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That is also true, however in this case the Indian government did officially rename Bangalore to Bengaluru in 2014 in order to drop the anglicised version of Ba

That is also true, however in this case the Indian government did officially rename Bangalore to Bengaluru in 2014 in order to drop the anglicised version of Bangalore. Yet many people still refer to it as Bangalore. For example, Google Maps redirects Bangalore to Bengaluru, whereas it does not for Moscow. Bengaluru: https://www.google.com/maps/place/bangalore https://www.google.com/maps/place/bangalore Moscow: https://www.google.com/maps/place/moscow https://www.google.com/maps/place/moscow

mytailorisrich 7y ago
That does not make it the 'real name' and it's not for a government to decree how foreign languages in foreign countries should pronounce the names of local cities. In this case it is really just a political move to push back against colonial times by changing the English names of Indian cities (not only Bangalore) to strict local orthography. The fact that English is used as a common language in India may play a role in that push because they probably see a need to define names in English (which is ironic). It also depends on the language. China also did that for Beijing, Guangzhou, etc. It worked in English but e.g. in French nobody cared and the 'French' names are still used, the same largely goes for the name of Indian cities.
- new_here 7y ago
  If a government formally announces a name change for one of its cities and provides an English spelling for the new name then that should probably be respected, like it has been done in the example on Google Maps. It is definitely political. In this case they're resetting the original name that was anglicised when they were colonised. Would it not be courteous to respect that?
  - mytailorisrich 7y ago
    Adapting pronunciation of foreign words is what all languages do. It's not related to colonisation at all. Respect starts by not forcing pronunciation on foreign languages and not calling how they pronounce words "not real" (which is what you wrote in the title of your post and what I took offence with). Edit: Bangalore is called Bengaluru in Kannada. That's about it.
    - archi42 7y ago
      I have to agree with you there: It's the name of a locality, nothing more. I'm German, but wouldn't expect anyone to refer to Germany as Deutschland; and Köln is called Cologne in English, no idea why that would be bad. Don't get me starterd on Trier, which once went by Augusta Treverorum... If the country renames itself, they're free to do that. But if the international name will probably stay the same for a long while, one has to live with that, or start some campaign to make the altered name better known (mind, the intentionally used name will eventually converge with the self-choosen name).
    - new_here 7y ago
      > calling how they pronounce words "not real" (which is what you wrote in the title of your post and what I took offence with). The title does not say Bangalore is not a 'real name'. That is your intepretation, presumably to justify your argument. > Respect starts by not forcing pronunciation on foreign languages Not forcing anything, it was posted as informational. The tone in the link or my comments is not forceful. Your own tone, however? Again, framed justification. > Edit: Bangalore is called Bengaluru in Kannada. That's about it. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=bangalore&t=h_&ia=web&iaxm=maps https://duckduckgo.com/?q=bangalore&t=h_&ia=web&iaxm=maps https://www.google.com/maps/place/bangalore https://www.google.com/maps/place/bangalore https://binged.it/2PYvubq https://binged.it/2PYvubq https://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=bangalore#map=12/12.9889/77.6221 https://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=bangalore#map=12/... Not just Kannada, all of the above mapping services "actually" recognise Bangalore as Bengaluru. But, if you don't want to do that or take offence to a perspective that differs from yours, that is your prerogative.
      - mytailorisrich 7y ago
        > The title does not say Bangalore is not a 'real name'. That is your intepretation, presumably to justify your argument. The title of this thread at the time I posted my comments was "The real name of Bangalore is Bengaluru". You obviously know that this you are the poster. HN is about honest discussion... You see to have starting this with an agenda in mind.

mytailorisrich 7y ago

That does not make it the 'real name' and it's not for a government to decree how foreign languages in foreign countries should pronounce the names of local cities. In this case it is really just a political move to push back against colonial times by changing the English names of Indian cities (not only Bangalore) to strict local orthography. The fact that English is used as a common language in India may play a role in that push because they probably see a need to define names in English (which is ironic). It also depends on the language. China also did that for Beijing, Guangzhou, etc. It worked in English but e.g. in French nobody cared and the 'French' names are still used, the same largely goes for the name of Indian cities.

new_here 7y ago
If a government formally announces a name change for one of its cities and provides an English spelling for the new name then that should probably be respected, like it has been done in the example on Google Maps. It is definitely political. In this case they're resetting the original name that was anglicised when they were colonised. Would it not be courteous to respect that?
- mytailorisrich 7y ago
  Adapting pronunciation of foreign words is what all languages do. It's not related to colonisation at all. Respect starts by not forcing pronunciation on foreign languages and not calling how they pronounce words "not real" (which is what you wrote in the title of your post and what I took offence with). Edit: Bangalore is called Bengaluru in Kannada. That's about it.
  - archi42 7y ago
    I have to agree with you there: It's the name of a locality, nothing more. I'm German, but wouldn't expect anyone to refer to Germany as Deutschland; and Köln is called Cologne in English, no idea why that would be bad. Don't get me starterd on Trier, which once went by Augusta Treverorum... If the country renames itself, they're free to do that. But if the international name will probably stay the same for a long while, one has to live with that, or start some campaign to make the altered name better known (mind, the intentionally used name will eventually converge with the self-choosen name).
  - new_here 7y ago
    > calling how they pronounce words "not real" (which is what you wrote in the title of your post and what I took offence with). The title does not say Bangalore is not a 'real name'. That is your intepretation, presumably to justify your argument. > Respect starts by not forcing pronunciation on foreign languages Not forcing anything, it was posted as informational. The tone in the link or my comments is not forceful. Your own tone, however? Again, framed justification. > Edit: Bangalore is called Bengaluru in Kannada. That's about it. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=bangalore&t=h_&ia=web&iaxm=maps https://duckduckgo.com/?q=bangalore&t=h_&ia=web&iaxm=maps https://www.google.com/maps/place/bangalore https://www.google.com/maps/place/bangalore https://binged.it/2PYvubq https://binged.it/2PYvubq https://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=bangalore#map=12/12.9889/77.6221 https://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=bangalore#map=12/... Not just Kannada, all of the above mapping services "actually" recognise Bangalore as Bengaluru. But, if you don't want to do that or take offence to a perspective that differs from yours, that is your prerogative.
    - mytailorisrich 7y ago
      > The title does not say Bangalore is not a 'real name'. That is your intepretation, presumably to justify your argument. The title of this thread at the time I posted my comments was "The real name of Bangalore is Bengaluru". You obviously know that this you are the poster. HN is about honest discussion... You see to have starting this with an agenda in mind.