Translation of Personal and Place Names from and into Chinese in Modern China: A Lexicographical History Perspective

Abstract

This article mainly discusses the standardization of the translation of personal and place names. In the first section, common problems in the translations of foreign names and Chinese names are summarized. The basic principles of the translation of personal names are discussed and several systems used in the transliteration history of Chinese names are presented in detail. The author also makes a brief review and comments on bilingual dictionaries of personal names published in modern China. In the second section, based on the practices and lessons of translation of place names from and into Chinese, the author refines the basic principles of the standardization of translated place names, summarizes the methods and strategies for place names translation, and sums up the unified translations of certain disputed place names based on the summary of common problems in place names translation in official publications. In the third section, it is believed that the standardization of place names translation depends on the compilation of authoritative dictionaries of place names. In this section, several representative translated dictionaries of place names in late Qing dynasty, the Republic of China, and the People’s Republic of China are reviewed. The author analyses the characteristics of these dictionaries and their contributions to the unification of translated place names and sums up the overall translation history of the standardization of place names in modern China.