I took my friend Linda from Australia to Yu Garden, the Shanghai must-see last weekend. Then Linda asked me:

‘what’s the name of this place?’

‘Yu Garden. ‘

‘But I saw different signs with different names though they were very similar.’

She then pointed out one by one.

Yes, She was right. In Yu Garden, all the wooden signage all appeared Yu Yuan as the English name for Yu Garden.

But at the ticket office of Yu Garden, it was Yu Garden Booking Office.

And then on the stone monument in front of the Yu Garden and inside its introduction leaflet, the name was all YuYuan Garden.

So at least three names for Yu Garden:

- Yu Garden
- Yu Yuan
- YuYuan Garden

To be honest, I am always struggling with the translation when I am writing English blog. Sometimes I translate Chinese based on its meaning, but sometimes according to its pronunciation. It is never consistent.

Take the Yu Garden as an example:

-Yu Garden (this is based on its meaning. A garden named Yu)

-Yu Yuan (totally according to its pronunciation as Garden in Chinese pronounced as Yuan)

-Yu Yuan Garden (this is the combination of both pronunciation and meaning)

Another example would be the name of the street:

Two translations for the same street:

- Zhejaing Zhong Lu (pronunciation, as middle pronunced as Zhong in Chinese while Road pronunced as Lu)

- Mid Zhejiang Road (meaning, mid part of Zhejaing Road, there are north and south Zhejiang Road as well)

I don’t know which one is more helpful for foreigners. Should I say Yu Garden, Yu Yuan, or Yuyuan Garden?

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