| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5] > | Is translating people’s names out of date in 2022? Thread poster: Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
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| Yes, they do. | Oct 3, 2022 |
Tom in London wrote:
Do the English still refer to Livorno as Leghorn? Do they still do that?
...the Naval Academy of Leghorn it is said. The same I use when talking with English-speaking people about my past.
[Edited at 2022-10-03 09:28 GMT]
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 19:09
Spanish to English
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| Those wacky (insert demonym of choice) | Oct 3, 2022 |
Mario Cerutti wrote: Tom in London wrote:
Do the English still refer to Livorno as Leghorn? Do they still do that?
...the Naval Academy of Leghorn it is said. The same I use when talking with English-speaking people about my past. [Edited at 2022-10-03 09:28 GMT]
So, "Sirena di Livorno " would be the cartoon character, Foghorn Leghorn? The mind boggles...
| | | | P.L.F. Persio 
Netherlands
Local time: 19:09
Member (2010)
English to Italian
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Mario Cerutti wrote: Thomas T. Frost wrote:
'Poutine' is not a mistake in French. It matches the correct pronunciation and avoids confusion with 'putain' (prostitute), which is pronounced the same way as 'Putin' would be.
But, isn't "Putin" pronounced something like "puchin" in Russian? This, at least, is the way the Japanese pronounce it.
In Russian, it's pronounced Putin, just like in Italian.
| | | | expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 18:09
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
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| Yes, it's your fault :) | Oct 3, 2022 |
Tom in London wrote:
Seamus O'Porto.
Do the English still refer to Livorno as Leghorn? Do they still do that?
Why do Italians refer to Mainz as Magonza? Why do they call London "Londra"?
Etc., etc. ad infinitum.
Although it is increasingly rarely used, many foreigners still call the city of Porto "Oporto".
In recent years, as a result of growing international recognition, perhaps due to tourism and international promotion of the city, it is increasingly common to see foreigners using just "Porto". Nice 
However, the habit remains mainly among the Spanish and the English, but of course there is nothing wrong with that. It's just that my ears are not quite adapted to "Oporto".
But the origin of the habit of saying "Oporto" is curious, to say the least.
I would say that the origin of the English word "Oporto" lies in the Portuguese expression "O Porto" ("o" meaning "the", the definite article + name of the city).
This masculine definite article "o" always precedes the name of the city most part of the time, for example, "A minha família mudou-se para o Porto" (My family moved to Oporto), hence it sounds, or has sounded, to foreign ears, as a single word.
As a final note, the city was originally called "Portus Cale", the name that originated the country's name, "Portucale", and lastly, Portugal.
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Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
Speaking of place names, I always find it amusing how Germany has different designations across languages. My favorite has got to be the Lakota Iyášiča Makȟóčhe, which translates as “Bad Speaker Land.” 
[Edited at 2022-10-03 13:17 GMT]
| | | | finnword1
United States
Local time: 13:09
English to Finnish
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| Names are no longer translated into Finnish | Oct 3, 2022 |
The Finnish Language Institute issued instructions in 2002 that existing translated names can stay, but new ones should not be invented. For example Albert Frederick Arthur George of England is still called Yrjö VI.
| | | | finnword1
United States
Local time: 13:09
English to Finnish
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| How about this one: | Oct 3, 2022 |
Mr. Satan wrote: Speaking of place names, I always find it amusing how Germany has different designations across languages. My favorite has got to be the Lakota Iyášiča Makȟóčhe, which translates as “Bad Speaker Land.” [Edited at 2022-10-03 13:17 GMT]
Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagung in Massachusetts is said to translate:
“You fish on your side; I fish on my side; nobody fishes in the middle”
| | | | Kaspars Melkis
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:09
English to Latvian
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| I am sure it is not | Oct 3, 2022 |
P.L.F. Persio wrote:
In Russian, it's pronounced Putin, just like in Italian.
In Russian [t] gets palatalized that in some languages is considered a different sound. In Latvian the Russian pronunciation would be written as Puķin.
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 19:09
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
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| You are right | Oct 3, 2022 |
Kaspars Melkis wrote: P.L.F. Persio wrote:
In Russian, it's pronounced Putin, just like in Italian. In Russian [t] gets palatalized that in some languages is considered a different sound. In Latvian the Russian pronunciation would be written as Puķin.
In Russian, it sounds “Putjin”, while in Italian it sounds “Putin” (just checked on Google voice generator), just like in my language, T is straight. It seems something happens to T in Russian when surrounded with vowels.
| | | | Michael Newton
United States
Local time: 13:09
Japanese to English
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| translating people's names | Oct 4, 2022 |
Not forgetting that those German rascals have come up with "Venedig" and "Florenz".
