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<DIV><FONT color=#ffffff>Response to STEVEN</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ffffff></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ffffff>Steven: I'm not entirely unsympathetic to this
issue, but I believe that this <BR>| suggestion is misguided. Proper names have
been translated from <BR>| their original language into others long before
English came on the <BR>| scene. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ffffff></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ffffff>Well, no more. The point is that "long before" the web
and Wikipedia were born -- a lot of things were true -- many of them little
known. Now its not the case -- on an almost daily basis we edit pages that
are also edited by people from Deutschland (hey Erik), Eire (James),
(complicated).... ZhongGuo (Samuel), Ceska Republika (xChaos)
-etc.etc... The proper name of Africa might be whatever the people of
Africa - refer to it - namely "Africa" -- certainly European colonial history
plays a role there. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><BR><FONT color=#ffffff>| In English, the capital of the Czech Republic is
Prague. This is a <BR>| translation of the name. As you point out, there is some
<BR>| momentum in the English to use translations that more closely <BR>|
approximate the pronunciation in the dominant language of the <BR>| area.
However, language evolves naturally. Wikipedia can declare <BR>| "Prague"
deprecated, but it wouldn't make a bit of difference to the <BR>| rest of the
English speaking world, and it would make the project <BR>| look silly.<BR>|
<BR>| - Stephen G.<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ffffff></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ffffff>Well, I wouldnt want to make anyone "look silly."
Heavens no.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ffffff></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ffffff>-Stevertigo</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>