5 ms·

I tend to use the original German, Italian, Spanish, French place names even when speaking English in fact. I don't know why, I like it that way. Aren't Köln, M

by mojuba 4y ago

I tend to use the original German, Italian, Spanish, French place names even when speaking English in fact. I don't know why, I like it that way. Aren't Köln, Munich [edit München], Zürich, Venezia, Firenze beautiful names?

graeme 4y ago
Munich is the English word. The Germans say München
- mojuba 4y ago
  Oops, you are right!
ilikehurdles 4y ago
Don't you mean the original Deutsch, Italiano, Español, and Française names?
- mojuba 4y ago
  I get the joke but no. Place names are funny because some of them sound the same in foreign languages, while others are close but not quite the same.
  - ilikehurdles 4y ago
    It’s not a joke. I’m trying to make sense of your logic and whether there is any consistency in it. I won’t fault you for preferring one name over its translation but clearly we do this for aesthetic reasons only, not some drive to be correct or authentic because we certainly don’t apply that consistently.
inglor_cz 4y ago
The original names would be in various local dialects. Venezia is Italian, which is a slightly artificial language pushed by the authorities 150 years ago in order to administer the newly unified country more efficiently. Only 2.5% of Italy's population could speak the Italian standardized language properly when the nation was unified in 1861. The game of "original" is extra tricky in Europe, with its long succession of cultures and empires. Quite a lot of settlements around the Mediterranean would originally be named either in Greek, or in Phoenician. By Anglicizing those names for your use, you aren't doing anything bad, you're only repeating a process that has taken place many times before.
deleted 4y ago
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marcelluspye 4y ago
I don't mean any personal offense, but as an American I associate this behavior with "you can't afford not to travel" and "eating $regionalFood in $location has ruined the dish for me; I can't eat it anywhere else" types.

by mojuba 4y ago

graeme 4y ago

Munich is the English word. The Germans say München

mojuba 4y ago
Oops, you are right!

ilikehurdles 4y ago

Don't you mean the original Deutsch, Italiano, Español, and Française names?

mojuba 4y ago
I get the joke but no. Place names are funny because some of them sound the same in foreign languages, while others are close but not quite the same.
- ilikehurdles 4y ago
  It’s not a joke. I’m trying to make sense of your logic and whether there is any consistency in it. I won’t fault you for preferring one name over its translation but clearly we do this for aesthetic reasons only, not some drive to be correct or authentic because we certainly don’t apply that consistently.

inglor_cz 4y ago

The original names would be in various local dialects. Venezia is Italian, which is a slightly artificial language pushed by the authorities 150 years ago in order to administer the newly unified country more efficiently. Only 2.5% of Italy's population could speak the Italian standardized language properly when the nation was unified in 1861. The game of "original" is extra tricky in Europe, with its long succession of cultures and empires. Quite a lot of settlements around the Mediterranean would originally be named either in Greek, or in Phoenician. By Anglicizing those names for your use, you aren't doing anything bad, you're only repeating a process that has taken place many times before.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

marcelluspye 4y ago

I don't mean any personal offense, but as an American I associate this behavior with "you can't afford not to travel" and "eating $regionalFood in $location has ruined the dish for me; I can't eat it anywhere else" types.