When considering the transliteration of non-Chinese words into Chinese characters, one has to know the following facts: Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into another writing system. ... Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ...

• Chinese is written with monosyllabic logograms. Therefore, a word of three syllables is transliterated into three Chinese characters, i.e., three meaningful verbal units.
• Homophones abound in Chinese, if tones are disregarded. Therefore, there are plenty of characters to choose from when transliterating a word. In other words, one can manipulate the transliteration to suit one's purpose.

A transliteration into Chinese characters is sometimes intended to reflect the meaning as well as the sound of the transliterated. For example, the common ending -ва in a Russian female name is usually transliterated as 娃 (pinyin:wā; "baby", "girl"), and the -в in a male name as 夫 (pinyin:fū; "man"); Utopia is famously transliterated by Yan Fu as 烏托邦 (Simplified Chinese: 乌托邦; pinyin: wūtuōbāng; "[a] fabricated country"); and the name of the good Pantagruel is transliterated as 龐大固埃 (Simplified Chinese: 庞大固埃; pinyin: pángdàgù'āi), as 龐大 means "gigantic" and 固 "solid". A syllable (Ancient Greek: ) is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. ... A logogram, or logograph, is a single grapheme which represents a word or a morpheme (a meaningful unit of language). ... Homonyms (in Greek homoios = identical and onoma = name) are words which have the same form (orthographic/phonetic) but unrelated meaning. ... It has been suggested that Tonal language be merged into this article or section. ... Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means spell and yin means sound. The most common variant of pinyin in use is called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: , Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n), also known as scheme... It has been suggested that utopianism be merged into this article or section. ... Yan Fu (1853–1921) Yan Fu (Traditional Chinese:嚴復; courtesy name:幾道, Jidao) (December 10, 1853–October 27, 1921) was a Chinese scholar, most famous for introducing Western thoughts, including Darwins ideas of natural selection and survival of the fittest, into China during the late 19th century. ... Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: 简体字; Traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: jiÇŽntǐzì; also Simplified Chinese: 简化字; Traditional Chinese: 簡化字; pinyin: jiÇŽnhuàzì) are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means spell and yin means sound. The most common variant of pinyin in use is called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: , Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n), also known as scheme... Gargantua and Pantagruel is a connected series of five books written in the 16th century by François Rabelais. ... Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: 简体字; Traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: jiÇŽntǐzì; also Simplified Chinese: 简化字; Traditional Chinese: 簡化字; pinyin: jiÇŽnhuàzì) are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means spell and yin means sound. The most common variant of pinyin in use is called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: , Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n), also known as scheme...

Fidelity to the sound of the original is often sacrificed in a non-technical context. In transliterating the names of people, companies, shops and brands, phonetic fidelity is not the overriding factor: anything goes, as long as the Chinese name is memorable, dignified or auspicious. In some cases the naming process can hardly be termed "transliteration". A common example is the Chinese names non-Chinese people adopt for themselves, which are not truly transliterated, but rather "adapted" from or "inspired" by the original. (See, for instance, the Chinese names of the Hong Kong governors at zh:香港总督.) The practice is similar to the use of ateji in Japanese. Ateji (当て字 ) guessed characters are Kanji selected to write a borrowed non-Chinese or native Japanese word with the intent of implying an etymology, which is fanciful or false. ...

Given that a word may be transliterated in accordance with meaning as well as sound, an "innocent" transliteration may be unwittingly interpreted as reflecting the meaning of the original. During the Qing Dynasty, some Chinese scholars were unhappy to find that China was located on a continent called 亞細亞 (Simplified Chinese: 亚细亚; pinyin: yàxìyà), i.e. Asia, as 亞 means "secondary" and 細 "small", believing that the Europeans were deliberately belittling the East by such a naming. ^[1] The Qing Dynasty (Chinese: ; Pinyin: QÄ«ng cháo; Wade-Giles: Ching chao; Manchu: daicing gurun), occasionally known as the Manchu Dynasty, is a Chinese term for the Empire of the Great Qing (Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: dàqÄ«ngguó), founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what... Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: 简体字; Traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: jiÇŽntǐzì; also Simplified Chinese: 简化字; Traditional Chinese: 簡化字; pinyin: jiÇŽnhuàzì) are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means spell and yin means sound. The most common variant of pinyin in use is called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: , Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n), also known as scheme... World map showing the location of Asia. ... World map showing Europe Political map (neighboring countries in Asia and Africa also shown) Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. ...

