How to say grammar school?

[jd144]

Hi. I was wondering if anyone could help me.

 

How do i say "Grammar school" in mandarin?　I am referring to an academically selective school.

 

Thank you!

 

 

[陳德聰]

I believe that would just be called a "school" in China, lol.

[abcdefg]

Not sure what you mean. If by "grammar school" you mean "primary school," where the young children study after kindergarten and before middle school, that would simply be 小学 in the China Mainland. Six years of it.

 

These name designations differ from country to country, and I don't know where you are from. For example, the US is not the same as England.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar_school

 

In other areas, grammar schools survive mainly as very highly selective schools in an otherwise comprehensive county, for example in several of the outer boroughs of London... These very highly selective schools also tend to dominate the top positions in performance tables.

 

So maybe you are English. (I am American, where primary school is not selective.)

[Flickserve]

There is no direct translation because there is no direct equivalent.

For instance, in Hong Kong which was a former British colony, there are no grammar schools.

You might be able to find a term describing grammar schools in a written chinese article describing the British educational system e.g. Chinese wiki or newspapers etc. I am pretty sure it would not be in mainstream use.

[lips]

精英学校

[陳德聰]

In Canada, only private schools are allowed to do this, not public schools. In China... Lots of public schools only let you in if you scored above a certain number of points for enrollment, but those schools are just called schools. The translation in #5 is something you can call any school that promises academic success to make it sound appealing to Chinese people, but it doesn't mean "grammar school".

[skylee]

"For instance, in Hong Kong which was a former British colony, there are no grammar schools. "

In fact there are (or were), but perhaps the name does not have the same meanings as in other places. The term used here is 文法中學 which is/was one type of secondary school (the other type is/was technical school 工業中學）. You can find these terms here http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/about-edb/press/consultation/review-of-prevocational-secondary-technical-edu-1997.html

I am not sure if there are still different types of secondary schools in HK nowadays.

[Flickserve]

工業中學 is definitely not a English type grammar school.

文法中學 is a more literal translation. Do they exist in Hong Kong?

What we have here is exactly how you put it. The word does not mean the same thing in different places. It is quite possible with evolving educational systems that they did describe the same thing in the past but now are very different. So, what is called a grammar school in England, does not have the same meaning in Hong Kong's educational system. I would be unsure if you can still use the same term as a translation.

So, is there a translation of a school which is government funded, yet uses specific exams (as opposed to nationwide) to determine entry to the school? Some of the schools will actually set their own entry examination..