You Mandarin learners out there may get a few grins out of this… I recently updated the Taipei MRT map and posted it on my blog. The stations have new English names. This is part of an art project I am doing, related in part to Chinese/English translation. See garethvivianfiona.blogspot.com/2 … oject.html
Map only:
bp3.blogger.com/_v1KzwvLxUz4/Rr8 … ap_web.jpg
If you have any comments, please let me know. I actually wanted to spend more time on the Chinese Wikipedia researching the original etymology of all the MRT stop origins, but I ran short on time. For quite a few of them I expect there is a deeper story that would make me translate the names a bit differently.
Very nice. But the gates should be singular, as they’re referring to one gate. I’ve always advocated calling Ximending the “West Gate District”. It just sounds cool.
Great idea!!
Some suggestions:
Jingmei = Fairview (sounds a little more like an English placename)
Hongshulin = Mangroves (“red” and “forest” are redundant)
Dongwuyuan = Zoo (though literally “animal garden” or “zoological park”, the word normally just translates as “zoo”)
Wanfang: “wan”, though literally meaning" 10,000", figuratively means “all”
Xinhai: just “1911” would do (though it can also mean “1971”)
Ximen: Westgate (sounds a little more like an English placename) It should be singular anyway, since it’s named agter the West Gate of the old walled city.
Xiao Nanmen: Little Southgate. Again, it should be singular.
Muzha: Wooden Fence (the area is named after a wooden barricade that was built as defense against Aboriginal raids
Tucheng: Earthen Wall. Still, though “Dirt City” is funnier
Shandao Temple: Good Guide Temple
Dapinglin: “Pinglin” means “grove”. Edit: Grandhurst, perhaps?
Beitou: apparently this comes from an Aboriginal word meaning “witch”
Eventually when Nangang Station is complete, it would be Southport.
But why? I mean the mainland hasn’t renamed Beijing “Northern Capital”. Japan, Tokyo - Eastern Capital, or Australia’s Canberra, “Meeting Place of the Crows”, etc. I dont get it.
Usung the proper Romanised place names in English at least gives foreign non-Chinese speakers the chance to at least get a place name right if they seek alternatives to the MRT.
Can you imagine a Taiwan cabbie if you jumped in and asked, “To the Western Gate District, my good man.”
HG
Why? Intellectual exercise. Curiosity. Or just plain old fun.
Okay, gotcha. For one horrid moment I was picturing an MRT ride consisting of endless station announcements in Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka, foregn pronounced pinyin and then English. And then somewhere in there Ma’s mad numeral system. 
HG
For the love of all that is good in the world, everyone please promise to never, ever mention this to anyone at Taipei City Hall. 
The Crankster wrote: [quote]For the love of all that is good in the world, everyone please promise to never, ever mention this to anyone at Taipei City Hall. [/quote]
Oh, don’t be such an old bore. These things all add colour and vitality to the city streets. In fact, I think it should be mandatory for every new mayor to make name changes and to introduce a new romanisation system. 
For the love of all that is good in the world, everyone please promise to never, ever mention this to anyone at Taipei City Hall. [/quote]
More:
Fuxinggang: Restoration Hill
Qiyan: Strange Rock
Qilian: Kilrigan (the name of a band of the Ketagalan tribe)
Jiangzicui: Old name 港仔嘴 “gang-zai zui”; literally “Portsmouth”!
Ximen = Semen.
Fuxing = … 
Liuzhangli should just be Six Plows.
And should be pronounced Chili Anne, as in the sister of Mary Anne.
It’s an interesting exercise, but some of the translations are overly literal and a bit awkward. A couple have been mentioned already- like why translate ‘dongwuyuan’ as Animal Garden when it has the everyday meaning of ‘zoo’ - I would have thought the existing English name, ‘Taipei Zoo’ does the job fine, as does ‘Taipei City Hall’ for ‘Shi Zhengfu’. I mean, you wouldn’t translate 台北車站 as ‘North Platform Station’, would you? 
I think you could be a bit more creative with some of the names to make them sound more ‘elegant’. e.g. someone suggested ‘Restoration Hill’, which is perfect for ‘Fuxinggang’, and even sounds like an English name! Might I suggest ‘Bellevue’ for ‘Jingmei’? I grew up near a suburb called Bellevue Hill in Sydney, and I could only assume it was named after the view of the harbour from the top of the hill.
I’d probably translate the stations with 山 in the name as “…Hill” - it just sounds more English: Sesame Hill, Middle Hill, etc. And I think you could leave Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial and Sun Yat-sen Memorial. They’re people’s names, so no need to go to the literal translation.
Of course, this is all just for fun, but it illustrates some of the things you need to think about when translating place names.
edit: I probably sound like I’m being too critical, but I actually really liked the idea and I got a giggle out of it. It would be an interesting exercise, though, to come up with some more ‘elegant’ translations- my attempts:
Yongchun - Evergreen instead of Eternal Spring - since the trees turn green again in spring
Xindian - Newmarket instead of New Store?
Banqiao - Woodbridge?
I’m out of ideas!
The name Liuzhangli 六張犁, which is now used for Liuzhangli Station 六張犁站, originally signified an area that included portions of Da An and Xin Yi Districts. While a literal character-by-character translation of 六張犁 could be Six (六) Sheet (張) Plow (犁), actually the Li (犁) here referred to a Taiwanese measurement of area, the area of land that could be farmed by one man with one head of oxen and one plow. The name Liuzhangli first appeared on a map in 1893.
The term Li somehow relates to a Dutch term, so perhaps is also related to the English word “acre”, which is also the area of land that could be farmed by one man with one head of oxen and one plow. You could thus translate Liuzhangli 六張犁 as Six Acres or Six Li.