official translation

The British Consulate General Hong Kong is the sole governmental agency currently tasked with offering professional formal English-to-Cantonese name translation services to British officials. No similar services are offered by UK diplomatic missions within the Greater China area. It is a long tradition for the UK government to provide such uniform translation for certain cabinet members and other officials. This practice has its origin in the distasteful translation of the name of the 16th Colonial Governor of Hong Kong, and the UK government keeps this tradition alive even after the transfer of Hong Kong's sovereignty to China in 1997. The translation process is very refined, and there is a set of principles that they observe to avoid taboo, undesirable, or embarrassing translations as well as making the translated names more relatable, approachable, and agreeable to local Hong Kongers.These translated names are widely adopted and used by Cantonese media outlets in Hong Kong and Macau as well as their foreign correspondents and bureaus, which spread these names to Cantonese-speaking expatriate communities including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.

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