[Foundation-l] English language dominationism is striking again

[wiki-list at phizz.demon.co.uk]

teofilowiki at gmail.com wrote:
> 
> I have discovered a few days ago that someone, probably in good faith
> and unaware of this language policy, created [[:Category:Animals by
> common named groups]] which is a container for English-named
> biological taxa, at the end of 2008.


There is a major problem with latin names in a number of taxa. It seems that if tehre are 5 consecutive wet days in Summer a couple of researchers put their heads together and concoct new names, move things about, split, or combine species. As such whilst the latin names are useful as a link between languages they are not stable enough for the lay person to keep up with. That is why a number of the most useful sites on the web provide xrefs for common names which is where I'll go if I wanted to know the common name of a moth in German, French or Italian:

http://www.lepidoptera.pl/show.php?ID=539&country=PL

I can't be arsed to argue it because there are alternate resources (at least at the species level), but frankly both the common and latin names should be given in all the languages that have a common name for a particular species. Also for the genus, tribe, and family where appropriate.