Proper name translation: semantic or phonetic

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In researching a subject in history of Chongqing, I came across various English translations of the name of a building, "白公馆" in Chinese, e.g. "Bai Mansion", "Baigong Guan", "Baigongguan", "White Residence", "White House".[note] The interesting part is the translation of "白". Should it be phonetically "Bai" or semantically "White"? The answer is, It depends on the origin of the name. According to
http://baike.baidu.com/view/138862.htm
this building was named after its owner Bai Ju (surname Bai). So the correct translation must be phonetic. "Bai Mansion" may be the best, although "Baigongguan" serves well as the name of a place. I don't suppose Mr. Bai, the owner, called it "白公馆" with intention of using a pun. But if he had done so, our translation would be impossible, or you pick one you like.

This reminds me of the translation of "Rice University", a reputable college in Texas. In the late 1980's, people in China referred to it as either "莱斯大学" or "稻米大学". But since the school was named after a person, as was known to all later, only the translation "莱斯大学" survived.

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[note] If you need to see who uses which term, use these keywords to search on Google (quotation marks matter; example for "Bai Mansion"):
"白公馆" "�庆" "bai mansion"
chongqing "bai mansion"
chungking "bai mansion"

虚词"很":empty word "very"

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The Chinese empty word (虚è¯�) "很" means "very". This translation is straightforward and universally accepted. But there's one little subtlety in its actual usage: "很" is used more often in Chinese than "very" in English. This causes some descriptions using an adjective in Chinese not really "very" much so (if everything is very good, nothing is really that good). For instance, "He's good", "He's good at playing cards" may be translated to "他很好", "他很会打牌"， although they can also be "ä»–ä¸�é”™", "他牌打得[很]好". The sentence "他很好" is not likely to be changed to "他好", which sounds odd, and "他很会打牌" may be misunderstood if shortened to "他会打牌" ("He knows how to play cards"). The apparently superfluous "很" serves no purpose other than making the sentence sound more native. But translators may not realize this and tend to literally translate "很" to "very". This practice seems to be particularly widespread among the translators living in China. I believe the correct way to deal with "很" is to review the context and ignore it if it does not really carry the meaning of "very".

虚词"当然":empty word "of course"

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The Chinese empty word (虚è¯�) "当然" is generally translated as "of course" or "certainly". It makes perfect sense in this example, "你会游泳?", "[我]当然[会] ("You can swim?", "Of course [I can]"). But "当然" is also commonly used in a different context, as in "明天æ¯�个人都必须到办公室，当然你事先请å�‡äº†å�¯ä»¥ä¸�æ�¥"("Everybody must come to office tomorrow. But of course you don't have to come if you asked for leave earlier"). In this case, "当然" is said in a much weaker tone and more resembles "but", "nevertheless", "however" in meaning than "of course". The German "natürlich" ("naturally") or "allerdings" ("though") may be closer to this sense.

虚词"虽然":empty word "although"

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The Chinese empty word (虚�) "虽然" or "尽管" corresponds to "although", "though", or one sense of "while" in English. "In spite of" or "despite of" can also use "虽然" for translation, although "虽然" must be followed by a sentence or at least a verb followed by an object or an adverbial modifier as in "虽然下雨" ("in spite of the rain") or "虽然�完了" ("although [the work] has been completed"), where "下" or "�" is a verb and cannot be omitted.

A basic grammatical difference between "虽然" and "although" is that "虽然" strongly calls for "但是" to start the main sentence as in "虽然下雨,但他还是去了" ("Although it rained [In spite of the rain], he went"), while "although" must not have "but"; if you have the urge for it, a "yet" is acceptable.

"但是" here may be considered as a conjunction, but not in the sense that it connects two full independent sentences. In English, two full sentences must be connected with a conjunction, unless the first one ends (with a period and the second one begins with an initial capital letter). The Chinese (as well as French) does not have this requirement and the two sentences may be separated by just a comma. Probably due to lack of the requirement for a conjunction between two full sentences in Chinese, the "但是" in the "虽然...但是..." construct may be omitted, e.g. "虽然下雨,他还是去了".

Because English prohibits "but" at the beginning of the main sentence that has a clause of "although", people bilingual between Chinese and English subconsciously omit "但是" in the "虽然...但是..." construct; to these bilingual speakers, there's no such strong calling for it.

A Visit to Germaine's Luau(参加杰曼的夏威夷宴会)

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By Freelance Chinese Translator Li – English to Chinese translation services - based in China.
No trip to Hawaii would be complete without a Mai Tai, a hula
lesson, a plate full of delicious Kalua pork（烤猪排） and a magnificent sunset on the beach.

Thanks to Germaine’s Luau（杰曼的夏威夷宴会）, an Oahu attraction that has delighted visitors for more than three
decades, you can enjoy all of these experiences in a single, unforgettable
evening.

This venerable（令人尊重的） luau takes place in Kapolei near Barber’s Point on the southwestern tip of Oahu, about
27 miles from Waikiki. If you’re driving, you’ll want to leave your hotel early to beat rush-hour traffic, or even
spend the day on the North Shore before heading for Kapolei. Germaine’s gates open at 5:15 p.m., so you can claim
the best seats in an outdoor theatre area filled with long picnic tables and
low luau tables surrounded by tatami mats（榻榻米席垫）—perfect for kids!

