Manual for Translating Foreign Place Names

Author: Edited by Zhou Dingguo
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1998-01-01
Features: To achieve the unification and standardization of the Chinese translation of foreign geographical names and gradually eliminate the confusion in foreign geographical name translations in society, following the publication of the "Handbook of Translations of Foreign Geographical Names," we have successively compiled the "Handbook of Translations of American Geographical Names," "Handbook of Translations of Federal German Geographical Names," and "Handbook of Translations of Soviet Geographical Names," all published by the Commercial Press. The "Handbook of Translations of Foreign Geographical Names," published in 1983, played a positive role in standardizing the Chinese translations of names of important geographical entities and town names abroad; however, due to its limited entries (over 17,000), it could not fully meet societal needs. To adapt to the situation of "opening up to the outside world," we edited this medium-sized "Handbook of Translations of Foreign Geographical Names," with over 95,000 entries, as a standardized reference for foreign geographical name translations for use by relevant personnel in various sectors of society. Due to the inclusion of geographical names from countries and regions outside China, and with a large number of entries involving complex language issues, some inaccuracies may exist in the translations of foreign geographical names. We hope readers from all sectors will provide valuable feedback for revision in future editions. This handbook compiles over 95,000 foreign geographical names, including country (region) names, capital (capital) names, first-level administrative divisions of countries, important populated places, and names of natural geographical entities. It also includes some historical geographical names. Each entry consists of four components: Roman alphabet spelling, Chinese translation, location, and geographic coordinates. This handbook is available for use by professionals in foreign affairs, national defense, public security, transportation, postal and telecommunications, foreign trade, press and publication, education and culture, scientific research, cartography, and translation.
II. The translation of geographical names in the handbook follows the "General Rules for the Romanization of Foreign Geographical Names" formulated by the China Geographical Names Commission, as well as Romanization tables for more than 50 languages, including English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, and Arabic. The translations of geographical names in the "Handbook of Translations of Foreign Geographical Names," "Handbook of Translations of American Geographical Names," "Handbook of Translations of Federal German Geographical Names," "Handbook of Translations of Soviet Geographical Names," and the "World Geographical Names" approved by the China Geographical Names Commission are generally retained, with minor corrections to individual names.
III. The world geographical names collected in this handbook follow the official spelling of countries that use the Roman alphabet as their standard script. For countries that do not use the Roman alphabet, the official transliteration systems of those countries are adopted. If no official transliteration system exists, the internationally accepted Romanization method is used.