And the Chinese transliterate Rome as "Luo-ma", Athens as "Ya-dian", Moscow as "Muo-si-ge", Istanbul as "I-si-tan-bao", Vienna as "Wei-ye-na" and Tel Aviv as "Te-la Wei-fu" (a city located in "I-si-lie", Israel) (don't forget to put in the tones for these.)
There are traditional transliterations for cities such as San Francisco: "Jiujinshan" ("Old Gold Mountain"). LA comes out as "Luosanji").
T... See more Not forgetting that those German rascals have come up with "Venedig" and "Florenz".
And the Chinese transliterate Rome as "Luo-ma", Athens as "Ya-dian", Moscow as "Muo-si-ge", Istanbul as "I-si-tan-bao", Vienna as "Wei-ye-na" and Tel Aviv as "Te-la Wei-fu" (a city located in "I-si-lie", Israel) (don't forget to put in the tones for these.)
There are traditional transliterations for cities such as San Francisco: "Jiujinshan" ("Old Gold Mountain"). LA comes out as "Luosanji").
The Japanese sometimes abbreviate Los Angeles to "Rosu" and San Francisco to "Shisuko" or "Es Ef" (It used to be common for Americans to refer to this city as "Frisco" but this moniker has died out).
When transliterating names in my languages (RU, JA, ZH), the practice is usually to phoneticize as closely as possible ("Akhmatova"; "Hashimoto", "Ceng Goufan"). ▲ Collapse
| | | | Michael Newton
United States
Local time: 13:09
Japanese to English
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| translating people's names | Oct 4, 2022 |
As for the Russian pronunciation of "Putin", it is "pu" "t'in" or "tyin". The "i" after the "t" is palatalized. The Chinese equivalent
of "pu" "jing" is more straightforward.
| | | | Michael Newton
United States
Local time: 13:09
Japanese to English
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| translating names | Oct 4, 2022 |
In Russian, the city is "Kiev" (final "v" pronounced "f")
In Ukrainian, the city is "Kiiv".
Also not forgetting: "Odessa" in Russian and "Odesa" in Ukrainian.
I was just thinking about the relation between Russian and Ukrainian. I think the two languages may be as mutually intelligible
as Castellano and Gallego. But just a guess.
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| Royal names are still translated differently | Oct 4, 2022 |
If we put aside the subtleties to the Russian phonetics to foreign translators, who are seemingly experts on this topic, and get back to the subject, in Russian the names of kings/queens are still translated differently that the respective 'usual' names. The recent example is the new king in GB. While he's still a prince, he is called Prince Charles, with pronunciation close to that in English. When he's become king, he's called [Karl] and whatever his number is. The same is about certain histor... See more If we put aside the subtleties to the Russian phonetics to foreign translators, who are seemingly experts on this topic, and get back to the subject, in Russian the names of kings/queens are still translated differently that the respective 'usual' names. The recent example is the new king in GB. While he's still a prince, he is called Prince Charles, with pronunciation close to that in English. When he's become king, he's called [Karl] and whatever his number is. The same is about certain historical figures, I guess. In other cases names are not translated. But there are also many exceptions with geographical names, which in Russian may sound quite different for the natives of the respecitve countries. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | A name is not a variable | Oct 4, 2022 |
Thomas T. Frost wrote:
'Poutine' is not a mistake in French. It matches the correct pronunciation and avoids confusion with 'putain' (prostitute), which is pronounced the same way as 'Putin' would be.
Yet, I find that altering a name this way is fundamentally wrong, if nothing else because it could lead to confusion.
I wouldn't like if some people wrote my surname with some alterations just because it doesn't sound right in their language. They could pronounce it whatever they like, but for me "Poutine" is completely different from "Putin", whom might laugh loud if he saw it.
[Edited at 2022-10-04 07:16 GMT]
| | | | expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 18:09
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
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Michael Newton wrote:
I was just thinking about the relation between Russian and Ukrainian. I think the two languages may be as mutually intelligible as Castellano and Gallego. But just a guess.
Galician is closer to Portuguese than Castilian.
I think you have already heard about Galician-Portuguese. It was first spoken in the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean and by the Douro River in the south, comprising Galicia and northern Portugal.
Later, by the 'Reconquista' it was extended to the south of the Douro.
They are mutually intelligible to the point of a Portuguese and a Galician are able to communicate fairly well. The main difference is just the pronunciation.
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