Comments | spaldawg: TURIN!

spaldawg

TURIN!

Feb 12, 2006 23:52

Is anyone else frustrated by the fact that all of the Olympic coverage is using the local pronunciation of the city instead of the English translation? Last I checked we speak English in this country, and always refer to cities and countries by their English translations. Bah ( Read more... )

Comments 14

germanboy February 13 2006, 12:23:20 UTC

1. That "World Champion" crap has annoyed me for a really long time. Probably has something to do with the typical American attitude...

2. That 1.4 pounds is muscle, yes?

spaldawg February 14 2006, 05:01:14 UTC

1. I am glad you are equally annoyed by this.

2. Well I am attempting to gain solely muscle, but I am invariably gaining fat as well. I don't really know how to quantify exactly how much of my weight gain is muscle, but I do know that when I am not lifting/consuming protein supplements I can eat as much and as often as I want without gaining weight. So I would hope that it is largely muscle gain.

chenhunde February 13 2006, 14:08:40 UTC

my new goal is to match your weekly weight gain by eating nothing but cheetos and chocolate syrup

spaldawg February 14 2006, 05:06:12 UTC

Sweet! Don't let me down Petey!

floatingbuddha February 13 2006, 19:36:04 UTC

I don't understand the 'english translation' thing

The local pronunciations of the cities are the names of those cities. There's no English translation for, say, Bardonecchia, that's just the name of a city and a modification of its pronunciation is really just us bastardizing the language.

pjkb February 13 2006, 20:30:54 UTC

What about cities that we could never pronounce, or are in languages that use symbols. I think we need a translation. What is the difference between Munich and Muchen? Same city. Is Munich the English translation of the German name?

floatingbuddha February 13 2006, 23:10:09 UTC

well all languages use symbols; but I don't think the writing matters, it's just the sound that matters. The real spelling of my name is in the Sanskrit alphabet, but 'Siddhartha' sounds the same way and is therefore the same thing, it's just an attempt at symbolizing the name in writing through different means.

As far as pronunciation, I don't think there's a need to change a name, Munich pretty much comes from old British refusal to tackle a name that they couldn't pronounce right off the bat. If someone was talking to you about Munchen you'd know what city that is, and as long as you can approximate that sound close enough they'd know too. If someone says 'New York' with a German accent you don't think "Man I don't know what this guy's talking about maybe he should have a German translation"

spaldawg February 14 2006, 04:54:04 UTC

While I do understand your improper pronunciation argument, and I may be ignorant of the issue, I still think each language has its own spelling and pronunciation of foreign cities and countries. In Spanish class, we learned that the United States is "Los Estados Unidos," which is a direct translation and could hardly be considered a mispronunciation. The same thing goes for "Nueva York." If I knew other languages, perhaps I could extend this argument.

At any rate, Turin is the accepted spelling and pronunciation of the Olympic host city, and I am frustrated by everyone saying Torino all the time. When was the last time you heard someone reference the shroud of Torino? Exactly.

The stupidest thing is that they always write and say "Torino, Italy." What the heck is that? Either go with English or Italian freaks.

i know! aaronthelee February 14 2006, 04:48:06 UTC

yes! i'm glad i'm not the only person who wonders what happened to turin! a friend and i ran a survey (this is something that only geeky linguists like us would do).

people who say "turin": canadian news (english and french), british news, french news, german news, russian news, spanish news (turín)

people who say "torino": italian news, american news, japanese news

apparently, the piedmontese (local dialect) calls the city "turin", but it was adopted into italian as "torino". the rest of europe seems to like it the good ol' fashioned way, but america and japan have just been deceived into following italy. i think that's the sad truth.

Re: i know! spaldawg February 14 2006, 05:09:08 UTC

YES! If Aaron "the unstoppable linguist" Lee agrees with me, then I surely must be onto something!

Thanks for the info. Although I am still just as frustrated, I am now much less ignorant.

Re: i know! floatingbuddha February 14 2006, 06:59:23 UTC

........aaron lee? the mind boggles

(The comment has been removed)

Re: I dunno if this makes any sense... spaldawg February 20 2006, 08:39:31 UTC

Yeah, the Olympics themselves always use the local name and spelling, which makes sense because the Olympics is a world organization. However, when writing and reporting in English, I expect the cities/countries to be written and spoken in English. Did the US report the 2004 games as having taken place in AThetaHNA? I don't think so...

What gives all of a sudden?