From: "Stevertigo" stevertigo@attbi.com Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 22:42:36 -0700

This may sound offlandish - but I want to throw support behind the idea = of spelling proper names in close accord to their actual names' = pronunciation. The English spelling/pronunciation "Prague" would redirect to "Praha" - = the actual name of the place. This is not something that should simply be = left to stand along English lines.

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All that said, I'd just like to see Prague redirect to "Praha" -(etc) = let "Prague" be recorded as a depricated way of naming the capital city of Czechlosovakia. Proper names, at least we can all agree - belong to the denzens of those cities, and not to people elsewhere. Why depricated? Because I play go, chat, etc, with people from Czechlosovakia (for = example) . Not something that was a reality as little as a decade ago.

I'm not entirely unsympathetic to this issue, but I believe that this suggestion is misguided. Proper names have been translated from their original language into others long before English came on the scene. Trying to establish a "proper" way to write and say a name would be next to impossible, and not very desireable. It also assumes that each place is inhabited by people who speak a single language and use the same names universally. What is be the "proper" name of "Africa"? Will Canadian places use English or French names? Will Korea become Hanguk (used in the South) or Chosen (used in the North)?

In English, the capital of the Czech Republic is Prague. This is a translation of the name. As you point out, there is some momentum in the English to use translations that more closely approximate the pronunciation in the dominant language of the area. However, language evolves naturally. Wikipedia can declare "Prague" deprecated, but it wouldn't make a bit of difference to the rest of the English speaking world, and it would make the project look silly.

- Stephen G. ------- Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia http://www.wikipedia.org