Abstract:There is a common phenomenon that with the increasing communication between China and foreign countries in terms of education and academic exchange, tertiary institutions have attached great importance to English translations of their school names. Nevertheless, there are not any relevant executive organizations of higher tertiary institution to make the standardization of English versions of university or college names, which causes the disorder of English names as well as brings about some unnecessary confusion and embarrassment for foreigners. This study has gathered the Chinese names of all the tertiary institutions in Guangdong from the official website of Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China and has collected the English names of the institutions’ official websites respectively, and has analyzed some existing problems on the basis of Nida’s Functional Equivalence theory. The study demonstrates that some major problems existed in the English translation is the different comprehension between the target language and source language, which is mirrored in the translation of subject names, category names and semantic structures. Finally, this study has put forward some constructive recommendation for the English translation of tertiary institution names. Due to the limitation of a current study, some suggestion for further study is also given out, hoping to polish the translation of school names so as to facilitate the communication all around the world.

Key words: tertiary institution name; English translation; standardization; communication; Functional Equivalence;

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 Rationale for the study-1

1.2 Aims and objectives-1

1.3 Research method and data collection-1

1.4 Structure of the thesis-2

2. Literature Review-3

2.1 Previous studies of university or college name translations in China-3

2.2 Unsolved problems-4

3. Theoretical Framework of the Study-5

3.1 An introduction of Nida’s Functional Equivalence theory-5

3.2 Two definitions of Functional Equivalence theory-5

4. English Translations on Names of Guangdong Tertiary Institutions-6

4.1 Characteristics of Chinese tertiary institution names in Guangdong-6

4.1.1 Undergraduate university-6

4.1.2 Higher vocational college-6

4.1.3 Independent college of regular university-7

4.2 Current situations of English translation of tertiary institution names in Guangdong-7

4.2.1 Undergraduate university-7

4.2.2 Higher vocational college-12

4.2.3 Independent college of regular university-15

4.3 Suggestions for English translation on names of Guangdong tertiary institutions-16

4.3.1 Reasons for the disorder of school name translation-16

4.3.2 Principles of the translation of school names-16

5. Conclusion-18

5.1 Major findings-18

5.2 Limitation and suggestions-18

References-19

Appendix-20

Acknowledgements-28