A lot of history, for one thing, as we can see in the current controversy about the geographical name that will be given to Taiwanese athletes competing in this summer’s Olympic Games in China.
“There is controversy between Beijing and Taipei about what the athletes of the island will be called at the Olympics.
According to an agreement between the two sides, going back to 1989, the official name of Taiwan at the International Olympic Committee is ‘Zonghua Taibei’, ‘Chinese Taipei’, but the Chinese media call it ‘Zhongguo Taibei’, ‘China’s Taipei’. In Chinese, Zonghua Minguo means ‘Republic of China’, the historical name of Taiwan. The name used in the Chinese media stems from the interpretation that Taiwan is merely a province of China…
The response from Taiwan has been immediate. Yesterday, Henry Chen Ming-cheng, spokesman of the Taiwanese foreign ministry, called ‘entirely unacceptable’ this definition that expresses the idea that Taiwan is part of China.”
(Extract from AsiaNews.it, July 11 2008)
As the 2008 Summer Olympics approach, Language Translation, Inc. is looking forward to bringing you news related to language translation and other linguistic issues surrounding the worldwide sporting event. Located in San Diego, California, we provide translation, interpreting and localization services in over 40 languages. “Let us show you how good translation should be.”
Betty Carlson
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Language Translation Inc., a San Diego-based company has been serving the U.S. and countries abroad since 1989 with professional document translation, certified conference interpreting, and software / website localization services.
