Michel Clasquin wrote:
I agree in principle, but Beijing actually is not a good example. It reflects the way the place's name is pronounced in the official dialect of Chinese. Peking OTOH is a pronounciation based on an out-of-the-way dialect where some missionary first wrote down "Chinese" words in the Roman alphabet. It's as if the only Swedish a foreigner could learn was the way it was pronounced by the Finns, I guess <g>
In my mind Peking/Beijing is just as good an example as Cologne/Köln, Vienna/Wien, Munich/München, Germany/Deutschland, or Sweden/Sverige. These names *are* the first version written down by some missionary. (In fact, "Finland" is the *Swedish* name for the country that the Finns call "Suomi". It was conquered by a Swedish crusade in 1200, then conquered by Russia in 1809, and became independent in 1917.)