How to translate an address into English

How to translate an address into English

When we were in school, everyone memorized knowledge, right? Knowledge points are not necessarily all words. In addition to definitions, equally important formulas can also be understood as knowledge points. In order to help everyone learn more efficiently, here is how I compiled the address into English for your reference. I hope it can help friends in need.

1. Address Overview

The main function of a business card is to communicate, so it is essential to write a detailed home or work address on the business card. For example:

Address: Room 201, No. 18, Tianchang Road, Huangyan District, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province

Translated into English:

Address: Room 201, 18 Tianchang Road, Huangyan District, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province.

Compared with the above example, there are a few points to note when translating:

The order of Chinese addresses is from largest to smallest: × Country × Province × City × District × Road × Number, while the English address is just the opposite, from small to large: × Number × Road (Road), × District (District), × City (City), × Province (Province), × country.

The proper name part of the place name (such as the "Huangyan" part of "Huangyan District") should use Chinese Pinyin and must be written consecutively. For example, Huangyan should not be written as Huang Yan.

Each address unit must be separated by commas.

The above gives the writing rules for location translation. Next, we will conduct a detailed analysis of the address content.

The complete address consists of three parts: administrative division, block name, and building number.

2. Administrative divisions in English

Administrative divisions are the highest-level unit in the address. Our country has a vast territory and complex administrative divisions. Generally speaking, it can be divided into five levels (notes in brackets) It is the current domestic common translation name):

1. Country (State): the People's Republic of China (the People's Republic of China; P.R.China; P.R.C; China)

　2 .Provincial Level: Province (Province). Autonomous Region (Autonomous Region). Municipality (Municipality directly under the Central Government, referred to as Municipality); Special Administrative Region (Special Administration Region; SAR)

　3. Prefectural Level: Prefecture. Autonomous Prefecture. Municipality; City; Prefecture;

4. County Level: County . Autonomous County. City. District. Banner.

5. Township Level: Township. Ethnic Township. Town (Town). Sub-district office (Sub-district).

Application examples:

(1) Zhongxing Town, Chongming County, Shanghai (Municipality).

(2) Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Hulunbeir Prefecture, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

(3) Longxi Township, Yuhuan County, Taizhou Municipality, Zhejiang Province.

(4) Jinmen Sub-district, Jinchang District, Suzhou City.

3. Analysis of English translation of administrative divisions

Most of the above administrative divisions are translated into English It is generally accepted in China, but there are still some disputes. The analysis is as follows:

1. Regarding the English translation of "city".

The "city" hierarchy in our country is complex, with three levels from top to bottom. Currently, the more common practice is to translate "municipality" as Municipality. Some people translate "Municipality" as Municipality, while others translate it as Municipality. City, county-level cities are all translated as City.

The author believes that if a city is explained from the perspective of urban-rural comparison and urban functions, there is no doubt that all cities can be called cities, and Shanghai can also be called Shanghai City or City of Shanghai. But if you translate a city from the concept of administrative region, it is a different matter. Municipality is translated as Municipality, and county-level city is translated as City. This is a certainty and cannot be changed. The problem lies in the prefecture-level city in the middle.

The definition of Municipality is: 1. a city, town, or other district possessing corporate existence and usually its own local government. (Quoted from Webster Dictionary)

From the above It can be seen from the explanation that Municipality has a wide scope of application, which can be large or small, ranging from our municipality to a small town.

In the United Kingdom and the United States, Municipality is not used as a first-level administrative division and is generally used interchangeably with City in the meaning of "municipal". However, in many parts of the world, such as the Philippines, Israel and other countries, Municipality is often used as The name of the administrative region at or below the provincial level.

In Canada, Municipality is also a first-level administrative region under a province. For example, in Ontario, there is a regional municipality of Waterloo, called the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, which has 8 municipalities under its jurisdiction. --Municipality (in Canada, a municipality with a larger population is called a City).

Since prefecture-level cities in our country have the function of governing county-level cities, there is an embarrassing situation where the city governs the city. Moreover, the city also has jurisdiction over the vast rural county, unlike most countries in the world that restrict the city to cities. The scope approach is not uniform. For example, in Japan and the United States, multiple Cities are included under County, which is exactly the opposite in my country.

According to this, the author agrees with the translation of prefecture-level cities and municipalities in the sense of administrative divisions into Municipality (the full name of Municipality is Municipality directly under the central government). And the city level - the municipal district, that is, the city in the functional sense is translated as City.

As in the above example: "Chongming County, Shanghai City" should be translated into Chongming County, Shanghai Municipality.

But "Nanjing Road, Shanghai City" can be translated into Nanjing Road, Shanghai City.

Another example: Hangzhou is a prefecture-level city, so "Hangzhou Municipal Government" should be translated into: Hangzhou Municipal Government, but: "Hangzhou is a tourist city" should be translated into: Hangzhou is a tourism city.

