四夷馆与同文馆名称考

中国官方的翻译培训机构开始于明朝的四夷馆。本为东夷的满族入主中原,建立清朝之后,四夷馆被清朝接收,但是,“夷”字被拿掉,又以鸦片战争为分野,先后改名为四译馆和同文馆。改名的背后或者有来自外族的推力,或者有来自外国的推力。然而,持久的推力是国内社会发展中的矛盾运动。因为人民利益才是变革的永恒动力,才是制度文明的落点。

A Survey of the Name Change from Siyi Guan to Tongwen Guan

The first Chinese official translator training agency was established in Ming Dynasty as Siyi Guan(the Imperial Training Agency of the Barbarian Languages).When the Manchu,categorized as the East barbarian according to the traditional bias,came to rule China,it took over Siyi Guan and renamed it firstly as Siyi Guan(the Imperial Translation Training Agency of Regional Languages) by replacing the yi of barbarian with a yi of translator before the Opium Wars,and secondly Tongwen Guan(The Imperial Translation Training Agency of Universal Languages) after the Opium Wars.Such changes of titles were pushed by external forces,either from minority people or from the foreign powers.But the push that lasted the longest was from the contradictive movement in the social development.For people's interest is the eternal need that generates motivation,on which the institutional progress will be landing.