranslation difficulties, for example, Black River may be "Black River" or "Wu River". In order to solve this problem, commonly used place names and place names with long transliteration words can appear together with transliteration words, which can express the meaning of place names and directly use concise transliteration words when they occur repeatedly.
In addition, can geographical names be translated using the translation of the referential object? This is rare, but it does. For example, China's Mount Everest was measured by the British in 1856 and named Everest (taken from the name of an official of the Surveying and Mapping Bureau at that time), and China's Diaoyu Islands were also measured by the British at the end of the 19th century and named Pinnacle Islands (because they resemble house spires). As mentioned above, geographical names are usually associated with the sovereignty of a State, and the absence of the naming of sovereign States is manifestly a lack of respect for the State to which the geographical names belong. The reason why the above-mentioned regions can be named by other countries also reflects the weakness of China's national strength at that time, which is impossible to happen in today's China.
On July 8, 2021, at the 2021 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC2021), the translation terminal displayed at the iFLYTEK booth of HKUST can translate 8 Chinese words at the same time. Photo by Zhang Hengwei, a reporter of China News Service
How to make Chinese place names more "well-known"?
The foreign translation of geographical names is not only a matter of language, but also related to national strength and national discourse power. From the Chinese point of view, of course, it is directly using the original appearance of the proper name - Chinese characters, which can best convey the connotation of Chinese place names, but in the current situation of the global Latin alphabet writing is more popular, it is more difficult to achieve. At present, transliterated place names are more in line with the writing and cognitive habits of the Latin alphabet, and can first help the Chinese Hanyu Pinyin scheme to "go out" by using Hanyu Pinyin. But just as Chinese have become accustomed to the long and meaningless names and place names in the West, today China should also let Westerners gradually become familiar with Chinese names, and let Westerners understand the characteristics of Chinese place names and Chinese by translating the cultural connotations behind the Chinese characters of place names, which should also be the direction that Chinese foreign language users need to work towards.
Finally, a name can be remembered for a long time, probably not only because of the sound and meaning of the name itself, but more because of the story of the person and the place corresponding to it. Therefore, if a place name wants to be "well-known", more importantly, the dissemination of local stories needs to do more work on cultural promotion and dissemination.
Wei Zhou is an associate professor at the School of Europe at the Second Chinese School of Foreign Studies in Beijing, and a doctorate in French language and literature from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He studied in France for many years and studied at the University of Amiens and the University of Paris III in France. His research interests include translation and intercultural communication. He has presided over the National Social Science Project, the Beijing Municipal Project, and a number of school scientific research projects and education reform projects, and published a monograph "The Secret of Geographical Names: Research on the Translation of Chinese Geographical Names".
Source: China News Service