Ethnography的含义与汉语译名

绝大多数英汉词典把ethnography翻译为人种志、种族志或人种学，较早的汉译论著一般也采用这个译法。虽然近年来人类学和民族学的专业著作，包括汉语著作和汉语译作，已经极少把ethnography表述为人种志、种族志或人种学，但某些论著仍用旧说。事实上，按体质特征为标准进行的种族划分缺乏足够的科学根据，世界上也不存在所谓的种族文化。Ethnography应译为民族志，而不应译为人种志、种族志或人种学；同理，ethno同根词只能翻译为“民族……”，如ethnology译为“民族学”。

The Interpretation and the Chinese Translation of Ethnography

The word ＂ethnography＂ is translated into “人种志”、“种族志”or“人种学” in the majority of die-tionaries as well as in the earlier Chinese translation versions. In recent works in Anthropology and Ethnology, including both Chinese works and Chinese translation versions, the word has seldom been expressed as “人种志”、“种族志”or “人种学”, but still some treatises follow such an incorrect way. In fact, the race division by the standard of physical characteristics is not scientific, and by no means exists the＂racial culture＂. ＂Ethnography＂ should be translated into ＂民族志＂,so should the cognates of ＂ethno＂ only be translated into ＂民族……＂