China Naming Network - Almanac query - Why are the translated names of mainland Taiwan Province Province different?

Why are the translated names of mainland Taiwan Province Province different?

Different translations reflect different cultures in three places across the Taiwan Strait.

Author: translation agency joined Shuobo on August 7, 2009, and the number of hits was 1 175 times.

Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po recently published an article entitled "Three Translations Reflect the Cultures of the Three Sides of the Taiwan Straits". The article points out that there are three different translations of loanwords, especially names, in Chinese mainland, Hongkong and Taiwan Province provinces. If the translation in any of the three places is excellent and appropriate, it will gradually be used for reference and adopted by the other two places. It not only reflects the cultural differences between the three places across the Taiwan Strait, but also complements each other through mutual blending and infiltration, which is a phenomenon of cultural interaction between the three places across the Taiwan Strait. The so-called "three translations" refer to three different translations of loanwords, especially names, in Chinese mainland, Hongkong and Taiwan Province Province. If you don't understand the "three translations", you will often encounter the dilemma of more chickens and fewer ducks. If the translation in any of the three places is excellent and appropriate, it will gradually be used for reference and adopted by the other two places. "Three translations" not only reflect the cultural differences among the three places, but also complement each other through mutual blending and infiltration, which is a phenomenon of cultural interaction among the three places.

At the just-concluded 20th Hong Kong Book Fair, the local book "The New Story of Things" was very popular, which tells how Cantonese has influenced China for 30 years. Several cultural figures from Guangdong and Hong Kong expressed different views on the diversity of language and culture when talking about "stabilizing" Cantonese, which has been repeatedly used in China recently. They pointed out "counterfeiting", "beating people", "paying the bill", "speculation", "eye-catching", "vigorous", "funny" and "T-shirts". Some commentators pointed out: "The process of Cantonese influencing China is itself a process of translation. "Pay the bill" has become "pay the bill" and "repair" has become "repair" ... "

The proposition that Cantonese influences China is itself a translation process, which reminds me of another interesting proposition: "Three translations in three places reflect the cultures of the three places across the Taiwan Straits". The author has been engaged in current affairs and cultural criticism for many years, and is quite interested in the phenomenon of "three translations" between the mainland and Hong Kong and Taiwan. The author believes that if you don't understand the "three translations", you will often encounter the dilemma of chicken telling duck. Historically, "three translations" is not a simple translation problem, but involves all aspects of culture, customs and even politics. The phenomenon of "three translations" takes the translation of political figures as an example: Mrs. Thatcher was translated into Mrs. Thatcher in Chinese mainland, Mrs. Thatcher in Taiwan Province Province and Mrs. Daidrow in Hongkong; Ronald Reagan translated Reagan in Chinese mainland, Reagan in Taiwan Province Province and Reagan in Hongkong. Bill Clinton translated Clinton in mainland China and Clinton in Taiwan Province Province. Both translations are used in Hongkong. George Bush translated Bush in China, Taiwan Province Province called Bush, and Hongkong called Bush; John fitzgerald kennedy translated Kennedy in the mainland, Taiwan Province Province translated Kennedy, and Hong Kong translated Kennedy; Henry alfred kissinger translated Kissinger from the mainland, Taiwan Province Province called Ji Xinji, and Hong Kong followed the mainland; Lyndon johnson was translated from Zhan Sen, Taiwan Province, Hongkong or Zhan Sen and Qiang Sen. ...

There are many differences between "three translations in three places". First of all, Chinese mainland's translation is a syllable-by-syllable translation. According to the custom of China's names, Taiwan Province Province often translates foreigners' names in less than three words. It is too rigid to translate one syllable and one sound in mainland China. For example, before the Cultural Revolution, a Russian drama theorist had a very long translation name: "stanislavski", which was probably too long, and later it became the word "Stani", leaving out the wordy word "Slavski", which was easy to remember and catchy. It seems that the "three translations" can be used for reference by the mainland in the aspect of "simplifying the Sanqiu tree by deleting the complexity".

