4 ms·

Fun fact: Stuttgart is considered to be one of the worst cities in Germany with regards to air pollution, because of the geography ("Stuttgarter Kessel"). But t

by chki 5y ago

Fun fact: Stuttgart is considered to be one of the worst cities in Germany with regards to air pollution, because of the geography ("Stuttgarter Kessel"). But the difference between any other German city and Stuttgart is obviously negligible when compared to Peking.

Stevvo 5y ago
"Peking"? What?
- DeRock 5y ago
  Peking == Beijing. It’s the more phonetic translation of the mandarin name for the city.
  - Stevvo 5y ago
    No, Peking is not more phonetic than Beijing, and it isn't even Wade-Giles. Beijing is the currently accepted western name. You could make a linguistic argument for Wade-Giles, but not for the postal romanization.
    - chki 5y ago
      > Beijing is the currently accepted western name. In the English language, probably. I'm not a native speaker of English and momentarily forgot that "Peking" is unusual (although – in my defense – the English Wikipedia page still has it). But in my native language (German) everything other than "Peking" would be highly unusual.
    - lbschenkel 5y ago
      In English you mean. In Portuguese the name is still customarily "Pequim". To illustrate, go to the Beijing page in English Wikipedia and change it to Portuguese. Check what's the title of the page. That's also the canonical name used in French, Finnish, Italian, German, Spanish, Swedish, and many more. Last time I checked they're all western languages. Names are chosen by the users. It's not because the English-speaking word was quicker to adopt the new name that it suddenly became "universal". Universal in English? Sure. I'm sure that eventually most languages will switch to their local spelling of "Beijing", but that is many decades away. You can't change a word that has been used for centuries by decree. Languages don't work that way. Or maybe for English it does, not so much for many others.

4 ms·

Fun fact: Stuttgart is considered to be one of the worst cities in Germany with regards to air pollution, because of the geography ("Stuttgarter Kessel"). But t

by chki 5y ago

Stevvo 5y ago
"Peking"? What?
- DeRock 5y ago
  Peking == Beijing. It’s the more phonetic translation of the mandarin name for the city.
  - Stevvo 5y ago
    No, Peking is not more phonetic than Beijing, and it isn't even Wade-Giles. Beijing is the currently accepted western name. You could make a linguistic argument for Wade-Giles, but not for the postal romanization.
    - chki 5y ago
      > Beijing is the currently accepted western name. In the English language, probably. I'm not a native speaker of English and momentarily forgot that "Peking" is unusual (although – in my defense – the English Wikipedia page still has it). But in my native language (German) everything other than "Peking" would be highly unusual.
    - lbschenkel 5y ago
      In English you mean. In Portuguese the name is still customarily "Pequim". To illustrate, go to the Beijing page in English Wikipedia and change it to Portuguese. Check what's the title of the page. That's also the canonical name used in French, Finnish, Italian, German, Spanish, Swedish, and many more. Last time I checked they're all western languages. Names are chosen by the users. It's not because the English-speaking word was quicker to adopt the new name that it suddenly became "universal". Universal in English? Sure. I'm sure that eventually most languages will switch to their local spelling of "Beijing", but that is many decades away. You can't change a word that has been used for centuries by decree. Languages don't work that way. Or maybe for English it does, not so much for many others.