China bans foreign words in publications unless accompanied with Chinese translations

BEIJING - China’s General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) has issued a regulation banning the country’s media organisations and publishers from randomly mixing foreign languages with Chinese in publications, and in case they need to use them, they should be accompanied by a translation or explanation in Chinese.

According to China Daily, the regulation was issued with an aim of standardizing the use of language in newspapers and other publications, particularly when foreign languages are used.

Under the regulation, abbreviations such as GDP (gross domestic product), CEO (chief executive officer) and CPI (consumer price index), which regularly feature in publications, should either be translated into Chinese or followed by explanatory notes in Chinese.

Besides, names of English places, people and companies should also be translated in Chinese, the paper said.

The GAPP instructed local administrative departments of publications to employ the “standardized use of foreign language” as a criterion for evaluating domestic publications and warned that those who fail to follow the regulation will be punished, it added.

According to some publishers, the regulation is an “unnecessary” requirement that will complicate the publishing process.

“The intention of protecting the Chinese language is good. But in an age of globalization, when some English acronyms like WTO (World Trade Organization) have been widely accepted by readers, it might be too absolute to eliminate them in all publications,” an editor at a Beijing publishing house said. (ANI)