Good Characters Blog

In New York, voters have a legal right to a ballot in their language (The New York Voter’s Bill of Rights). But for Chinese-speaking citizens, that ballot does not guarantee them the ability to vote. The reason is that the candidates’ names can be so poorly translated on the ballot that their identities are truly lost in translation.

This happened in the September 12 Democratic primary election. The names of office seekers were simply transliterated without regard for meaning or how the names usually appeared in Chinese newspapers. The result was that some candidates ended up with names with negative connotations—not a good thing for politicians—and other well known people were given names that no one recognized. These careless translations confused many voters and may have cost some candidates the election.

Among my Top 10 Reasons You Need a Naming Professional to Design a Chinese Name for You is the fact that “if more than one person writes about or refers to you, you could end up with several versions of your Chinese name. The different versions will confuse your clients.” 

The more important a name is to a Chinese audience, the more critical it is to have it professionally designed and officially written.

Links:

• New Yorkers’ Voting Rights
  A Voter’s Bill of Rights guarantees citizens of New York a number or rights when casting ballots, including the right to a ballot in their language.
• Voting Rules and Restrictions by State
  A number of U.S. counties provide election assistance for people speaking a language other than English. They provide ballots in various languages, translations of voting materials, and bilingual poll workers. In New York city, about 30% of Chinese-American voters used ballots in the Chinese language
• Many Transliterations of the Same Candidates’ Chinese Names Confuse Voters (Chinese)
  The wide variety of transliterations for each candidate’s name makes selection difficult for Chinese voters. Elections officials urge voters to become informed about the names and take their time in voting.
  候选人中文译名五花八门, 投票遇”天书”要耐心
• Confusing Transliterated Chinese Names in an American Election (Chinese)
  Imagine losing votes because voters don’t recognize your name and don’t know who to vote for.
  美国选举中文译名五花八门
• Confusing Transliterated Names Have Negative Impact on Chinese Voters’ Turnout (Chinese)
  Eliot Spitzer’s supporters had to spend extra effort explaining to voters that his transliterated name on the ballot is different from what they are used to.
  纽约联成公所批选举局译名混乱: 影响华人投票
• No Chinese Transliterated Names on the Chinese Ballot in Massachusetts
  In Massachusetts’ first use of bilingual ballots, September 2006, some Chinese voters complained that candidates’ names were printed in English with no Chinese transliteration. The Department of Elections explained that there are no official translations for the candidates’ names. The English-only names made voting difficult for many.
  美麻州初选首用双语选票, 未印中文译名华裔不满