The Chinese word **新西兰** (Xīn Xī Lán) for "New Zealand" is formed through a process of **phonetic translation**, where each character is chosen primarily to approximate the sounds of the foreign name's syllables rather than to convey meaning. The characters 新 (xīn, "new"), 西 (xī, "west"), and 兰 (lán, "orchid") together mimic the English pronunciation "New Zea-land," with the first character coincidentally matching the meaning of "New." This method is standard for translating foreign country names into Chinese, creating a recognizable sound while using existing, often semantically positive or neutral, characters.