Ivory Coast or Cote D'Ivoire?

[BillVol]

Guessing Ivory Coast has at least one athlete in track and field at these OGs. gh or Bob H, are you going to say that person is from Ivory Coast or Cote D'Ivoire (sp)?

The president of that nation is the person who decided what the rest of the world should call his country. I call BS here. Norway doesn't make us call them Norge. Poland - Polska. Vienna - Wien. Etc.

I say call them Ivory Coast and make them like it.

[Marlow]

Re: Ivory Coast or Cote D'Ivoire?

I say call them Ivory Coast and make them like it.

How to win friends and influence people. If you ask people to call you Bill and they insist on calling you Wee Willie Winkie, wouldn't that be a problem for you?

[BillVol]

Re: Ivory Coast or Cote D'Ivoire?

I say call them Ivory Coast and make them like it.

How to win friends and influence people. If you ask people to call you Bill and they insist on calling you Wee Willie Winkie, wouldn't that be a problem for you?

Marlow, I know what you're saying. But isn't this request of the IC president unprecedented? Shouldn't it be up to each language to decide what to call a nation?

I wonder who decides BTW when a language should use the actual name of a nation or when to "translate" it? Why do we call Polska "Poland," when Polska isn't that hard to say? We say it anyhow in the form of polska kielbasa.

[gh]

They've been Côte d'Ivoire in the pages of TN for perhaps 20 years. As I recall, they made a formal request at the United Nations that they be known that way.

The days of cultural imperialism are over. If Indians want to call it Mumbai sted of Bombay, so be it. Burma is now Myanmar.

The European nations have a long history of translating other cities/countries into their language and they're comfortable with it. Those who were named by others are not.

(I've always loved the German word for that country: Elfenbeinkoste, which I'm sure you can translate easily enough)

[pela2]

They've been Côte d'Ivoire in the pages of TN for perhaps 20 years. As I recall, they made a formal request at the United Nations that they be known that way.

The days of cultural imperialism are over. If Indians want to call it Mumbai sted of Bombay, so be it. Burma is now Myanmar.

The European nations have a long history of translating other cities/countries into their language and they're comfortable with it. Those who were named by others are not.

(I've always loved the German word for that country: Elfenbeinkoste, which I'm sure you can translate easily enough)

I wonder where we Swedes got the "Elfenbenskusten" from? :lol:

[Marlow]

Re: Ivory Coast or Cote D'Ivoire?

But isn't this request of the IC president unprecedented? Shouldn't it be up to each language to decide what to call a nation?

I rather doubt he asked that on a whim or all by himself. If someone (or nation) asks to be called a certain name, why would we NOT honor that request? It's a simple courtesy, Wee Willie. :wink:

[croflash]

They've been Côte d'Ivoire in the pages of TN for perhaps 20 years. As I recall, they made a formal request at the United Nations that they be known that way.

The days of cultural imperialism are over. If Indians want to call it Mumbai sted of Bombay, so be it. Burma is now Myanmar.

The European nations have a long history of translating other cities/countries into their language and they're comfortable with it. Those who were named by others are not.

(I've always loved the German word for that country: Elfenbeinkoste, which I'm sure you can translate easily enough)

It's even better, Elfenbeinküste.

[BillVol]

They've been Côte d'Ivoire in the pages of TN for perhaps 20 years. As I recall, they made a formal request at the United Nations that they be known that way.

The days of cultural imperialism are over. If Indians want to call it Mumbai sted of Bombay, so be it. Burma is now Myanmar.

The European nations have a long history of translating other cities/countries into their language and they're comfortable with it. Those who were named by others are not.

(I've always loved the German word for that country: Elfenbeinkoste, which I'm sure you can translate easily enough)

Is it a matter of imperialism or what is easier for the people who speak a particular language? And is it just a European thing to translate names of other countries into their own language? Is the United States of America called exactly that in China, for example? Or in Korea? I don't think so.

What if we went to the United Nations and requested that people in Japan refer to us, in English, as United States of America? Or if we asked people in Argentina to quit calling us Estados Unidos. It would be ridiculous.

[Marlow]

What if we went to the United Nations and requested that people in Japan refer to us, in English, as United States of America? Or if we asked people in Argentina to quit calling us Estados Unidos. It would be ridiculous.

gh answered it well:

The days of cultural imperialism are over. If Indians want to call it Mumbai sted of Bombay, so be it. Burma is now Myanmar

[malmo]

double post

[malmo]

What if we went to the United Nations and requested that people in Japan refer to us, in English, as United States of America? Or if we asked people in Argentina to quit calling us Estados Unidos. It would be ridiculous.

gh answered it well:]

BillVol had a better point, TRACKNUT.

[Marlow]

What if we went to the United Nations and requested that people in Japan refer to us, in English, as United States of America? Or if we asked people in Argentina to quit calling us Estados Unidos. It would be ridiculous.

gh answered it well:]

BillVol had a better point, TRACKNUT.

I got that the first time you posted it. Apples and oranges. Anyone who has ever stood up at the UN and asked for a name change has been granted it. If we wish to call Deutschland, Germany, and they don't mind, why should we?

Côte d'Ivoire has asked that we call them that. Is there a problem?

[paulthefan]

They've been Côte d'Ivoire in the pages of TN for perhaps 20 years. As I recall, they made a formal request at the United Nations that they be known that way.

The days of cultural imperialism are over. If Indians want to call it Mumbai sted of Bombay, so be it. Burma is now Myanmar.

The European nations have a long history of translating other cities/countries into their language and they're comfortable with it. Those who were named by others are not.

(I've always loved the German word for that country: Elfenbeinkoste, which I'm sure you can translate easily enough)

Not sure if that solves the problem completely. We are talking here about two EUROPEAN words, english and french, for the same description "white coast". It may be the case ironically, that the French is strongly preferred not only because it was a french colony but mainly because the French translation sounds more like a proper name in english, a far more ubiquitous language.

Well that is how someone with roots from the Land of the Anglii would see it.

[imaginative]

Minor detail: ``Ivory'' (like ``Elfenbein'') refers to the material of
elefant tusks, not directly to the color white. Ivory was apparently
once the major export of the country (similarly ``Gold Coast'').

[BillVol]

Don't tell me Marlow is TRACKNUT!!!