If you’d rather not drive—or if you’re looking for the full
Germaine’s experience—ask about the free shuttle（飞机） when you make your luau reservations（预订）. Germaine’s provides door-to-door service to and from Waikiki
hotels. Traffic and the buses’ meandering routes（蜿蜒曲折的路线） can expand the ride to Kapolei into a two-hour odyssey（探险） (the nighttime ride back is much shorter).
But it’s a comfy（舒适的） trip, and you’ll be surrounded by like-minded luau-goers and
amused by the patter of the tour guide（导游的顺口溜）.

Upon arrival, a Germaine’s shutterbug（摄影爱好者） will photograph your group against a lovely natural backdrop of
dusky sky（以昏暗的天空，海滩和大海为自然背景）, beach and sea. (Photos may be purchased for $20 at the end of the
evening.) Belly up to the outdoor bar and redeem（买） one of your three complimentary adult beverage tickets for a
Mai-Tai, rum punch, Blue Hawaii, or domestic beer; unlimited soft drinks,
coffee and tea are also available.

As the sun begins to set, an emcee（主持人） introduces the “Royal Court” while a five-piece band plays island standards. Dancers clad in
regal crimson(华丽的深红色) and yellow
take the stage in a ceremony（典礼） that provides a brief introduction to ancient Hawaiian protocol（礼仪）. Several good-humored volunteers from the
audience are invited to show off their best hula moves in a riotous “contest.”（欢腾的竞赛） Then, it’s time for the feast!

Germaine’s claims to be one of the few
commercial luaus in Hawaii that cooks a pig each day in its traditional imu pit（浅灶坑）, located just behind its outdoor bar. At
about 6:15 each evening, as the crowd watches hungrily, two men clad in bright
lava-lavas are charged with opening and unwrapping the imu and retrieving the
Kalua pork. Tender, smoky, and succulent（味美）, the shredded pork is simply delectable.

The buffet tables are laden with standard
luau fare like lomi-lomi salmon（鲑鱼）, chicken long rice, fried mahi, and poi（山芋）. Don’t be afraid of the poi! Try it as a
condiment with the salmon or Kalua pork. Fried chicken, teriyaki（红烧的） beef, steamed rice, dinner rolls, and a
quartet of salads (green, macaroni（意大利通心粉）, coleslaw（卷心菜沙拉）, and three-bean) are also available, and the dessert tables feature
treats like fresh pineapple（凤梨）, haupia (coconut pudding), and chocolate cake.

At about 7, the stage show recommences（重新开始）. Dancers representing（代表） Hawaii, New Zealand, Samoa（萨摩亚群岛） and Tahiti（塔希提） provide spectacular and colorful
entertainment, often accompanied by ipu and uli uli (gourd drums and rattles).
Highlights include a dramatic Samoan fire-knife dance, a sensual Tahitian
couples’ hula, and a Maori dance with glowing “poi balls,” as well as several
opportunities for audience participation (and a door prize drawing, too!)provided by translatorli.blogspot.com

"有情人终成眷属" and "Money talks" on Google Translate

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Google Translate is increasingly popular. But more mistakes are also being found, especially when idioms are translated. One salient example is the Chinese-to-English translation of "有情人终�眷属" [People in love are eventually married], which is translated to "Money talks" [有钱能使鬼推磨]. I checked a few other languages I know, such as French and Spanish, where the translation is "L'argent parle" and "El dinero habla", respectively. They both literally mean "Money talks".

How does this or this kind of errors occur? According to Inside Google Translate, Google Translate "looks for patterns in hundreds of millions of documents to help decide on the best translation for you". Let's check those "millions of documents" for this particular idiom. Search for
"有情人终�眷属" "money talks"
quotation marks included, and the result is 31300 hits as of this writing. Most indeed bear titles associating the Chinese idiom with "money talks". But some are apparently talking about Google Translate's mistake. So to be fair, we need to filter them out. Try this search
"有情人终�眷属" "money talks" -google -"谷歌"
Again, quotation marks included. The result is 26400 hits. The first hit

• Album : Money talks
• Chinese : 有情人终æˆ�眷属  (You Qing Ren Zhong Cheng Juan Zhu)
• Artist : Zheng Yuan (郑æº� Zheng Yuan)
• Release Date : 1/18/2006

clearly made this mistake, at least partially contributing to Google's blind pattern-looking.

Chinese "empty word"

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The term "empty word", or "虚词", in Chinese, refers to "a word or morpheme that has no lexical meaning and that functions as a grammatical link or marker, rather than as a contentive" according to Dictionary.com. But in spite of its long history (back to 1890 to 1895, perhaps invented by a missionary or sinologist), "empty" in "empty word" has the connotation that the words, whoever utters, are not to be trusted, while "虚词" in Chinese is a purely technical, grammatical, term. Incidentally, "hollow word", if it were used as a translation of "虚词", may be closer literally ("hollow" for "虚"), also has unwanted connotation.

Wikipedia considers the word "expletive" as the equivalent of "虚词". We need to think beyond the more common meaning of "expletive" here (words of profanity), and only consider syntactic expletive and expletive attributive. Because of its common usage of the word, neither is perfect in my opinion. In addition, be aware that an expletive in English is not quite equivalent to a "虚词" in Chinese. The latter is purely based on word class, "副词、介词、连词、助词、象声词以及叹词" (adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, "Chinese particles", onomatopoeias, and interjections), while grammatical expletives in English are more context-sensitive. That is, all adverbs,[note] prepositions, conjunctions, "Chinese particles", onomatopoeias, and interjections in Chinese are "虚词", with no exception, but there's no such simple rule in English.

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[note] This footnote is needed to avoid simplistic equivalence: English adverbs include almost all words of the construct adjective-ly, but Chinese adverbs are limited to "very", "little", "all", "also", "probably", etc.