[OSM-talk] i18n-rich areas on the map

Emilie Laffray emilie.laffray at gmail.com
Wed Jul 29 19:02:39 BST 2009


Ed Avis wrote:
> This is not really name:en, more like name:jp at Romaji.
>
> For example the Imperial Palace in Tokyo would have
>
>     name:en=Imperial Palace
>     name:jp at Romaji=koukyo
>     name:jp=??
>
> Similar considerations apply to countries with more than one alphabet, for example
> I would expect to see
>
>     name:en=Belgrade
>     name:sr at Cyrillic=???????
>     name:sr at Latn=Beograd
>
> Putting something into a different alphabet is not the same as translating it to a
> different language, and putting Japanese into a Latin orthography is not the same
> as translating it to English.  So I would suggest adding the Romaji strings if they
> are needed, but tagging them appropriately and not as name:en.
>   
Thank you for this comment and yes, I am quite aware of the distinction
for the Japanese language. However, I do believe that translitteration
is worthy of appearing in name:en when none exists. I am taking the
opposite approach that you are mentionning in this case. In all cases,
you are starting in English to go towards the other language.
Yes putting it in a different alphabet is not the same, but it can be a
starting point until someone is filling the blank with a proper
translation hence the two steps: translitteration and a dedicated
translation website.
However, you have rightly pointed how multiple writings could be used.
Maybe a name:Latn would be better in this case or something indicating
the language and the destination alphabet.
This is an open mail and an open discussion which I believe is worth having.
I am to some extent a bit annoyed to see things like name = name in
native language (English translation) in the OSM files. I believe that
we should keep name:en and name:jp clearly separated. Having fully
localized maps for people of those countries would be better. Now, I can
see some objections as you being the foreigner you won't be able to
read, but those people in those countries won't contribute if they don't
see their language displayed in their countries.
As the discussion is showing, there are some efforts to have dynamic
text layers which I believe is important hence the translitteration
effort I am proposing.

Emilie Laffray

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