Capitol Hill. Signs for the Yu Ying public charter school (offers Chinese language immersion) have been up around town for some time now.
I'm baffled by the name of the school (育英 = Yu Ying). The school's website claims 育英 means "cultivate excellence," but 英 often means "English" which gives me the impression this is about teaching Chinese speakers English (and not vice versa). Maybe I'm missing something.
Each Chinese character can have multiple meanings depending on its context. Yes, "Ying" could mean "English" but it could also mean "excellence." I imagine that "Yu Ying" is a poetic rendering of the phrase "jiaoyu yingcai 教育英才." Most Chinese native speakers, if not all, would see "Yu" and "Ying" together and think of the above phrase and thus interpret "Ying" as "excellence." Hope this helps clarify a bit of your question.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - thanks for your comments; that's very helpful and explains a lot!
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