Application examples: à Daxi Town, Wenling City, Taizhou Municipality, Zhejiang Province.

4. Abbreviations and abbreviations

The address must be expressed concisely, so abbreviations and abbreviations should be used as much as possible to convey the meaning.

5. The general name of the administrative region can be omitted

Chinese people like to indicate the province or city when writing addresses, but according to English habits, it can be omitted; besides, the provincial level and larger cities are well known to everyone, the subsequent general names of administrative regions can be omitted without causing difficulty in understanding; if further simplification is needed, by analogy, the regional names of some counties and even towns can also be omitted.

For example: ×× Township, Yuhang District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China

××Township, Yuhang, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, P.R.C.

6. Can be found in the middle of the address Simply insert your zip code.

The common way to write the postal code in our country is to put the postal code on a new line with the words "Postal Code; Zip; P.C." in front of it. However, the practice in the United Kingdom and the United States is to write the postal code directly in the state or Behind the city, such as:

United States: 1120 Lincoln Street, Denver, CO 80203, USA

(Chinese translation: 1120 Lincoln Street, Denver, Colorado, USA, Postal Code: 80203 )

Note: CO is the abbreviation of the state of Colorado in the United States. When used together with the zip code, the state name generally appears in abbreviated form.

United Kingdom: 60 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4N 4TW

(Chinese translation: 60 Queen Victoria Street, London, Postcode: EC4N 4TW)

Thus, If our place names follow the methods of British and American countries and insert the zip code into the middle of the address, a lot of space can be saved.

For example: 102 Huangjiao Road, Taizhou, Zhejiang 318020, China.

102 Huangjiao Road, Taizhou, Zhejiang 318020, China.

7. Abbreviations of provinces and cities

Due to the postal code, the proper names of cities or provinces can also be abbreviated without causing confusion, except for Hong Kong (Hong KongàHK). Macau ( MacaoàMO). Taiwan (TaiwanàTW), there has never been a widely recognized English abbreviation for the provinces in mainland my country.

Fortunately, in order to expand Internet domain name resources, the Ministry of Information Industry issued the "Announcement on China's Internet Domain Name System" on November 22, 20xx. In the announcement, administrative region-type second-level domestic domain names were opened for the first time to 34 countries across the country. Each province (city, autonomous region, special administrative region) has stipulated a two-letter code; the author believes that with the in-depth development of the Internet, this code will naturally become the abbreviation of each province and region, and can be used with confidence; the code adopted by the Ministry of Information Industry Basically consistent with the abbreviation of the English translation, only Inner Mongolia (English translation: Inner Mongolia, abbreviation: IM, and the code of the Ministry of Information uses pure Chinese pinyin, which is NM). (English translation:, and the second-level domain name still uses There is an incongruity between the two words Hanyu Pinyin (XZ), but this does not affect the promotion of this abbreviation system.

The corresponding abbreviations for each provincial administrative region are as follows:

English translation abbreviations of provinces

Anhui Anhui AH

Beijing BJ

Fujian Fujian FJ

Gansu GS

Guangdong Guangdong GD

Guangxi Guangxi GX

Guizhou GZ

Hainan HI

Hebei HE

Henan HA

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang HJ

Hubei HB

Hunan HN

Jilin JL

Jiangsu Jiangsu JS

Jiangxi Jiangxi JX

Liaoning LN

Inner Mongoria IM(NM)

Ningxia NX

Qinghai Qinghai QH

Shandong SD

Shanxi Shanxi SX

Shaanxi Shaanxi SN

Shanghai SH

Sichuan SC

Tianjin Tianjing TJ

XZ

Xinjiang XJ

Yunnan YN

Zhejiang ZJ

Chongqing CQ

Macao MO

Hong Kong HK

Taiwan TW

Note: Generally, the first letter combination of Chinese Pinyin is used, but among them Shanxi (Shanxi) and Shaanxi (Shaanxi) , Hubei (Hubei) and Hebei (Hebei), Hunan (Hunan). Henan (Henan) and Hainan (Hainan) will conflict with this method, so they have adopted alternative methods. Here is a comparison as follows:

Shanxi Shanxià SX

Shaanxi Shaanxià SN

Hubei Hubeià HB

Hebei Hebeià HE

Hunan Hunanà HN

Henan Henanà HA

　Hainan Hainanà HI

In the above changes, Hubei and Hunan provinces follow the old rules, and Hebei and Henan provinces move back one letter to combine.

With the continuous development of foreign economic exchanges, the English abbreviations of place names will be widely used.