Second, mainland translation pays more attention to "the distinction between China and foreign countries", which makes people know that they are foreigners at a glance. For example, the name "Kissinger" is a foreigner at first glance, but it is difficult to tell whether it is a foreigner or a China person in Kissinger's translation of Taiwan Province Province "Ji Xinji". Taiwan Province Province and Hongkong translated the names of foreigners, and most of them had China's surname. For example, Mrs. Chai is called Mrs. Daidrow or Mrs. Sheqier, while "Dai" and "She" are China surnames, but "Sa" is not. Successive governors, such as Yang, Grantham, Dai Linzhi, MacLehose, Youde, Wilson, Patten, etc. , also have China surname. Patten, the last British governor, was translated into Patten by the British Foreign Office. He has both a Chinese surname and the name of "Stable and Kangtai", which shows that this Englishman has a discerning eye and knows the power of China people and knows how to do as the Romans do. Patten was translated into Patten by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, which made people puzzled. I didn't know who he was, but he soon changed to Patten.

This practice of translating China's name to foreigners was not initiated by Hong Kong and Taiwan. In fact, it was inherited from mainland translation circles since the May 4th New Culture Movement. Most of the foreign celebrities who survived at that time had China surnames, such as Bernard Shaw, Chaplin, Washington, Lincoln, Dulles, Roosevelt, Marshall, Stilwell and Charles de Gaulle. In 1930s, the left-wing literary and art circles headed by Lu Xun were the main force in translating Soviet Russian literature at that time, and they also gave many Russian writers China surnames, such as Gorky, Nikolai Gogol, Pushkin and Chekhov. However, after 1949, mainland translators emphasized the transliteration of foreigners' names, and the number of foreign names translated later was less than that of China surnames.

"Three translations in three places" also reveals the differences in customs, politics and culture among the three places. For example, Taiwan Province Province named Obama "Obama" because the word "ao" means "bad" in Minnan dialect, and the so-called "ao bu" is a despicable and bad trick. Another example is former US President Bill Clinton. Taiwan Province Province probably thought "Dick" was not a good word, and it didn't look like China's surname, so it named him "Clinton". It is worth mentioning that Mrs. Clinton, translated as "Hillary" in the mainland, can't tell whether she is a man or a woman. Hongkong and Taiwan Province Province believe that people are at least women, so they are translated as "Hillary" and "Hillary" respectively. In my opinion, Taiwan Province's translation of "Hillary" seems a bit like a teenage girl. After all, she is more beautiful than her husband now, and she is also the Secretary of State. It seems more appropriate to translate "Hillary" from Hong Kong.

Another example is Che Guevara, known as the "Palace of Communism"? Don Quixote's idealist is seldom used in Chinese mainland and Taiwan Province province? Guevara's translation, while Hong Kong translated into Cheguhuala. It seems that Hong Kong and Taiwan are still following the translation principle of "faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance" at the beginning of last century. In 1950s, China translated the African country "Mozambique" into "Mozambique's nose", which was really indecent. Later, it was changed to "Mozambique", which is more elegant. For example, the word computer is still called "computer" by some people in mainland China, but it has been translated into "computer" in Hong Kong and Taiwan. This translation is more appropriate, and now it has replaced the "computer" translation. In terms of "faithfulness and elegance", Hong Kong and Taiwan are also worth learning from the mainland.

China people's surnames are specially chosen by Hong Kong and Taiwan to translate foreigners' names, in order to achieve "elegance". However, the names of foreigners are too China-like, and sometimes "it is difficult to distinguish foreigners from foreigners". For example, the mainland translated Saddam into "Saddam? Hussein ",Taiwan Province province is called" Shadan "? Anyway, Husheng, known as Saddam Hussein in Hongkong, is the name of a China woman. It is no problem to translate a China name for foreigners, as long as it is faithful to the original pronunciation. The translation of foreigners' names in Chinese mainland strictly follows the three principles of giving priority to transliteration, subordinating names to owners and being established, and sometimes it is slightly better than that in Hong Kong and Taiwan, such as "Saddam Hussein? Hussein's translation is more appropriate and accepted by Hong Kong. If the translation of any one of the three places is excellent and appropriate, it will be gradually borrowed and adopted by the other two places, which is a phenomenon of cultural interaction among the three places.

For a long time, a large number of Cantonese dialects have been going northward, such as Touqitang, Shengmeng, Expelled, Shortlisted, Wet-broken, Material, Industrial and so on. There are still a large number of Putonghua going south, such as flexibility, going to sea, ten thousand households, laid-off, investors, informants, Lao Lai, original ecology, white-collar workers, jokes and so on. "Three translations in three places" not only reflects the cultural differences between the three places on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, but also draws on each other's strong points through mutual blending and infiltration.