At the end of September last year, the author provided an article about the German general election for World Knowledge. Before publication, I called and said that the name of the female chancellor candidate of the German Federal Party should not be "Merkel", but "Merkel", and this is the "standard translation" stipulated by the press and publication department, so there is no way. As a result, all the "Merkel" in the text were changed to the author's "unbearable" Merkel. Why is it "unbearable"?

Because the original name of this German lady is "Merkel", a more accurate, elegant and feminine transliteration should be "Merkel" rather than "Merkel". However, "Merkel" is already a "standard translation" and there is nothing to do.

I can only sigh deeply when I think of the "unfortunate experiences" of other German names in China.

"Fowler" became "Waller"

Let me start with two examples of football. Two or three years ago, I just came back from Germany. I often heard reports from the famous German football coach "Waller" in the domestic media, but I don't know who he meant. I thought I had been in Germany for many years and I was familiar with most German celebrities. How could I know nothing about Waller? It took me several times to realize that Waller means Rudy Fleur. But for God's sake, the accurate transliteration of "Vller" should be "Folle" or "Folle" or "Folle", but it should never be "voller", because the first letter "V" should be pronounced as "F" instead of "W", which is the same as "Vater" in German. In addition, the more accurate and refreshing transliteration of "Bayern Munich" should be "Poplar-Munich", in which the sound of "rn" translated into "Ren" is too strong, and it is not pleasant to hear when it is spoken together. Bayer Leverkusen's German original name is Bayer Leverkusen, and its full name is Bayer Leverkusen. If Bayer is smaller than Bayer, the pronunciation will be different. The more accurate transliteration should be Bai Ya. Bayer Leverkusen should be translated as Bai Ya-Rever Kusen. Although the vowel "o" of "Buddha" is not quite right with the "er" in the original text, it sounds close. Like "Vller", the "V" in Chinese Pinyin should be translated into "F" instead of "W".

Let's look at the transliteration of the names of historical figures in Germany. Since the late19th century, with the rise of the German nation, the names of German philosophers, writers and politicians have been transliterated to China. These transliteration, it can be said, is a difficult book to read. The older generation writes it for the younger generation, and the colleagues write it for their colleagues. The more you write it, the thicker it becomes. The translation of the above-mentioned German football players and teams and "Merkel" is only the latest page of this book. In front of them, there are many troublesome but sometimes intriguing "classics".

Translation of foreign languages into local languages: the influence of dialects

Of course, most of the translations are accurate and elegant, which is not a problem. For example, the well-known Marx and Engels were all right, as were Goethe, Schiller, Kant and Hegel. But when it comes to Nietzsche and Bismarck, the problem comes. The original German name of Nietzsche is Nietzsche, and the more accurate transliteration should be Nietzsche, Nieqiu or Nieqiu. I wonder where Cai is from. Bismarck's original German name is Bismarck, and the accurate transliteration should be Bismarck. The sound of "gram" is very light and can be omitted. But how did the "horse" sound become the "wheat" sound? If there is no mistranslation of the original sound, there can only be one explanation, that is, he (probably one of Li Hongzhang's aides) is from the south and translated German according to his dialect. In some southern dialects, the word "Mai" is pronounced as "Ma", which is similar to the pronunciation of "Ma" in northern dialects.

It seems that dialects often play the role of "adding chaos" in German transliteration (Nietzsche's answer should probably be found here). However, due to the large number of dialects in China, although some translated German names have distorted the original sound in Putonghua after the founding of New China, they can sometimes achieve the effect of "getting it right" among the local population. A classic example is the transliteration of former German Chancellor Kohl. Because there is no "ko" sound in Mandarin, it is also a helpless choice to translate "Kohl" into "Cole". However, in some places in the south, "Ke" is pronounced with the original German sound "ko" in the dialect, and the German Chancellor can "correct his name". Isn't it wonderful?

German-English Translation: Language Collusion

The second problem of transliteration of German names is to read German names into English. For example, Mao Qi, a military strategist of Bismarck, should be accurately transliterated as "Mao Qi", but it has been translated as "Mao Qi". The voice of "Mao" is understandable, but where does "strange" come from? Probably translated his name into English (or from English works first). There are many such examples. For example, Thomas Mann, a great German literary master, has an English flavor when translated into "thomas mann", which cannot be said to be a successful transliteration. The accurate transliteration should be "Mang". Schmidt, the fifth Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, was translated as "Schmidt", and Schroeder, the seventh Chancellor who just stepped down, was also translated as "Schroeder". In fact, Sch in German is the closest to Xu in Chinese. Translating it into yes is actually reading it as English. In contrast, the transliteration of Austrian Prime Minister schuessel ("schuessel") is accurate, but the word "Sai" is misunderstood by TV announcers as "Sai". The correct pronunciation is "se", which should also be the translator's original intention.

"staccato": a blunt change

The third kind of problem is the abrupt change of the original sound. For example, Adenauer, the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, should have been translated into "Adenauer" or "Adenauer", but it was translated into "Adenauer", and the last three letters "uer" were cut off stiffly, regardless of the fact that "au" belonged to the same syllable, resulting in the nonexistent "n a" sound. Another example is the suffix of Himmler, the leader of the Nazi SS, which is exactly the same as Hitler's suffix. It should have been translated into "himle", but it was translated into "Himmler". Where did Lai come from? Is there such a sound? If the first two problems are excusable, then this unreasonable "standard translation" is the biggest headache for the post-translator. They have to repeat these mistranslations over and over again, as if they were forced to read white words and typos. Why can't we change it? Why make a mistake again and again until the end?

Many people say that the transliteration of foreigners' names is "established" and cannot be changed casually. If it is really "established", that's no problem. However, many transliteration we often see is often the difference between the initial translator's "reading" and the official "setting" to spread errors. Perhaps some readers will think that it doesn't matter how the foreigner's name is transliterated, as long as there is a translated name slightly different from the original sound. In fact, the accuracy of these transliteration will also affect the international reputation of China people. I remember 1984 when I first arrived in West Germany and studied German at Goethe Institute in Mannheim, a German teacher made fun of us Germans because we Germans translated the name of the then American president into "Reagan". Encouraged by a classmate, the German teacher was criticized by the dean. We thought at that time, in fact, we should be able to make a more accurate transliteration (such as "Regan") without leaving a laughing stock.

Yan Fu once asked translators to be "faithful and elegant". There is no difference between "Da" and "Da", but "Xin" and "Ya" are still used. "Faith" is as close as possible to the original sound, which is also the most important thing in my opinion. "Elegant" means as elegant as possible. "Believe", foreigners who know foreign languages and China people are comfortable and "elegant", and all China people are comfortable.

It is conceivable that when German Chancellor Angela Merkel first heard "Mok" (that is, "Merkel"), she might have a blank face and could not recognize that she was talking about herself. And when she hears "Meiker" ("Meikel"), she will definitely smile. It is said that she will visit China for the first time in May this year. I think it is better to send her a "Meckel" than a bunch of roses.