Language authorities to standardize use of foreign words

Language authorities to standardize use of foreign words

China's Ministry of Education is working on regulations to standardize the usage of words of foreign origin, People's Daily reported on Friday.

Yao Xishuang, director of the Language Application Department under the Ministry of Education, said on Thursday that borrowed languages should be used by people in a scientific manner. The unregulated and mechanical introduction of such words can hurt the image of a language, which is a symbol of that country.

As globalization spreads, borrowed words can be found in all aspects of people's daily lives. However, excessive and unregulated usage of these words in publications and formal documents may cause confusion among readers, according to Yao.

The Ministry of Education and the National Languages Committee are joining efforts to standardize the usage of foreign words among the public. A regulation has already been drafted, and will be released soon.

Translations of proper nouns and technical terms should be examined and approved by the language department under the State Council or related departments, according to a regulation on language usage.

The first list of regulated Chinese translations for 10 foreign words was approved by experts from an official linguistics department, and was released last September. The second and third batches will be released this year, Yao added.