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ISO is not in charge of the English language. I don't expect dictionaries to change any time soon just because ISO says so. Turkey has been the proper English t

ISO is not in charge of the English language. I don't expect dictionaries to change any time soon just because ISO says so. Turkey has been the proper English translation for their country name since a very long time and it will be correct English for a long time. Of course, with English it is a bit unclear in any case who decides what is and isn't correct. Certainly not the Turkish government or ISO. What's next? The Germans insisting on Deutschland as the official ISO name (it's still Germany)? The Chinese insisting on using chines characters? I'm not sure why ISO did this. It sounds political to me. If you need place name translations, geonames is a decent data set: https://www.geonames.org/export/ https://www.geonames.org/export/ You can look up the correct translations and transliterations by iso country and language code. It still calls Turkey by its English name, as it should.

anamexis 4y ago
In 2016, the country formerly known as The Czech Republic declared that its English name was now Czechia. This is now its official ISO name, how it shows up in the Geonames database, and how it is commonly referred to in places like news media.
- remedan 4y ago
  A small nitpick, the country isn't "formerly known as the Czech Republic". "Czechia" was adopted as the new official short name. The long name is still also correct.
  - smcl 4y ago
    So this is why it's good to pay attention to deeply nested HN threads. Because I didn't realise this was the case - media covered the "Czech Republic is now 'Czechia'" thing and my friend group are split about 80/20 (majority using "Czech Republic", inc. me). I'm glad to hear both are technically correct!
    - anamexis 4y ago
      To be completely fair, the context in which it's still called "The Czech Republic" is the same context that you would say "The Federal Republic of Germany"
      - smcl 4y ago
        Technically that’s true, but it has never been common to refer to the country as “The Federal Republic of Germany” so it’s not quite the same thing
        anamexis 4y ago
        I don't disagree (and I certainly would never correct anyone who says Czech Republic), but "Federal Republic of Germany" usage was fairly common before Germany was reunited.
        smcl 4y ago
        People would say "I'm going to visit my brother in Federal Republic of Germany", or "I'm going to ... West Germany?". That doesn't sound right
kergonath 4y ago
> If you need place name translations, geonames is a decent data set: https://www.geonames.org/export/ https://www.geonames.org/export/ That’s a great resource to keep around, thanks! A convenient source for the unfortunately common “but you must not translate place names” argument.

anamexis 4y ago

In 2016, the country formerly known as The Czech Republic declared that its English name was now Czechia. This is now its official ISO name, how it shows up in the Geonames database, and how it is commonly referred to in places like news media.

remedan 4y ago
A small nitpick, the country isn't "formerly known as the Czech Republic". "Czechia" was adopted as the new official short name. The long name is still also correct.
- smcl 4y ago
  So this is why it's good to pay attention to deeply nested HN threads. Because I didn't realise this was the case - media covered the "Czech Republic is now 'Czechia'" thing and my friend group are split about 80/20 (majority using "Czech Republic", inc. me). I'm glad to hear both are technically correct!
  - anamexis 4y ago
    To be completely fair, the context in which it's still called "The Czech Republic" is the same context that you would say "The Federal Republic of Germany"
    - smcl 4y ago
      Technically that’s true, but it has never been common to refer to the country as “The Federal Republic of Germany” so it’s not quite the same thing
      - anamexis 4y ago
        I don't disagree (and I certainly would never correct anyone who says Czech Republic), but "Federal Republic of Germany" usage was fairly common before Germany was reunited.
        smcl 4y ago
        People would say "I'm going to visit my brother in Federal Republic of Germany", or "I'm going to ... West Germany?". That doesn't sound right

kergonath 4y ago

> If you need place name translations, geonames is a decent data set: https://www.geonames.org/export/ https://www.geonames.org/export/ That’s a great resource to keep around, thanks! A convenient source for the unfortunately common “but you must not translate place names” argument.