(East-West Question) Zhou Wei: The Yellow River and "Yellow River", why is the translation of place names related to national strength?
China News Agency, Beijing, March 15th: The Yellow River and "Yellow River", why does the translation of place names relate to national strength?
Author Zhou Wei, Associate Professor, School of Europe, Beijing International Studies University
Although human beings live in different regions of the world, most of the things around them are similar, and most of their feelings are the same. This is the basis for the existence of translation.
However, due to the different living environments, different historical and cultural backgrounds, unique features of each region, and differences in the cognition of various ethnic groups, they will all be reflected in language.
Things or concepts that exist in one language and culture sometimes do not exist in another language and culture, which in turn brings challenges to translation.
How many translations are there for the word "hot pot"?
Words that express specific cultural things or concepts can be called "cultural words".
The translation of cultural words mainly has two directions: transliteration (translation according to pronunciation) and free translation (translation according to meaning). ).
For example, the Chinese "hot pot" is transliterated as huoguo, literally translated as hot pot, and referred to as Chinese fondue (fondue is derived from French and is a Swiss cooking method that requires a continuously heated pot, cut into small pieces with dipped in melted cheese in the pan).
These three translation methods are relatively common, of course there are other translation methods, such as transliteration according to English pronunciation as hwor-gwor, literally translated as fire stew, according to referential translation, even "hot pot" can be translated Explain further the description.
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 10 meters and a weight of about 13 tons, which has won the Guinness World Records, attracted many audiences and merchants.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Han Haidan
Each of the three translations has advantages and disadvantages.
Transliteration is more convenient and unified, but the meaning is not clear; literal translation is more interesting, but the corresponding specific things are not clear enough, and sometimes even cause ambiguity.
Therefore, both translation methods need to correspond to pictures, objects or contexts so that foreign readers can understand the referent.
According to the referential translation, foreign readers are familiar with things or directly describe the counterparts, which are the easiest to understand, but sometimes not completely accurate, and the original names of the counterparts are also lost.
Why is the translation of geographical names related to a country's sovereignty?
Similar to cultural words, place names correspond to places unique to China and often contain rich cultural information.
For the transliteration of Chinese place names, the use of Chinese pinyin for transliteration is the main method.
This is the translation method with the least intervention by the translator, so it is relatively objective and easy to unify. At the same time, it is more in line with the pragmatic habits of phonetic characters, and it will not affect the writing in the text.
In addition, there is less ambiguity when transliterated place names are back-translated into Chinese, and it is easier for readers to back-translate through the translated names.
It should be noted that the biggest difference between place names and cultural words is that they relate to the sovereignty of a country.
Therefore, place name translation should stick to the Chinese Pinyin scheme.
In modern history, China once used pinyin created by the West for Chinese, such as Witoma-style Pinyin and Postal-style Pinyin, until the United Nations Secretariat issued a notice in 1979 that Hanyu Pinyin was adopted as the standard for transcribing Chinese names and place names in Latin alphabet.
On April 1, 2021, the Chinese-English bilingual version of "Xinhua Dictionary" was displayed in the exhibition area of the Commercial Press of the 34th Beijing Book Order Fair.
As the first modern Chinese dictionary in New China, "Xinhua Dictionary" was newly launched in the form of Chinese-English dual interpretation at this book order meeting, taking on the new mission of international language and cultural exchange.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Hou Yu
Hanyu Pinyin has always played a great role in the education of Chinese character recognition and reading, but it has not been vigorously promoted in foreign exchanges. For example, when many Chinese communicate with foreigners, they will choose a name that has nothing to do with their real name. foreign name.
In fact, to promote Chinese language and Hanyu Pinyin to the world, you might as well start with names and place names, and use Hanyu Pinyin to make more sense of presence in foreign exchanges, and gradually introduce and popularize it to foreigners.
How does the translation of place names "follow the literal meaning"?
The function of many place names in the text is only to point out the place, so the transliteration can generally achieve the most basic purpose of communication.
But in fact, the naming of place names has a certain meaning at the beginning, but many Western writing symbols are phonetic symbols. With the change of pronunciation, the meaning of place names gradually becomes unknown.
And Chinese characters have unique advantages in this regard, and many Chinese place names can be "literary", so it is also an option to translate the meaning of place names.
The biggest advantage of free translation of place names is the image, which will leave a deeper impression on readers.
For example, the translated name of "Yellow River", Yellow River, is definitely more impressive than Huanghe.
Many place names in Chinese can be reminiscent of their origins just by looking at their names, especially the names of some scenic spots.
Translating the connotation of these place names will undoubtedly add to its charm and also reflect the characteristics of Chinese characters.
In August 2021, in Tangke Town, Ruoergai County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, the scenery of the first bay of the Nine Curves of the Yellow River.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Lei
Compared with transliterated words, paraphrased words will be longer and consist of at least two or more substantive words. This does not conform to the habit of expressing place names in Western languages, and when used in texts, it will sometimes seem overwhelming.
In addition, the free translation of place names can also cause difficulties in back translation. For example, Black River may be "Heihe" or "Wujiang".
To solve this problem, commonly used place names and place names with longer free translations can appear together with transliterated words, which can not only express the meaning of place names, but also directly use concise transliterated words when they appear repeatedly.
In addition, can place names be translated using the translation of referents?
This is rare, but it does happen.
For example, Mount Everest in China was named Everest after being measured by the British in 1856 (taken from the name of an official of the Bureau of Surveying and Mapping at that time), and the Diaoyu Islands in China were also named Pinnacle Islands after being surveyed by the British at the end of the 19th century (because it looks like a house spire). .
As mentioned above, geographical names are usually related to the sovereignty of a country. If the name of a sovereign country is not used, it is obviously not enough respect for the country to which the geographical name belongs.
The reason why the above-mentioned areas can be named by other countries also reflects the weakness of China's national strength at that time, which is impossible in today's China.
On July 8, 2021, at the 2021 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC2021), the translation terminal displayed at the iFLYTEK booth can translate 8 languages at the same time.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhang Hengwei
How to make Chinese place names more "well-known"?
The translation of geographical names is not only a matter of language categories, but also related to national strength and the country's right to speak abroad.
From the perspective of China, of course, using the original form of proper names, Chinese characters, can best convey the connotation of Chinese place names.
At present, the transliterated place names are more in line with the writing and cognitive habits of the Latin alphabet, and the Chinese Pinyin can be used first to help the Chinese Pinyin program "going out".
But just as Chinese people have become accustomed to the long and meaningless names of people and places in the West, today China should also let Westerners gradually become familiar with Chinese-style names. characteristics, 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, not only because of the sound and meaning of the name itself, but also because of the stories of its corresponding people and places.
Therefore, if a place name wants to be "famous", it is more important to spread local stories, and more work needs to be done in cultural publicity and dissemination.
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About the Author:
Zhou Wei, associate professor of the School of European Studies, Beijing International Studies University, Ph.D. in French Language and Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
After studying in France for many years, he studied and obtained degrees at the University of Amiens in France and the University of Paris III.
His main research interests are translation and cross-cultural communication.
He presided over the National Social Science Project, the Beijing Project, and several school scientific research projects and education reform projects, and published the monograph "The Secret of Place Names: Research on the Translation of Chinese Place Names".