4 ms·
See also "Ivory Coast" versus "Côte d'Ivoire" and plenty of other place names that exist in between localized and non-localized versions. Some people say "Ivor
by slapshot 13y ago
See also "Ivory Coast" versus "Côte d'Ivoire" and plenty of other place names that exist in between localized and non-localized versions. Some people say "Ivory Coast" others say "Côte d'Ivoire" and others vary based on the week.
- bryanlarsen 13y agoI'm not very familiar with the Quebec language laws, but I suspect that it's actually illegal to call it "Three Rivers" on signs or advertisements within Quebec.
- throwawaycan 13y agoIt has nothing to do with being illegal. That's just not the name of the city. Why would someone call San Francisco St-Francis on any sign, since nobody would know what it refers to?
- indlebe 13y agoI concur. I'm from an english speaking area of new brunswick but we wouldn't know where the hell 3 rivers was if you called it that.
- olihb 13y agoNot illegal at all. We have plenty of towns with English names.
- bleakcabal 13y agoThe language laws regarding signs state that french must either be the first and most prominent language on signs or the only language on signs. This applies to text and common nouns. Not cities, trademarks or proper names. Home Depot is still called Home Depot on Quebec signs. While some companies will put a French noun next to their English names, this isn't required. As for a sign with Three Rivers, Trois-Rivières is a proper name, you don't usually translate those just like we don't translate people's name.
- sk5t 13y agoWe sorta-kinda translate or mangle some names, don't we? I've often wondered why the English name for "München" is "Munich"... it's not even that close and doesn't mean anything in English.
- grimman 13y agoIt's far closer than Sverige -> Sweden, though. To us it may seem there's little rhyme or reason, but there is probably some logic behind it. :)
- reeses 13y agoI hate to be that guy, but you're thinking about endonyms and eponyms. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exonym_and_endonym http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exonym_and_endonym: The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names defines: Endonym: Name of a geographical feature in an official or well-established language occurring in that area where the feature is located. Exonym: Name used in a specific language for a geographical feature situated outside the area where that language is spoken, and differing in its form from the name used in an official or well-established language of that area where the geographical feature is located.[2] For example, China, India and Germany are the English exonyms corresponding to the endonyms Zhongguo, Bharat and Deutschland, respectively.
- sk5t 13y agoThere's no need to hate being the guy who introduced me to the proper terminology. I like knowing the proper terminology.
- erwanl 13y agoI actually remember hearing an official from Cote d'Ivoire insisting that we should use "Cote d'Ivoire" in all languages. People localizing their country name creates confusion, typically a citizen from Cote d'Ivoire unable to explain to an airport official where he's from because the official only knows the locally translated name.
- mynegation 13y agoIt gets very complicated pretty quickly. You are aware that the way you pronounce "Russia" sounds completely different from the way Russians call their country, right? In fact English does not even have the proper sounds to replicate that (rolling "r" and palatalized "s" for starters).
- eru 13y agoOh, and of course, there's no one Chinese spoken word for China. That's because there's no one Chinese spoken language, but lots.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- ralmeida 13y agoWe have this in Brazilian Portuguese for some cities too. For example, saying "San Francisco" instead of "São Francisco" is fine (maybe because they sound similar?), but saying "New York" instead of "Nova Iorque" can be considered pompous in some circles.