City Names in different language

[SanPellegrino]

Originally posted by Drewcifer
A few years ago I was looking at a Czech magazine and was startled to discover that they had their own name for Minneapolis - I can't remember what it was. I'm not sure why they bothered. Does it really come up in conversation in the Czech Republic all that often? Most people here call St Paul San Pablo when speaking in Spanish but Minneapolis is still Minneapolis.

btw, what does minneapolis mean? polis = city, but who is this minnea?

 

[conormcgarry]

Dublin = Baile Átha Cliath (it's Irish)

That's a fact!

 

[Zeekater]

Originally posted by SanPellegrino


btw, what does minneapolis mean? polis = city, but who is this minnea?

It means 'waterfall city' cuase there was a waterfall that was sacred to the indians in what is now downtown minneapolis.
I'm not smart, I just googled it

 

[Stapel]

Originally posted by Pontiuth Pilate
The only correctly pronounced large city is San Jose.

I am sorry, but not one single American can pronounce the Spanish J right..... You guys keep using the 'H', whereas a 'G' from the throat (only Spanish and Dutch speaking are able to do that) would be correct.

 

[Stapel]

Originally posted by Marla_Singer
Yes you're certainly right about Brooklyn. Another name being undoubtly dutch is Harlem (Northern part of Manhattan). Harleem is actually a dutch city (less peopled than the neighbourhood of Harlem I guess ).

I know the story of Peter Stuyvesant. However, I don't understand something, why didn't we rename "New Orleans" once it became american ?

Oh well . Obvious answer. It wasn't Britain anymore but the US. Sorry for the stupid question.

Brooklyn comes from the town of Breukelen. Breukelen is in the province Utrecht. On Long island there is also a borough called 'New Utrecht'.

Harlem comes from Haarlem, not Harleem ...

Albany used to be either Fort Holland or Fort Orange.

And Peter Stuyvesant was not the founder of NY/NA. He was the first governor. 'Nieuw Amsterdam' was founded by Henry Hudson, a Brit, hired by the Dutch.

 

[carlosMM]

Originally posted by Stapel


I am sorry, but not one single American can pronounce the Spanish J right..... You guys keep using the 'H', whereas a 'G' from the throat (only Spanish and Dutch speaking are able to do that) would be correct.

stapel stapel, don#t forget your German friends

 

[Stapel]

Originally posted by carlosMM


stapel stapel, don#t forget your German friends

They only think they can, but they can't!

 

[WickedSmurf]

Originally posted by conormcgarry
Dublin = Baile Átha Cliath (it's Irish)

That's a fact!

OT: Dublin, founded by Vikings

What does the Irish "Baile Átha Cliath" mean?

 

[carlosMM]

Originally posted by Stapel
They only think they can, but they can't!

hm, in Spain people kept thinking I was spanish despite me only knowing about 5 sentences..... pronounciation must have been good....

 

[Stapel]

Originally posted by carlosMM


hm, in Spain people kept thinking I was spanish despite me only knowing about 5 sentences..... pronounciation must have been good....

Probably, both you and the Spaniards in question were drunk .

Anyway: As this my 4000th post [dance] on this forum, I think it should be on topic:

Is there any language that has another name for Amsterdam?

We do !

 

[Der PH]

Another interesting aspect: City names in local dialects.
In germany some cities have different names in the local dialect of that city or region.
For example my hometown Aachen (BTW: 'Aken' in Dutch, 'Aix la Chapelle' in French) is called 'Oche' in the local dialect.
Anpther example is Munich, which in Bavarian is called 'Minga'.

Does this phenomenon exist in other countries with distinct local dialects, too?

 

[CornMaster]

I think all cities should be pronounced and spelled with the local language or original language of it's founding. (Unless it's changed legally of course)

This goes for countries as well.

 

[Der PH]

Originally posted by CornMaster
I think all cities should be pronounced and spelled with the local language

Then how to spell the original name of Bejing? In chinese letters?

 

[SanPellegrino]

Originally posted by Stapel


They only think they can, but they can't!

I can! Heel goed! When I have a very bad cough....

Originally posted by Zeekater
It means 'waterfall city' cuase there was a waterfall that was sacred to the indians in what is now downtown minneapolis.
I'm not smart, I just googled it

I didn't ask you for that, I could have done it myself! where will this forum go, when everybody just googles everything and doesn't post anymore??? J/k thx anyway

 

[One Man Bucket]

There are still lots of cities/villages/towns in the USA that have names of Dutch cities/villages/towns. Most of them (probably all)would be founded after US indepence though. There is still Amsterdam, Harlingen and even Holland to be found. Some of them more than once, and I'm not even naming them all. But to make things even again, there is a town called America in the Netherlands.

 

[The Yankee]

Originally posted by Qitai
It depends on which translation standard you are using. There are two standards in translating Chinese names to foriegn names. I forgot what they are called though. Depending on your native language, you may get the correct pronounciation using either Beijing or Peking.

Wade-Giles versus Pinyin.

Wade-Giles would have the city Peking. It's the older translation of Chinese to English.

Pinyin, which has been supported by the Chinese government, is more recent and would have the city Beijing. Supposedly, it is closer to the way the Chinese pronounce it.

 

[Hitro]

Originally posted by Der PH
Then how to spell the original name of Bejing? In chinese letters?

That's the problem with many places.

And then there is the problem that some original pronounciations simply don't fit inside a sentence of another language, so that it has to be pronounced with an accent at least.

 

[Alone]

Some examples from Serbia of some European cities:

Pariz - Paris
Budimpesta - Budapest
Bukurest - Bucharest
Bec - Vienna
Rim - Rome
Atina - Athens

( s in Budapest n Bucharest is š)
(c in Vienna is è)

@u gene - we say also Peking for Chinese capital (don't know why)