Subway translation sparks debate

The process of translating subway station names once again sparked debate recently after Hefei Metro in Anhui province translated the Chinese name of a subway station to "Hefei Huochezhan", which means "Hefei Railway Station".

"Huochezhan" is the writing of the Chinese word "railway station" using the Roman alphabet, which shows how the word is read in Chinese. Therefore, if read correctly, "Huochezhan" sounds the same as "railway station" in Chinese.

A subway rider surnamed Hu was confused by the translation. He told Anhui-based media Dawan News that it is better not to broadcast the station name in English if translated this way.

In response to the question, the Hefei subway company explained that the translation is used as a standard geographical name for the station. In signage guiding to the railway station, "Hefei Railway Station" should be used.

Wang Jiwan, a senior translator from Anhui, agreed with the company. He said "Hefei Huochezhan" is a geographical name that refers to that place, not a specific unit.

Wang said it's a common practice that countries around the world spell place names according to their own pronunciation.

A few years ago, the Beijing subway changed the translation of "station" to "zhan", which also led to heated discussions.

Except for stations named after famous places of interest or English names that are widely accepted such as "National Library" and "Summer Palace", other stations all changed the translation of their names to sound-indicating Roman spellings like "zhan".

However, the situation varies in different regions. While subways in Fuzhou, Fujian province, and Nanjing, Jiangsu province, also use "zhan" for "station", the subways in Shanghai, and Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong province all use "station" and other English words in the translation of their station names.