[WikiEN-l] Anglicization convention

Thu Nov 28 10:56:01 UTC 2002

Daniel Mayer wrote:

>I think the much of the problem that many people have about the Anglicization 
>convention is that they HAVEN'T READ THE DAMN THING IN CONTEXT WITH THE 
>OVERRIDING CONVENTION EXPRESSED IN THE GENERAL STATEMENT. Please do so now;
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We have to recognise that underlying this problem is a change in attitudes:

In previous centuries, foreign names were anglicized (likewise in other 
languages). So we have Columbus, we have Charles of Spain, Munich, etc. 
(placenames have also acquired several names in Europe because of 
shifting boundaries)

Nowadays, we don't.
We refer to foreign people by their names as in their language (or best 
approximation, Boris Yeltsin is called "Eltsine" in French)
So we some foreign names anglicized and some not.
To thicken the plot, some names are being *unanglicized* -- I would 
agree that Franz Josef is called thus in English

Key thing to bear in mind: this mixup is not our fault! :-)

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