“交通银行”有多少种译法？

在校大学生经常找机会到各类企业和机构去实习，积累工作经验。财经类专业本科生爱去的总有银行和其他金融类机构。所以，许多学生在简历和作文中时不时会提到银行及其他同类机构的名称。笔者注意到，学生在提及这些单位时给出的英文名称经常出现各类状况，于是在新学期第一次上课时给每人发了一张纸，要求大家写下“交通银行北京分行”这个单位的英文名称。

下面汇集了某一排名相对靠前的大学的英语专业本科三年级学生给出的译名，已经根据“交通”二字的选词作了分类，不同的译名以分号区隔（其他标点符号均为学生原译文所有；黑体为笔者在撰写本文时所加，表示所选词语完全错误），并附上简评：

汉语原名：交通银行北京分行（以下简称“原名”）

CBB， Beijing; Beijing Branch of C; The Branch of Beijing; China Constitution Bank; Beijing Branch of Commune Bank：这五个全错，没有一个词反映出原名的关键信息。

Beijing of Jiaotong bank; Jiaotong Bank in Beijing; Bank of JiaoTong in Beijing; Branch bank of Beijing Jiao Tong; Jiaotong Bank， Beijing distribution; The branch of Jiao Tong Bank. Beijing; Beijing affiliated bank of China Jiao Tong Bank：这七个的共同特征在于使用汉语拼音来译写“交通”二字，违反了原名作为专有名词的成文规范——专有名词的主要特征便是独占、专有，不容任何篡改，道理与“搜狐”（SOHU）公司坚决反对别人把它的英文名写成Souhu或Sou Hu或Search fox一样。反过来讲也一样，别人可以写下Souhu或Sou Hu或 Search fox之类，但肯定不是指“搜狐”那个企业或商标。

打个岔提一句，北京交通大学、上海交通大学、西安交通大学等，如用 transportation或 communications 这两个词中的任一个充作校名的一部分，似有可能引发对其学科范围的误解，所以各校都把“交通”二字译写成了汉语拼音的 Jiaotong，例如北京交通大学是Beijing Jiaotong University。这也可当作说明专有名词特征的好例证。

下面每个译名各占一行，便于对比观察（排列依据为“交通”二字的对译及完整译名的长度；下同）：

Beijing ？ of traffic bank

Traffic Bank of China. Beijing

Beijing Branch of Traffic Bank

Traffic Bank of Beijing. Branch

Traffic bank’s branch in Beijing

The Bank of Traffic Beijing Bank

the Traffic Bank of China-Beijing

Beijing Branch of the Traffic Bank

The Beijing Branch of Traffic Bank

Bank of Traffic of China in Beijing

Chinese Triffic Bank Beijing apartment

Beijing part of the Chinese Traffic Bank

Chinese Traffic Bank Beijing Apartment

The Beijing Branch of China Traffic Bank

The branch of Chinese traffic bank in Beijing

Beijing divided bank of China Traffic Banking

以上16种译名的共同特征是用了 traffic 一词来译“交通”二字，一样有违专有名词的基本原则——交通银行自定的英文名中“交通”二字对译的不是这个词。笼统而言，汉语字少，英语词多；汉语“交通”二字的确可以译为 traffic，但那指的是马路街道上的人流车行。作为例证，北京市公安局公安交通管理局的英文名称便是 Beijing Traffic Management Bureau——“交通”二字对译的就是 traffic。顺便说一句，这个局的汉英双名也可作为一个很好的例证，说明专有名词的译写必须遵循沿用业主自定的名称。

Transport Bank of China

Transport Bank of Beijing

Beijing of transport bank of China

Transport Bank of China in Beijing

Chinese Transport Bank Beijing Branch

China Transport Bank， Branch of Beijing

China’s Transport Bank and Beijing Office

Beijing Department of China Transport Bank

Beijing branches of The Transport Bank in China

The branch bank in Beijing of Chinese Transport Bank

the Branch bank in Beijing of the Transport Bank of China

这11个译名的共同特征是把“交通”二字译成了transport。这样的词语选择问题，假如是在中考、高考中也许只扣0.5分甚至不扣分，但在课堂之外却事关重大，许多企业和机构会为此斥资亿万广而告之，也有企业机构曾经连打几年的官司，仅仅为了名称中的一个字或词甚至一个字母。

Transportation Bank

China Transportation Bank

Transportation Bank of Beijing

Transportation Bank in Beijing

Transportation Bank in Bei Jing

The transportation bank of China

Bank of Transportation of Beijing

The bank of Chinese transportation

Transportation Bank Beijing Branch

China Transpotation Bank （Beijing）

the Bank of Transportation in Beijing

Beijing of China Transportation Bank

China Transportation Bank of Beijing

Transportation Bank of China， Beijing

Beijing Branch of Transportation Bank

Transportation Bank of China in Beijing

Beijing Branch Bank of Communication

BeiJing of Chinese Transportation Bank

China Transportion Bank in Beijing area

Chinese Bank of Transportation in Beijing

Chinese Bank of Transportation in Beijing.

China Transportation Bank Beijing Branch

China Transportation Bank Beijing Branch

Bank of Transportation of China in Beijing

Beijing bank of China Transportation Bank

China Transportation Bank， Beijing branch.

Chinese Transportation Bank Beijing district

China Transportation Bank Branch in Beijing

Beijing Branch of China Transportation Bank.

Beijing Agency of China Transportation Bank

China Transportation Breach Bank in Beijing

Transportation Bank of China， Beijing Branch

China Transportation Bank （Beijing subsidiary）

Beijing branches， the Band of Communications

the branch of Transportation Banking in Beijing

Susbonation of Bank of Transportation in Beijing

the branch company of China Transportation Bank

The Beijing section of China Transpotation Bank

Beijing Branch Bank， Transportation Bank of China

The Beijing Sub-bank of China Transportation Bank

the Beijing of The Transportation Bank of China

The Transportation Bank of China （Beijing department）

The Branch Bank in Beijing of China Transportation Bank

上列41个译名（其中Chinese Bank of Transportation in Beijing和China Transportation Bank Beijing Branch各有两个学生提交，即学生为43人），其共同特征在于采用了transportation来对译“交通”二字，问题的性质与transport半斤八两。