History

Transliteration appeared early in ancient Chinese texts as China interacted with foreign peoples, such as the Xiongnu, with whom China fought wars. A Xiongnu belt buckle. ...

The classics of Buddhism began to be translated into Chinese during the late Han Dynasty. Many of the Sanskrit terms were then transliterated and became part of the Chinese language. Indeed, the famous monk and translator Xuanzang suggested that Sanskrit terms should be transliterated instead of being translated when they are: A replica of an ancient statue of Gautama Buddha, found in Sarnath, near Varanasi. ... The Han Dynasty (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Han Chau; 206 BC–AD 220) followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. ... The Sanskrit language ( , ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. ... See also: Xuanzang (fictional character) A portrait of Xuanzang Xuanzang (Chinese: 玄奘; Pinyin: Xuán Zàng; Wade-Giles: Hsüan-tsang; Cantonese IPA: jyn4tsɔŋ1; Cantonese Jyutping: jyun4zong1) (602-644/664) was a famous Chinese Buddhist monk. ...

• arcane, such as incantations
• polysemous
• not found in China
• traditionally transliterated, not translated
• lofty and subtle, which a translation might devalue and obscure

During the late 19th century, when Western ideas and products flooded into China, transliterations mushroomed. Most of them proved fads, though. An incantation is the words spoken during a ritual. ... Polysemy (from the Greek πολυσημεία = multiple meaning) is the capacity for a sign to have multiple meanings. ...

In Japanese, foreign terms are usually transliterated into katakana. Some terms are rendered into kanji, though, a famous example being 俱楽部 (club, lit. "together happy department"). These were directly and literally adopted into Chinese in the late 19th and early 20th century. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Japanese writing Kanji Kana Hiragana Katakana Hentaigana Manyogana Uses Furigana Okurigana Rōmaji Kanji (Japanese: ) are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana (平仮名), katakana (片仮名), and the arabic numerals. ... A club is generally an association of people united by a common interest or goal, as opposed to any natural ties of kinship. ...

Official Guide

The current official guide for the transliteration of people's names is the Names of the world's peoples: a comprehensive dictionary of names in Roman-Chinese (《世界人名翻譯大辭典》), compiled by the Proper Names and Translation Service, the Xinhua News Agency. Most of the characters used in official transliterations are more or less "neutral". Front gate of the main building of Xinhua News Agency in Beijing The Xinhua News Agency (Simplified Chinese: 新华社; Traditional Chinese: 新華社; pinyin: ), or NCNA (New China News Agency), is the official press agency of the government of the Peoples Republic of China and the biggest center for collecting information and...

The official transliterations are based on Mandarin. These renditions can sound not close to, even far away from, the original when they are said by people speaking Chinese dialects other than the Beijing one. Mandarin, or Beifanghua (Chinese: 北方話; Pinyin: Běifānghuà; literally Northern Dialect(s)), or Guanhua (Traditional Chinese: 官話; Simplified Chinese: 官话; Pinyin: Guānhuà; literally official speech) is a category of related Chinese dialects spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. ... Beijing dialect (北京话, pinyin: Běijīnghuà) is the dialect of Mandarin spoken in the urban area of Beijing, China. ...

Samples

Transliterations with unusual connotations

Those which contain unusual characters or phrases

• India was called 身毒 (shēn dú) in ancient China, transliterated from Sindhu, 毒 meaning "poison" or "poisonous".
• Mozambique as 莫三鼻給 (莫三鼻给, mò sān bí gěi), with 三鼻 meaning "three noses". Note that today the country is more often transliterated as 莫桑比克 (mò sāng bǐ kè).
• Aberdeen, a common name for places and people, as 鴨巴甸 (yā bā diàn), with 鴨 (鸭) meaning duck. A place in Hong Kong having the same name, Aberdeen Harbour, was originally called 香港仔 (xiāng gǎng zǐ), meaning "Hong Kong minor". It is now the official name of that place, but 鴨巴甸 is still used in a colloquial way.
• A street in Macau is called Avenida do Conselheiro Ferreira de Almeida, named after the official Ferreira de Almeida. Ferreira was transliterated as 肥利喇 (féi lì lǎ), as shown on the name of the street, with 肥 meaning "fat (adj.)".
• Russia as 俄國 (è guó), with 俄 meaning "suddenly".
• Bhutan as 不丹 (bù dān), with 不 meaning "not".

