Normal University=師范大學？

今天時代君的小伙伴時代小文秘君在整理文案時發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個問題哦，有一位同學來自華東師范大學，其成績單抬頭學校的翻譯是：East China Normal University。為神馬師范大學被翻譯作Normal University, Normal怎么會有“師范”的意思呢，詞典上都沒有這個解釋，大部分也瞬間蒙了。

于是上網(wǎng)查了，下面和更多滴小伙伴們分享一下哈

版本一（美國外教）
Actually- I have never known why they use normal university.It doesn’t make sense to me and i wonder the same thing.Let me know if you find out.
原來這位美國人也不知道Normal University是干什么的大學。

版本二（美國外教）It isn’t really a term that’s used in the US very much anymore, most of the institutions that used to use it now refer to themselves as teachers’ colleges or universities. The university where I did my master’s degree, Radford University, was originally *State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Radford.
這位外教還提供了一個文獻：ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_school
版本三（澳大利亞外教）?Its merely an old fashioned name of schools/universities…. most people also have no idea why they are called ‘Normal”。
這位外教也給出了和上一個一樣的維基百科上的normal school的解釋。
版本四（加拿大外教）It was actually a few years that I have been in China that had learned that a university called a “Normal University” was actually a teachers university. In North America it is different. The way it works in North America is you go to university and get your 4 year degree from any university in any field. After your 4 year degree you need to go to teachers college for two years. But the teachers college is in the universities and so many universities offer teachers colleges programs.
版本五（美國外教）I don’t know. We never use normal to describe any kind of school.
版本六（美國外教）Normal” seems like an odd adjective for university, and also it seems slightly negative since we like to think of universities have ’special’ advantages, not ‘normal’ qualities.

版本七（英國外教）I am not one hundred percent sure but from a linguistic view I should think it means a university that does not specialize in one particular subject. interesting question! because in English we would not use this word in that way.
看來外教對師范大學的理解是停留在一種機械記憶的層面。
By the 1920s, the term “normal school” lost ground to the preferable term “teachers’ college.” At this time, most such educational institutions were also restructured into four year programs that granted degrees in teacher education.
從上面的解釋來看，normal用作“師范”的意思的用法早已過時了，在西方國家早不用了，現(xiàn)在取而代之的表達應該是Teachers’ University。