i__forget 16 Report post Posted June 12, 2019 I am looking for a resource that explains the translation of English names to Chinese. In this case i am trying to understand why Broadway is translated to 百老汇。 Anyone knows? Thanks in advance Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shelley 1,862 Report post Posted June 12, 2019 I think it is because it is a transliteration not a translation. Lots of names are done like this, using characters that have a sound close to the original and a meaning that may have nothing to do with the original. Sometimes the meaning of the characters will have something to do with the original but not required. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mungouk 1,021 Report post Posted June 12, 2019 And something I always wondered... in terms of proper nouns — countries at least — who actually decides? Is there any official body or does it just happen? For example USA being 美国 — who decided it was 美? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
li3wei1 440 Report post Posted June 12, 2019 Who decided it was 'America'? I was taught that someone named Amerigo Vespucci signed his name to a map, and somebody else thought his first name referred to the continent, and the rest was history. The process in Chinese is probably similar. I've seen two different versions of 'Disney' in Chinese, and they both come up with lots of hits on Google. At least in that case there is a corporate body that presumably cares which version is used, and has some influence over it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shelley 1,862 Report post Posted June 12, 2019 Apart from royalty, first names are not used to name places, so the Amerigo Vespucci theory has been dismissed by many people. It is probably from a native Indian word, meaning us or here. I think usage determines what becomes accepted and the norm. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
889 1,775 Report post Posted June 12, 2019 You'll find reference books available in China that set out standards for proper names. Useful when your paper includes the obligatory quote from Marx. Whether from Groucho, Zeppo, Chico or Gummo. (Nobody ever quotes Harpo.) 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dawei3 327 Report post Posted June 12, 2019 2 hours ago, mungouk said: For example USA being 美国 — who decided it was 美? Several years ago on UPenn's language log they discussed this. It originally started as a 4 character word that was shortened to just 2. That is Yàměilìjiā 亞美利架 became 美国 One post noted: About one hundred years ago, the Chinese translation of America is 亞美利架, all with mouth radicals, and then it changed to 亚美利亚, because they are easier to write. Now it shortened to 美国 or 美. At present almost nobody write 亚美利亚. https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=27245 I also remember someone posting more details on this, I believe it was a "Jenny Lee", but I can't find that post. This post discussed how the characters for several countries were chosen: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=26204 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dawei3 327 Report post Posted June 12, 2019 Mungouk, I should add, I realize the above doesn't exactly answer your question. The languagelog posts discuss the assignment of words for various countries dating back to the 1700s to the time of emperors. It may be that their staff made these kinds of decisions for documents (as a guess). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites