The standard is the "English Name Translation Manual" published by the Commercial Press and written by Xin Hua. When necessary, refer to the "New English-Chinese Dictionary" (Shanghai Translation Publishing House), the appendix of "Cihai" and the Chinese Geographical Names Committee. The Chinese character system of "English-Chinese Transliteration Table".

Marx and Engels are conventional, and another example is Holmes.

Bernoulli, some translated as Bernoulli

The following is about foreigners Information on name translation issues:

Name translation for foreigners is an important issue. In the past, the main reference book for people to translate English names was probably the "Handbook of Translation of English Names" compiled by the Xinhua News Agency and published by the Commercial Press (our school library has collected dozens of volumes, call number H315.9-62/ X37), the book is relatively simple, with no other content except Chinese translation. It is at best a "manual". The "English Name Dictionary" (K811-61/G28) published by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press in January 2002 is much richer in content. First of all, it has phonetic notation. English names often do not conform to the general pronunciation rules, so the phonetic notation is very difficult. important. Secondly, the meaning of the word is explained. Although the name is just a distinguishing symbol, it often has a certain meaning; just like the Chinese "Guodong", "Ruoyu" and "Congzhou" all express certain meanings, the English "Charles", " John" and "Peter" also have their own meanings. Third, it explains the etymology, which reflects the formation history of the English nation from one side, and also reflects many religious and cultural issues related to it. Fourth, variations and nicknames for the same word are listed, often more than one. This is also very useful. For example, readers can know that the often mentioned name "Bill" of former US President Clinton is actually the nickname of "William". Finally, the editor also wrote two short articles on "The Historical Evolution of English Names" and "Types of English Surnames", which are also of great benefit to readers.

However, this dictionary also has many shortcomings. First, as a "name dictionary", the "names" it contains (according to the English title of the dictionary, Christian names) are relatively complete, but the "surnames" (surnames) are far from complete; However, for Chinese readers, what is more needed is “surname”. Generally speaking, it is not difficult for us to look up "names" because many English dictionaries are accompanied by more or less detailed lists of names, and some also provide introductions to their origins, variations, nicknames, etc. It is worth noting that these lists of names are either called "list

of common forenames" (such as Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current

English) or "personal names" (such as Chambers 20th Century

Dictionary), only lists "forenames" (first names) but not "surnames" (surnames). In this way, we can find the name "Winston" in these dictionaries, but not the surname "Churchill"; and what most Chinese readers need to look up is probably the famous British Prime Minister surname. This kind of list of names that only lists first names but not surnames may be useful to readers whose native language is English, but it may not be very suitable for Chinese readers who speak English as a foreign language.

From ancient times to the present, Europeans generally refer to kings or emperors by their first names but not their surnames. The reason is very simple. Kings of the same dynasty all have the same "surname". For example, the British Tudor Dynasty (1485 The kings of the Stuart dynasty (1603-1714) were all surnamed "Tudor", and the kings of the Stuart dynasty (1603-1714) were all surnamed "Stuart". They can only be distinguished by their names. For ordinary people, the situation is different. Except for calling people by their first names among family members and close friends, on other occasions the surname is usually used instead of the first name. Only when it is necessary to distinguish people with the same surname, the first name is used.

For example, there were two famous Cromwells in British history. One was Thomas Cromwell, a favorite of Henry VIII who played an important role in the break between the British royal family and the Holy See.

Cromwell, about 1485～1540), and the other is the military dictator Oliver Cromwell (Oliver

Cromwell, 1599～1658) who was more than a hundred years later than him; if not specified, it is " Thomas" or "Oliver", it's hard to tell them apart. The Napoleon that people are familiar with, whose full name is Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), went through a process from a surname to a given name throughout his life. He was originally called M. Bonaparte, and even after he became a general, he was still called General Bonaparte; only after he became emperor, he was called Emperor Napoleon. The only ones who seem to have broken the "exception" on this issue are the Italians. They only refer to their four most outstanding cultural celebrities by their first names but not their surnames. These four people are the poet Dante (Dante

Alighieri, 1265～1321) and the three great painters of the Renaissance, Leonardo da

Vinci, 1452 ~1519), Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475~1564) and Raphael (Raffaello

Sanzio, or Santi, 1483~1530, usually translated as Raphael in English). It is worth noting that except for Leonardo, who was renamed by the Chinese as Leonardo da Vinci, we all respected the Italians’ own habits. Italian names often have the word "di" or "da" in them, which is roughly similar to the French "de" or the German "von". The meaning is approximately equivalent to the English "of" or "from", indicating the place where they belong or where they come from. . In fact, "Vinci" is the name of the town where the great painter was born. "Leonardoda

Vinci" is the name of "Leonardo from Vinci" or "Leonardo of Vinci" Meaning; just say "da

Vinci", which roughly means "Vinci people" (similar to our "Zhouzhuang people" and "Nanxun people"). G2HQl)

To sum up, when compiling an English name dictionary for Chinese people, it is obvious that both names should be given equal emphasis, with more emphasis on “surnames”. However, therein lies the difficulty. The surnames of many other Americans, including some famous figures, cannot be found in this dictionary. Among them are several former US secretaries of state and defense secretaries who are familiar to most Chinese, such as Kissinger and Schur. tz, Weinberger, and General Schwarzkopf, the American commander in the 1991 Gulf War. They are all Americans, and their surnames can naturally only be regarded as English surnames; but these surnames are not originally English, but are German surnames brought to the United States with the arrival of German immigrants. It can be known from their surnames that these senior American officials are all "German-Americans."

c6L;)

American Hermann Joseph Muller (Hermann Joseph Muller, 1890-1967), who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1946, was born in In New York City, his name "Hermann" still retains the practice of doubling German consonants (indicating the short pronunciation of the preceding vowels), but the surname (Muller) has been "anglicized", with "u" instead of the German variable. The sound is "ü", but this surname cannot be found in this "English Name Dictionary". Also missing was the surname of the famous American geochemist Edwin Roedder. He told me that he was a descendant of German immigrants for several generations and could no longer speak a word of German. , considers himself a pure American. Similar problems also exist among the descendants of immigrants from other European countries such as France and Italy, as well as a large number of descendants of Spanish-speaking immigrants.

The United States is a country that does not yet have an official language (official

language), but English is widely spoken. Although English is commonly spoken, a large number of non-English speaking immigrants have entered from the past to the present. Many of these immigrants will take an English name after arriving in the United States, but retain their original non-English surname (for example, the original Chinese movie star Chen Chong is now "Joan

Chen"). These surnames are also usually spelled with English letters. Symbols that were not in English in the original text, such as the changed vowels in German, and the open and closed notes in French and Spanish, may be retained at first, but they are often lost over time. Some of their pronunciations remain basically the same, while others have become "Englishized" over a period of time. "Weinberg", which is transliterated into Chinese as "Weinberg", is an example. The "ei" in it is no longer pronounced as [ai] in German, but as [ei] in English. All of these make American surnames very diverse and complex; but people have to admit that they are all English surnames. ——Especially those whose spelling and pronunciation have been "Englishized".

Second, as we have said before, the most commonly used language in the world now is English, so no matter what nationality the "foreigner" originally was or what language his name was in, our contact Their names are often mentioned in English books, newspapers, radio and television. In this way, as a dictionary of English names (rather than a dictionary of British names), it cannot but include these non-English names that have been translated into English, such as Columbus, Marx, Engels, Einstein, and Strauss. Unfortunately, all these surnames are not included in this Dictionary of English Names. The editor explains in the "Foreword" that "due to space limitations, this book focuses on the surnames and common Christian names of the various ethnic groups in the British Isles." However, in this way, the use value of the dictionary will be greatly reduced, at least " Fold in half”, maybe more. The "handbook" of Xinhua News Agency, which is much smaller than this dictionary, is more practical than this in this regard, because Columbus, Kissinger, Engels, Einstein, Schulz, etc. can be found. However, famous contemporary French figures such as de Gaulle and Pompidou, famous Spanish painters such as Picasso and Dali, and famous Russian writers such as Tolstoy and Sholokhov are still missing from this manual. Since Latin letters are also used, it may be said that the names of French, Spanish, Italian and other countries seen in English documents are mixed "original texts" and not English translations (this is indeed the case in many cases, and some retain phonetic sounds that are not found in English. distinguishing symbols, or using different fonts), but Russian names are no longer spelled in Cyrillic (Slavic letters) but in Latin letters, so they can only be regarded as English translations.

Third, there are a few things that are not paid enough attention to in the Chinese translation of English names. For example, the frequently used name "Charles" only has a Chinese translation of "Charles". In fact, this name was originally translated as "Charlie" in Chinese. In the early days, there were many compradors with foreign names, including Charlie Zhang, Charlie Chen, and Charlie Song. Later, although "Charles" was commonly used, as the king's name, it was still translated as "Charlie". The article "Historical Evolution of English Names" at the front of this dictionary contains the words "after the restoration of Charles II in 1660", but the word "Charlie" cannot be found in the main text. To this day, it can be said that "Charlie" and "Charles" are both "conventional" translations; as the king's name, it is generally translated as "Charlie", and as the name of other people, it is often translated as "Charles". The problem is that the current British Crown Prince is also called "Charles", which we translate as "Prince Charles"; but when he succeeds to the throne in the future, he will be ranked right after the restored "Charles

Ⅱ" , should be "Charles III". Will we translate it as "Charlie III" by then? Or is it translated as "Charles III"? E[ 0\

Interestingly, de Gaulle's first name was also "Charles", so his full name is "Charles de

Gaulle". Although generally we just call him "De Gaulle", in a few cases it is necessary to say "Charles de Gaulle".

It turns out that many personal names in European languages ??have the same origin. "Charles" comes from Teutonic (Germanic), which means "big man". It’s called “Carlos” in Spanish and “Karl” in German. Although the French spelling is the same as English, it’s also called “Charles”, but the pronunciation is different. The pronunciation of the French letter combination "ch" is similar to the English "sh", and the "s" at the end of the word is silent. Therefore, the French "Charles" can neither be translated as "Charlie" nor "Charles", but should be translated as "Char" . The founder of Marxism is translated into German as "Karl Marx" (Karl

Marx 1818-1883). In the same way, the Spanish "Charles V" that many ui

people translate in English should be translated as "Carlos V". ——He can also be called "Karl

V" (Karl V), because in addition to being the King of Spain, he was also elected emperor by the "electors" of the First German Empire, so he was named It is also reasonable for German names to match. !;

Similar to "Charles", there are many names with the same origin but different forms in different European languages, and many of them are common names. When translating, it is not advisable to translate everything into English. Here are a few more examples for readers' reference: Y"6Ls

John: From Hebrew, the original meaning is probably "Yag us

gracuiys". In other European languages Here, the closest thing to the English form is German, as "Johann" or "Johannes"; the Chinese translation of "John" is similar in pronunciation to German, but far from English. It is also often nicknamed "Hans" ( Hans), and this nickname is often used as a formal given name in French, "Juan" in Spanish, "Giovanni" in Italian, and Dutch. "Jan" (Yang), Russian "Ivan" (Ivan or Ivan). From this we can know that "Janssen" in the Netherlands and Belgium, "Ivanov" in Russia, Ivanov or Ivanov. , in fact, it is equivalent to the English "Johnson" (Johnson)

c<+;2

Henry: from Germanic, the original meaning is "house

ruler". It is now called "Heinrich" in German, and has nicknames such as "Heiz" and "Hinz". It is called "Henri" in French. The French letter "h" is silent, and "en" is pronounced as in Chinese. "An" has a similar sound, so we now translate the name of the famous forward of the French football team as "Henry", which actually does not match the French pronunciation of "Enrico" in Italian and "Enrique" in Spanish. "(Enrique) is called "Hendrik" in Dutch, which is even further away from "Henry".

Peter: From Greek, the original meaning is "rock". German, Russian and It's all pronounced as "Peter" in English, "Pierre" in French, "Pedro" in Spanish, "Pietro" in Italian, and "Peer" in Norwegian. "(Pierre). The Russian word "Peterov" means exactly the same as the English word "Peterson".

sCW#IS

James: from Hebrew slang, meaning "follower supplanter, or

deceiver".

German "Jakob" (Jacob), French "Jacques" (Jacques, the current French President Chirac is the name, we obviously cannot call him "James Chirac"), Italian "Jacopo" (Jacob) , "Giacomo" (Giacomo) or "Iachimo" (Aximo), Spanish "Jacobo" (Jacob) or "Diego" (Digo).

Lewis: From Germanic, "famous

warrior". German "Ludwig" (Ludwig), French "Louis" (Louis, there have been many kings with this name in French history), Italian "Luigi" (Luigi), Spanish "Luis" (Louis) . Common names with silent final consonants like "Louis" in French include "Philip". This name (and its many variants) is translated as "Philip" in English and "Philip" in French; starting from 1052, in nearly In three hundred years, France had six kings with this name (Philip I to VI).

The translation of foreign names is a very complex issue. Objectively speaking, it is natural for confusion to occur within a certain period of time; but if it remains so for a long time, it can no longer be regarded as a natural thing. Names are the most important distinguishing symbol. However, in recent years, authors and translators have "acted as they please", editors have not checked the standards, and relevant government departments have let it go and "do nothing".

Problems that arise in the translation of foreign names are generally as follows: r

1) If there is a conventional translation method, a new name must be translated. The famous British poet Alexander Pope (

1688～1744) is translated as "Poe", which is different from "Poe" which is usually translated as "Poe", such as the famous American poet Edgar Allan Poe ( Edgar Allan Poe

1809-1849). The article "Hitler's Testament" in the 18th issue of "Chinese and Foreign Journals" in 1997 translated the famous Nazi German figure Hermann

Gòring as "G?bing" and Joseph Goebbels. Translated as "Gebels", Ribbentrop (Gertrud von

Ribbentrop) was translated as "Ribbentrop". I don't know if this is due to a lack of basic common sense, or if it is a deliberate attempt to cause confusion. Wherever there is a conventional translation, "custom" should be followed; even if the original translation is not suitable, there is no need to change it. For example, the English "John" is translated as "

John" and "Johnson" is translated as " Johnson". Hba_8

2) Mistaking occupation or title for name. A Chinese journalist based in London called Diana's brother Earl Spencer "Earl Spencer", obviously taking the title "Earl" as his name (see "Wenhui Reading Weekly" 1997 < /p>

November 8, 2018). The article in "Chinese and Foreign Journals" mentioned above mistook the title of the dictator's secretary, Mrs. Jung, as "Madame" (Frau in German) as her name, transliterating it as "Frau". "Southern Weekend" article "Millennium Years" on November 14, 1997 mistranslated Johann Gutenberg, who was the first to invent movable type printing in Europe in 1445, as "Goldsmith." "Gutenberg", in fact, the "goldsmith" in the original text is the German "Goldschmied", which means "goldsmith, jeweler". The translator obviously mistook his occupation for his name. Another major newspaper this year mistook his field marshal rank (Field Marshal) for his name in an article about British Field Marshal Montgomery during World War II, transliterating it as "Field Marshall." In addition, it is even more common to see the aristocratic title "Lord" translated as "Lord" as a name.

_9B

3) Translate names in German, French, Spanish and other European languages ??according to their English pronunciation. Such problems often arise when CCTV Sports Channel reports the names of foreign athletes. For example, the French football player "Petit" (the original meaning is "little", similar to the English "Small" and the German "Klein") is translated as "Petit". In fact, the consonant "t" at the end of the French word is not pronounced, so why "special" Is there any?

Here are a few suggestions: .

1) The Language Working Committee, in addition to standardizing Chinese, should also assume the task of standardizing translation, and this is first of all for foreigners Standardization of Chinese translation of names. Related to this is the Chinese translation of place names. On the one hand, many place names come from personal names. For example, there are many place names in Latin America named after Columbus. On the other hand, many personal names, especially surnames, come from place names.

2) The translated name should be translated from the native language of the name user as much as possible, following the principle of "name follows the principal place of origin". For example, the examples of "Charles", "Heinrich", and "John" mentioned above in this article. For names that have been "anglicized", if the pronunciation in English is significantly different from the pronunciation in the original language, the translations in the two languages ??should be listed separately. For example, a person with the surname "Weiss" should be translated as "Weiss" if he is German, and "Weiss" if he is American. The Spanish call the current British Crown Prince "Carlos", but we should obviously translate it into English as "Prince Charles"; conversely, the British call the current King of Spain "John"

3) If there is a conventional translation method, the "custom" should be followed. Even if the original translation is not quite suitable, do not change it. For example, as a dairy trademark, "Johnson" may be translated as "Johnson (milk powder)", but as a name, it is better to translate it into "Johnson" that everyone is accustomed to.

4) Be careful not to mistake some people’s occupations, titles, titles, etc. as names and mix them into the translation. This point seems simple, but it is easy to make mistakes if you are not careful, because some names, especially surnames, are indeed derived from occupations, titles, and titles. For example, the English "mason" (Mason) is a stonemason and mason, and "smith" (Smith) is a blacksmith; the German "Schuhmacher" (Schumacher) is a shoemaker, "Graf" (Graf) is a count, and "Faβbinder" (Fassbinder) Germany) is a cooper. Some large wine barrels in Germany are made of wood. Therefore, there is not only a famous film director named "Faβbinder" in Germany, but also people with "Faβbinder" as their profession.

5) After the Chinese translation, it is best to annotate the original text for reference, and you can also add the year of birth and death. WBqH=

What we have to admit is that the principle of "name follows main registration" is sometimes not easy to follow, and sometimes it does not conform to the conventional translation method. For example, Christopher Columbus (Christopher

Columbus) was born in a Genoese Jewish family who was descended from Spanish immigrants. According to Italian, his surname should be "Cristoforo

Colombo". He once "worked" for Portugal. Because his plan to cross the Atlantic Ocean to the west and go to Asia failed to get the support of the Portuguese royal family, he had to turn to Spain, which had not yet been unified at the time, for help. Under the auspices of Queen Isabella I (Isabella

I, 1451-1504), they made the trip and "discovered" the New World. But he also did not use the Spanish "Cristobal

Colomo", but chose the classical form of the surname "Columbus" and used "Colón" as its Spanish form (so his son's full name is Diego < /p>

Colón).

There are many place names called "Colón" in Latin America, obviously commemorating him, such as the Columbus Islands in Ecuador mentioned above. "Name comes from principal place of residence", should it come from Italian or Spanish? If from Spanish, is it "Colomo" or "Colón"? It seems that the conventional "Columbus" translated from English is the best choice, but in this case, many place names with the word "Colón" in Latin America should not be translated as "Cologne..." but should be changed. It became "Columbus...".