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> While I don't think this was intended - there is a movement to use place-names as preferred by their inhabitants, rather than their "colonial" names Kind of
by PolygonSheep 4y ago
> While I don't think this was intended - there is a movement to use place-names as preferred by their inhabitants, rather than their "colonial" names
Kind of off-topic, is it just me or is this really inconsistently applied?
Like we have Kyiv (pronounced "keev") instead of Kiev because that's the Ukrainian way... but the country itself is still pronounced (in English-speaking media anyway) as "you crane" instead of "Ooh-krah-ee-nah " which is much more how the natives would say it.
I can think of probably a dozen examples where the quote-unquote "colonial" name is still in widespread, respected use even though the "native" form would be fairly trivial to use or start using.
- mc32 4y agoLet's not go down the prescriptivist route. Let people use the words and pronounce the words as they prefer. Like what do you do when you have a Spaniard and someone from the Catalonia region and you're talking to both? Or as you mention, a couple of Ukrainians --but remember, some speak Russian as a primary language and others only as a remote second language. It's silly. Which of the various official languages and dialects should an English name counterpart take hints from, the dominant dialect or language, what about the ostracized local language?