Foreign Place Name Translation Manual - Medium Version

Author: China Geographical Names Committee
Publisher:
Publishing Time: Not available
Features: To achieve the unification and standardization of the Chinese transliteration of foreign geographical names and gradually eliminate the confusion of foreign geographical name translations in society, following the publication of the "Handbook of Transliteration of Foreign Geographical Names," we have successively compiled the "Handbook of Transliteration of American Geographical Names," "Handbook of Transliteration of Federal German Geographical Names," and "Handbook of Transliteration of Soviet Geographical Names," all published by the Commercial Press. The "Handbook of Transliteration of Foreign Geographical Names" published in 1983 played a positive role in standardizing the Chinese transliteration of names of important geographical entities and towns 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 compiled this medium-sized "Handbook of Transliteration of Foreign Geographical Names" with over 95,000 entries, as a standardized reference for foreign geographical name transliteration for use by relevant personnel in various sectors of society. Due to the inclusion of geographical names from countries and regions other than China, and the complexity of the language issues involved, there may be some inaccuracies in the transliteration of foreign geographical names. We welcome readers from all walks of life to 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 various countries, important settlements, and names of natural geographical entities. It also includes some historical geographical names. Each entry consists of four parts: Roman alphabet spelling, Chinese transliteration, geographical location, and geographic coordinates. This handbook is available for use by personnel in foreign affairs, national defense, public security, transportation, postal and telecommunications, foreign trade, press and publication, education, science, research, cartography, and translation.
II. The translation of geographical names in this handbook follows the "General Rules for the Chinese Transliteration of Foreign Geographical Names" formulated by the China Geographical Names Committee, as well as romanization tables for more than 50 languages, including English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, and Arabic. The transliterations of geographical names in the "Handbook of Transliteration of Foreign Geographical Names," "Handbook of Transliteration of American Geographical Names," "Handbook of Transliteration of Federal German Geographical Names," "Handbook of Transliteration of Soviet Geographical Names," and the "World Geographical Names" approved by the China Geographical Names Committee 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 Roman alphabets as their standard writing system, including the generic names. For countries that do not use Roman alphabets, the official transliteration of their names is adopted. If no official transliteration exists, the internationally accepted Roman alphabet transliteration is used.