Why Some English Words Are Controversial In China!!

 

In today's Chinese publications, English abbreviations and acronyms also pop up frequently without any Chinese translations: GDP, WTO, Wifi, CEO, MBA, VIP and the air pollutant term PM2.5 are among the most popular.


This phenomenon, termed "zero translation", has sparked a fierce debate, with the Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper People's Daily the latest to join the fray.

"Why is zero translation so prevalent?" screams the headline in a recent commentary piece, citing as a bad example the text below, which considers the merits of an open source platform.

"采用了基于OpenEdX开源平台，开发了HTML5视频播放器，不再依赖国外课程播放首选的YouTube，解决了国内用户无法访问国外edX平台问题。"

"Why do we have translations for Nokia and Motorola, but not for iPhone or iPad?" ask the authors.





What irritates them is the fact that these foreign terms are found not only in newspapers and online, but in serious science journals as well. "How many people can understand these words?" they ask.

Put this in context - the Chinese language has over the years absorbed many foreign terms, especially English words. Early adoptions include 雷达 (leida) for "radar", 坦克 (tanke) for "tank", and 巧克力 (qiaokeli) for "chocolate".

Coca-Cola, whose Chinese rendition 可口可乐 (kekou kele) literally means "tasty and jolly", conveys a sense of euphoria that it is often held up as the best brand translation.

 US basketball is very popular in China and "NBA" was used on TV for many years before the authorities decided to ban it in 2010, in favour of the Chinese rendition 美 (mei zhi lan), which literally means American professional basketball instead.

 This proved very controversial. In 2012, the Modern Chinese Dictionary, long considered the authority in language use, included NBA and more than 200 other foreign words in its new edition, and NBA made its way back on TV.

 Around 100 scholars then signed an open letter to the national publication authorities, accusing the dictionary editors of violating Chinese laws and regulations. They argued that including such English terms and abbreviations in the Chinese dictionary would do long-term damage to the language.

There has even been a suggestion that the title of Chinese state television, CCTV, should be banned.It is, after all, an English abbreviation.