Application examples:

No. 2, Shengli North Street, Qiaodong District, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, China, Postcode: 050021à

2 North Shengli Avenue, Qiaodong District, Shijiazhuang City, HE050021, P.R.C.

8. English translation of village streets

In the middle of the address system are some traditional village streets and various emerging communities. New villages. Industrial zones, etc., among which "village (committee)" and "neighborhood (committee)" are both the name of the area and the name of the grassroots organization of the administrative system.

9. Expression of building room number

The lowest level of the address involves the naming of the specific place and the labeling of the room number. For example: Room 302, Building 5. Room 102, Unit 2, Building 3.

Here. "Building" and "building number" are actually the same thing, and are generally expressed by Building...; "room" is generally translated as Room or Suite.

The above two examples can be translated into: Suite 302, Building 5; Room 102, Unit 2, Building 3.

In addition, terms such as "unit", "...building", "...floor" often appear in this level of address. Details See the table below (omitted):

Application example:

Rm. 1-3, 5/F, Office Building E1, fifth floor, Dongyi Office Building. p>

Suite 402, Unit 3, Jingfang Apt.

Room 608, 6/F, Tower A, International Trade Building. Building.

Block A, 4/F & 5/F, Tower A, Chungking Mansion, Hong Kong.

The difference between Chinese address translation into English

Chinese addresses are arranged from large to small, for example: No. X, Road X, District X, Province : No. X, Road X, District X, City X, Province X, Country X

Room Unit Unit X

Building No.X

X Street

/p>

　X CountyX County

　X TownX Town

　X CityX City

　X ProvinceX Province

Please note: It is best to use Pinyin when translating names of people, road names, street names, etc.

Nouns in English addresses

xx Room/Room xx, such as Room 201 Room 201.

xx Village xx Vallage, such as Huaxi Vallage in Huaxi Village.

xx No.xx, such as No.888.

xx Dormitory xx Dormitory, such as Student Dormitory Student Dormitory.

xx Building/Floor xx /Floor, such as 13th Floor, can be abbreviated as 13F

xx Residential Quarter/Community xx Residential Quater, such as Guanghua Residential Quater

A/B/C/D A /B/C/D

Lane xx, such as Lane Liangjia, Chinese translation can also be written as Liangjia Xiang

Unit xx Unit xx, such as Unit 7 Unit 7

xx Building/Building xxBuilding, for example, Building 15 is written as Building 15/15 Building

xx Company xx Crop/CO.LTD

xx Factory xx Factory

xx Restaurant/Hotel xx Hotel, such as Sifang Hotel.

xx Road xx Road, such as Wenquan Road.

xx Garden xx Garden, such as Dada Garden.

xx Street, such as Bei Street.

Mailbox xx

xx District, such as Wenjiang District Wenjiang District.

xx Countyxx County, such as Wan County Wan County.

xx Town/Village/Township, such as Lizhuang Town.

xx City xx City such as Chengdu City.

xxx University (College) xx College, such as Textile College.

xx University xx University, such as Southwest University of Science and Technology.

xx Yard, such as Majia Yard.

xx Province, xx Province, such as Sichuan Province.

Indicates that ordinal words can be written as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th... Such abbreviations, if not, you can also use No.n instead. For things that are difficult to translate in the address, you can just write Chinese Pinyin, xx East (South, West, North) Road, you can just use Pinyin, you can also write *** East (South, West, North) Road.

Misunderstandings in filling in the English address of the domestic address

Many people actually have a misunderstanding when filling in the English address of the domestic address. They all want to fill in the address more authentically. OK, like what I wrote above.

But we should ask ourselves a question, what is it used for after filling in the address?

If your address is Room 302, Building 23, Jianguomen Avenue, Chaoyang District, Beijing, then an authentic American would write:

#302, 23 Jianguomen Avenue, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100000

For example, if you are applying to a school, the school will directly copy your address and print it on the express delivery note. When the express company sees China, it will fly over with an offer for you. It will be sent to China by sea, where it will be split up by Chinese people. When it sees Beijing, it will be sent to Beijing. After arriving in Beijing, it will be assigned to a postman for delivery. During this whole process, no foreigner will study your address, let alone whether your writing is authentic or not. So the result of writing too authentically is that the guy who delivers the courier to you will have a headache with your address.

Therefore, when writing an English address, it is recommended that in addition to putting the city at the end, the rest should follow Chinese standards and fill in the Chinese pinyin normally. Do not invent English addresses such as Jianguomen Outer Street. Returning to the above example, writing as follows can guarantee delivery:

Chaoyang Qu, Jianguomen Dajie 23haolou 302shi,

Beijing 100000

The following is for you Collected some examples of English address translation:

Room 403, No. 37, SiFang Residential Quarter, BaoShan District

Room 201, No. 34, Lane 125, Xikang South Road, Hongkou District

Room 201, No. 34, Lane 125, XiKang Road (South), HongKou District 473004;