[Wikipedia-l] anglicization is stupid

Mon Nov 18 17:29:04 UTC 2002

Bridget [name omitted for privacy reasons] wrote:
> we should refer to spacecraft from the USSR according to their
> Russian name-not according to the English name.

Is this an obvious fact, or your own point of view?  Shouldn't
Wikipedia (NPOV) explain that both names have been used?

During WWII, the German V2 rockets were called V2 by the German
political propaganda and by the British, but the German engineers
called them A4.  Obviously, both names are correct in their context.

There seems to be a trend lately, that the native spelling of foreign
names is introduced in English, rather than using old Anglicisms.
For example, the country where Minsk is capital is now called Belarus.
In older English texts, you can find the names Byelorussia (an English
spelling of Belarus) or "White Russia" (an English translation of the
name).  But Germany is still called "Germany", not "Deutschland".

This can not be explained by English politeness towards Belarus or
widespread admiration of Belarus culture or language, but because
Belarus is so remote and unimportant that giving up the old English
names is an acceptable loss.  The word "Germany" would be a greater
loss to English language, so it still lives on in daily use.

-- 
  Lars Aronsson (lars at aronsson.se)
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