On The Use Of Pinyin In The Transference Of Chinese Proper Names Into English

A problem that translators and translation theorists have never really understood, let alone solved, is the use of proper names across languages. This is especially true of the transference of Chinese proper names into English. Although discussions on the issue never disappear and enough efforts have been made to this effect, confusions still exist due a divergence of opinions on properties of names, particularly, those properties that eventually affect the use of names across languages. It is quite clear that the transference of proper names stills sets great obstacles for translators and cross-language communicators.Of the numerous solutions to the transference of Chinese names to English so far proposed and applied, the one that has the potential of being the most successful and thus deserves our special attention is Pinyin. As an auxiliary writing system of the Chinese language and a unique part of the Chinese culture, Pinyin has already assumed a positive role and its position in the transference of Chinese proper names into English as well as any other Roman script languages has further been reaffirmed by official documents of the United Nations and Chinese governmental departments concerned.In view of the problem of transference of Chinese proper names into English, an attempt is made in this thesis to account for the use of Pinyin in preference of other manifold transference schemes.