“師范”大學/學院怎么譯
說到我國高校校名英文
過去的一些研究已注意到了這一譯法的不妥。筆者也多次詢問來自不同國家的英語外籍教師，他們無一例外地表示無法理解normal university是什么大學，根本無法讓人把這樣一個校名與一個“教師培養機構”聯系起來。再從國外情況來看，normal university/ college是一個并不存在的表達，在功能強大的搜索引擎Google上輸入normal university/ college進行檢索的結果是，凡是采用這一說法的學校全部是中國的，包括臺灣師范大學，而國外則似乎沒有一例。
那么，我國的“師范”類高等院校的英文校名為何會是normal university/ college呢？在眾多英文辭典沒有做出解釋的情況下，Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary
著名的網絡百科全書Wikipedia 對于normal school 的來歷有著如下詳細的解釋：A normal school was a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose was to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name. Most such schools are now called teachers colleges, however in some places the term normal school is still used.
In 1685, Saint John Baptist de La Salle, founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, founded what is generally considered the first normal school, the école Normale, — that is, a school whose purpose is to train teachers — in Reims.
In New Zealand, for example, normal schools are affiliated with Teachers colleges. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, normal schools in the United States and Canada trained primary school teachers, while in Europe, normal schools educated primary, secondary and tertiary-level teachers.
In the United States, the function of normal school has been taken up by undergraduate and graduate schools of education. Many famous universities, such as the University of California, Los Angeles were founded as normal schools. In Canada, such institutions are typically part of a university as the Faculty of Education offering a one- or two-year Bachelor of Education program. It requires at least three (usually four) years of prior undergraduate studies.
從上述解釋不難看出，無論是過去還是現在，在西方國家的normal school與我國的“師范大學/師范學院”基本上不是一回事。normal school或者是曾經存在但是現在大多已升格為大學的學校，在美國和加拿大主要是培養中小學教師的，或者只是少數大學中的教育學院或釋放學院下屬的部門而已。
由此可見，關于我國“師范”類院校英文校名的爭議完全可以結束了，我們既不能讓外國人覺得我們的高等院校有normal與abnormal之分，也不能絲毫不顧及國際慣例，更不能把自己降格以求，把堂堂正正的師范學院或師范大學貶低為師范學校。這里另外一個令人百思不得其解的問題是，事實上，我國的“師范學院”較多習慣采用teachers college這一英文名稱而從來不是normal college，為何從“師范學院”升格為“師范大學”之后卻不再是簡簡單單的teachers university而是normal university。對照國外情況，英國有London Teacher Training College?
說到我國高校校名英文
過去的一些研究已注意到了這一譯法的不妥。筆者也多次詢問來自不同國家的英語外籍教師，他們無一例外地表示無法理解normal university是什么大學，根本無法讓人把這樣一個校名與一個“教師培養機構”聯系起來。再從國外情況來看，normal university/ college是一個并不存在的表達，在功能強大的搜索引擎Google上輸入normal university/ college進行檢索的結果是，凡是采用這一說法的學校全部是中國的，包括臺灣師范大學，而國外則似乎沒有一例。
那么，我國的“師范”類高等院校的英文校名為何會是normal university/ college呢？在眾多英文辭典沒有做出解釋的情況下，Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary
著名的網絡百科全書Wikipedia 對于normal school 的來歷有著如下詳細的解釋：A normal school was a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose was to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name. Most such schools are now called teachers colleges, however in some places the term normal school is still used.
In 1685, Saint John Baptist de La Salle, founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, founded what is generally considered the first normal school, the école Normale, — that is, a school whose purpose is to train teachers — in Reims.
In New Zealand, for example, normal schools are affiliated with Teachers colleges. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, normal schools in the United States and Canada trained primary school teachers, while in Europe, normal schools educated primary, secondary and tertiary-level teachers.
In the United States, the function of normal school has been taken up by undergraduate and graduate schools of education. Many famous universities, such as the University of California, Los Angeles were founded as normal schools. In Canada, such institutions are typically part of a university as the Faculty of Education offering a one- or two-year Bachelor of Education program. It requires at least three (usually four) years of prior undergraduate studies.
從上述解釋不難看出，無論是過去還是現在，在西方國家的normal school與我國的“師范大學/師范學院”基本上不是一回事。normal school或者是曾經存在但是現在大多已升格為大學的學校，在美國和加拿大主要是培養中小學教師的，或者只是少數大學中的教育學院或釋放學院下屬的部門而已。
由此可見，關于我國“師范”類院校英文校名的爭議完全可以結束了，我們既不能讓外國人覺得我們的高等院校有normal與abnormal之分，也不能絲毫不顧及國際慣例，更不能把自己降格以求，把堂堂正正的師范學院或師范大學貶低為師范學校。這里另外一個令人百思不得其解的問題是，事實上，我國的“師范學院”較多習慣采用teachers college這一英文名稱而從來不是normal college，為何從“師范學院”升格為“師范大學”之后卻不再是簡簡單單的teachers university而是normal university。對照國外情況，英國有London Teacher Training College?
