Off topic: Translation of place names
Thread poster: ribsee
ribsee
ribsee
United States
Apr 19, 2021

I have wondered recently about the translations of place names, for example: if in the original text the reference is to Piazza del Campo would one ever want to translate that to Field Plaza? Or piazzale Corvetto to Corvetto Plaza?

 
Sarah Lewis-Morgan
Sarah Lewis-Morgan  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 19:00
Member (2014)
German to English
+ ...
Not normally Apr 19, 2021

Unless there is a very good reason for it, a place name should not be translated. Exceptions being where there is a commonly understood name used elsewhere - e.g. Munich for München. I would not translate your example of Piazza del Campo, certainly, but I would translate the Thüringer Wald to the Thuringen Forest as this again is a commonly used translation. I think "piazza" is commonly understood anyway so I would leave it alone, but sometimes I will be guilty of using e.g. "the Inselsberg mo... See more
Unless there is a very good reason for it, a place name should not be translated. Exceptions being where there is a commonly understood name used elsewhere - e.g. Munich for München. I would not translate your example of Piazza del Campo, certainly, but I would translate the Thüringer Wald to the Thuringen Forest as this again is a commonly used translation. I think "piazza" is commonly understood anyway so I would leave it alone, but sometimes I will be guilty of using e.g. "the Inselsberg mountain", although "Berg" means "mountain", simply to make it clear to those who don't understand any German..

[Edited at 2021-04-19 16:12 GMT]
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ribsee
expressisverbis
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Agneta Pallinder
Joe France
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Luis Ruiz-Pailalef
Luis Ruiz-Pailalef  Identity Verified
Chile
Local time: 15:00
English to Spanish
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Keep the original name Apr 19, 2021

I have been translating for more than 30 years, between Spanish ad English. I always keep the names of places and people in the original form, but I use square brackets to inform my readers of the translation or the meaning of the names, if I consider that it is necessary (for sometimes there is an interesting aspect in the story or etymology of the name in question).
If someone needs to find information on, say, the Chilean tennis player Fernando González, who was called "el bombardero
... See more
I have been translating for more than 30 years, between Spanish ad English. I always keep the names of places and people in the original form, but I use square brackets to inform my readers of the translation or the meaning of the names, if I consider that it is necessary (for sometimes there is an interesting aspect in the story or etymology of the name in question).
If someone needs to find information on, say, the Chilean tennis player Fernando González, who was called "el bombardero de La Reina", I would only translate "bombardero" as "bomber" or "bombardier", but I would not translate "La Reina" as "The Queen". The reason for the latter is that "La Reina" is the name of a district/commune within Santiago de Chile, and Mr González lived/resided there. Ergo, he was nicknamed "the bomber/bombardier from La Reina".
I have lived in England, and places like "Highbridge", "Elephant & Castle", "Bath", "Nasty", "Knightstbridge" or "King's Cross" remain the same when translated into Spanish. If you run search on Google using "Puente Alto", "Elefante y Castillo", "Baño" et cetera, you won't get many hits.
Of course, when you deal with languages that do not use Latin letters, say in Korean, Arabic and Japanese, I suppose it is okay to translate the names, as I would not know how you spell, read or pronounce those names.
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ribsee
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Philippe Etienne
Philippe Etienne  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 19:00
Member
English to French
@luis Apr 19, 2021

Actually, Elephant and Castle should translate into "Infanta de Castilla" in Spanish, but I've just read on wikipedia that this cool story may not be true...

Philippe

[Edited at 2021-04-19 16:57 GMT]


expressisverbis
 
LIZ LI
LIZ LI  Identity Verified
China
Local time: 02:00
French to Chinese
+ ...
Macau Apr 22, 2021

In most Asian countries, we generally use phonetic translations for places, or keep them untranslated.

Street names in Macau are extremely interesting (or maybe chaotic to some others), because it's the cross-point of Portugese, Chinese traditional, Chinese simplified & English.
If you get on a bus in Macau, you'll have to listen to it busy broadcasting stations' names in Portugese, Cantonese, Mandarin & English within, say half a minute.
macao


expressisverbis
 


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Translation of place names







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