Transliteration Into Chinese Characters - Connotations

Connotations

Given that a word may be transcribed in accordance with meaning as well as sound, an "innocent" transcription may be unwittingly interpreted as reflecting the meaning of the original. During the Qing Dynasty, some Chinese scholars were unhappy to find China was located on a continent called 亞細亞 (亚细亚 yàxìyà), i.e. Asia, as 亞 means "secondary" and 細 "small", believing that the Europeans were deliberately belittling the East. The ancient Japanese, or the Wa people were upset by their name being represented by the character 倭 (also meaning "small, short, servile") by the Chinese, and replaced it with another character. Modern Africans have accused the Chinese of racism, as "Africa" is written as 非洲 ("negative, wrong continent") in Chinese. Whether these accusations were justified is controversial.

Cultural differences and personal preference about negative meaning is subjective, however some translations are generally held to be inappropriate and are usually not used in today’s transcriptions:

• Mozambique as 莫三鼻給 (莫三鼻给, mòsānbígěi), with 鼻 meaning "nose" and 三鼻 "three noses". Today the country is more often transcribed as 莫桑比克 (mòsāngbǐkè).
• Aberdeen is a common name for places and people, rendered as 鴨巴甸 (yābādiàn), with 鴨 (鸭) meaning duck. However a place in Hong Kong, Aberdeen Harbour, was originally called 香港仔 (xiānggǎngzǐ), meaning "Hong Kong minor"; that is now the official name, but 鴨巴甸 is still used colloquially. Moreover, today the place is more often transcribed as 阿伯丁 (ābódīng).
• A street in Macau is called Avenida do Conselheiro Ferreira de Almeida, after the official Ferreira de Almeida. Ferreira was transcribed as 肥利喇 (féilìlǎ), as shown on the name of the street, with 肥 meaning "fat" (adj.).
• A street in Macau is called Avenida de Demetrio Cinatti. It has been transcribed as 爹美刁施拿地大馬路, with 刁 meaning cunning or wicked.

Some transcriptions are meant to have, or happen to have, positive connotations:

• United Kingdom is called 英國 (英国, yīngguó, means "hero country"). The first character, 英, is abbreviated from 英吉利, the early Chinese transcription of "English", but subsequently applied to the UK after it was formed from the union of England and Scotland.
• Germany is abbreviated as 德國 (德国, déguó, literally "Moral country"). The first character, 德, is abbreviated from 德意志 (the Chinese transcription of "Deutsch", the German word for "German").
• United States of America is abbreviated 美國 (美国, měiguó, literally "beautiful country"). It is abbreviated from 美利堅合眾國, 美利堅 is an early phonetic transcription of "America".
• Athens as 雅典 (Yădiăn), literally "elegant" and "classical".
• Champs-Élysées as 香榭麗舍 (香榭丽舍, Xiāngxièlìshè), meaning "fragrant pavilion (and) beautiful house".
• Coca-Cola as 可口可樂 (可口可乐, Kěkǒu Kělè), 可口 meaning "delicious" and 可樂 is the translation of "cola" but can also be taken literally to mean "pleasing, satisfactory".
• Firenze as 翡冷翠 (by the poet Xu Zhimo), 翡翠 meaning "jadeite" and 冷 "cold". Today the city is usually known as 佛羅倫薩 (佛罗伦萨), a transcription based on the Anglo-French Florence rather than the endonym.
• Fontainebleau as 楓丹白露 (枫丹白露), meaning "red maple (and) white dew".
• Ithaca as 綺色佳, literally "gorgeous colour wonderful".
• Revlon as 露華濃, literally as "revealing bright spring dew", excerpted from Li Bai's A Song of Pure Happiness (清平調).
• Yosemite as 優山美地 (also 優仙美地, 優聖美地, 優詩美地, or 優勝美地), meaning "elegant mountain (and) beautiful land".
• Munich, German: München, the capital of Bavaria/Germany (derived fr. "Munichen" lit.: "(at the) monks") as 慕尼黑 Mùníhēi meaning "esteem - nun - black", perhaps accidentally referring to the "Münchner Kindl", the city coat of arms of Munich showing kind of childlike monk dressed in black.
• Champagne as 香檳 (香槟, xiāng bīn) meaning "fragrant areca"
• Sheraton hotels as 喜来登 (Xǐláidēng), "love to visit"
• Best Buy as 百思买 (Bǎisīmǎi), "buy (after) thinking a hundred times"
• Subway restaurants as 赛百味 (Sàibǎiwèi), "competing (with) a hundred tastes"
• Costco as 好市多 (Hǎoshìduō), "market of many great things"
• Belarus is 白俄罗斯 (Bái'èluósī) literally "white" in combination with the transcription of "Russia". Coincidently "white Russia" is the native etymology of the name.
• Wikipedia is 维基百科 (維基百科), it means "Wiki Encyclopedia". The Chinese transcription of "Wiki" is composed of two characters: 維/维, whose ancient sense refers to 'ropes or webs connecting objects', and alludes to the 'Internet'; and 基, meaning the 'foundations of a building', or 'fundamental aspects of things in general'. The name can be interpreted as 'the encyclopedia that connects the fundamental knowledge of humanity'.