The Indus (सिन्‍धु नदी) (known as Sindhu in ancient times) is the principal river of Pakistan. ... Human nose Anatomically, a nose is a protuberance in vertebrates that houses the nostrils, or nares, which admit and expel air for respiration. ... For other uses, see Aberdeen (disambiguation). ... // Subfamilies Dendrocygninae Oxyurinae Anatinae Merginae For other uses, see Duck (disambiguation). ... Aberdeen gate in Hong Kong Aberdeen (Chinese: 香港仔; Cantonese IPA: , Jyutping: hoeng1 gong2 zai2; Mandarin Pinyin: Xiāng GÇŽng ZÇŽi) is an area at the south side of Hong Kong Island, located in the Southern District of Hong Kong. ... An adjective is a part of speech which modifies a noun, usually describing it or making its meaning more specific. ...

Those which as a whole phrase mean something negative

• The Beatles as 披頭四 (披头四, pītóusì), literally "mop-head four". The first two characters probably come from the four-character idiom 披頭散髮 (pītóu sànfǎ), to describe the long and messy "moptop" style of the members of the band.
• Africa as 非洲 (fēi zhōu), literally "not [a] continent", from the full transliteration 阿非利加洲 (ā fēi lì jiā zhōu).

The Beatles were an English rock group from Liverpool. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa. ...

Transliterations with positive connotations

• America is abbreviated as 米國 (未国), meaning "Plentiful rice state" or "no state"
• Athens as 雅典, literally "elegant" and "classical"
• Champs-Élysées as 香榭麗舍 (香榭丽舍), meaning "fragrant pavilion (and) beautiful house"
• Coca-cola as 可口可樂 (可口可乐), 可口 meaning "delicious" and 可樂 "pleasing, satisfactory"
• Firenze as 翡冷翠 (by the poet Xu Zhimo 徐志摩 (1897-1931)), 翡翠 meaning "jadeite" and 冷 "cold". Note that today the city is usually transliterated as 佛羅倫斯 (佛罗伦萨), a transliteration based on the English Florence, not the original Italian.
• Fontainebleau as 楓丹白露 (枫丹白露), meaning "red maple (and) white dew"
• Ithaca as 綺色佳, literally "gorgeous color wonderful"
• Revlon as 露華濃, literally as "revealing bright spring dew", excerpted from Li Bai's A Song of Pure Happiness (李白: 清平調)
• World-wide-web as 万维网，meaning "ten-thousand dimensional net (or web)"; here the character for "10 thousand" is not used in the literal sense. It is used figuratively indicating a large number; much like how Americans say "a million years."
• Yosemite as 優勝美地, meaning "elegant mountain (and) beautiful land"

United States is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ... Athens (Greek: Αθήνα, Athína IPA: ) is the capital and largest city of Greece and the birthplace of democracy. ... The Champs-Elysées (pronounced , literally the Elysian fields) is a broad avenue in the French capital, Paris. ... The wave shape (known as the dynamic ribbon device) present on all Coca-Cola cans throughout the world derives from the contour of the original Coca-Cola bottles. ... Country Italy Region Tuscany Province Florence (FI) Mayor Leonardo Domenici Elevation 50 m Area 102 km² Population  - Total (as of 2006-06-02) 366,488  - Density 3,593/km² Time zone CET, UTC+1 Coordinates Gentilic Fiorentini Dialing code 055 Postal code 50100 Frazioni Galluzzo, Settignano Patron St. ... Hsu Chih-mo (徐志摩, pinyin: Xú Zhìmó) (January 15, 1897-November 19, 1931) was a twentieth-century Chinese poet. ... Jadeite is a pyroxene mineral with composition NaAlSi2O6. ... Location within France Fontainebleau is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. ... For other places named Ithaca, see Ithaca (disambiguation). ... Revlon (NYSE: REV) is an American cosmetics company. ... Li Bai or Li Po (701-762) was a Chinese poet who lived during the Tang Dynasty. ... Graphic representation of the world wide web around Wikipedia The World Wide Web (WWW, or simply Web) is an information space in which the items of interest, referred to as resources, are identified by global identifiers called Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI). ... Yosemite National Park (pron. ...

Notes

1. ↑ For more examples of this kind, see Qian Zhongshu, Guan Zhui Pian (《管錐編》), vol.4, pp. 1458-1462.