When we render content from English into Russian we do not translate but transliterate New York as [NJU-JORK]. However we do translate New in New Orleans or New Zealand to get [NOVYI ORLEAHN] of [NOVAYA ZELANDIA]. Even when we transliterate names sometimes we change them beyond recognition. No one in Russia would recognize Ohio if it was pronounced with sound [H], but otherwise would, if a distinct [G] is used. Thus Ohio in the Russian mind is [OGAIO] while Oklahoma is [OKLAHOMA].

Historically certain names were translated, transliterated or sometimes replaced, stolen, or imposed against the will of their bearers. We read and hear Greece for Hellas, Italy for Latium or Roma, Turkey for Turcia, and above all, America for what should have been Columbia, or maybe Erika, or maybe something else! What is happening in the mind of whoever happens to be the first to encounter a new foreign entity and represent it the way it works at that crucial moment of rendering it in the target language?

In applied linguistics, which, among other things, deals with interpreting and translation, this phenomenon is describes as Translation Tradition. Translation Tradition is specific to the cultural background of that individual or group of individuals who happen to be those first to render the new word or Name in their mother tongue or target language. In the US Translation Tradition, Illinois was rendered as [ILINOI], while in Russian it became [ILINOIS], with distinct sound [S] at the end.

It is difficult to apply rules to rendering proper names or words in target languages. But there certain discernable causes behind such naming processes. One is direct association. Traditionally the Ancient Greeks, or Hellenes, as they refer to themselves, when visiting the shores of Apennines in the times of yore and seeing herds of calves, associated that land with calves before they learned about Latium and Roma. Thus in their mind that land became known as Italia or the "The Calf Land".

On the other hand, Romans learned about Hellenes via the first tribe they encountered on the Balkan Peninsula which happened to be Graicos. Thus all the Hellenes became known to the outside world as Greeks while Gallians became French, Flemish became Belgians, Suomi became Finnish, the Kingdom of Netherlands is also known as Holland and its people are Dutch, Europe got its name from an Asian princess, and the whole Roman pantheon was stolen from the Hellenes, who in turn "borrowed their gods" from Egyptians, Phoenicians, and many other cultures.

Another reason for changing borrowed names beyond recognition is a phonetic deficiency in the target language, which leads to compensating for the missing sounds with whatever works in the target language. Almost every language will lack the sounds needed to represent certain sounds in a given source language. So users will resort to relevant approximation.

For example, because French, German, Russian and many other languages lack the interdental sound [TH] as in English "Smith", they will represent this name as [SMIT]. Such Greek name as "Theophilus" in Russian has been represented either with [T] or [F], another approximation for [TH] in this language. Thus "Theophilus" historically became [TEOFIL] or [FEOFIL]. This happens even today - some of my beginner students of English in Moscow spontaneously and arbitrarily pronounce "Thank you" as [TANK U] while others - [FANK U] until they had mastered such drills as Theophilus Thistledown, the Successful Thistle Sifter ...". My favorite in Japanese is Roruso Rosu. Hint: it is a brand name for an English luxury car.

There is another sensitive area where not following the Translation Tradition can have a devastating effect on communication between individuals of different cultures. This is in the proper handling of names of countries and nationalities. If you use your target language equivalents of Great Britain or England or say "Are you from Great Britain?" instead of the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", or at least "the UK", while talking to a citizen of that country residing in Northern Ireland or numerous islands that are part and parcel of UK, or if you say "Are you from England?" or "Are you English?" while communicating with a Scot or a Welshman, you may insult those individuals. Also avoid using "England" or "Great Britain" when writing an address to an addressee of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain is the name of the largest island of the country, while England is a geographical name of only a part of Great Britain that does not include Scotland and Wales, let alone Northern Island.

While most of the citizens of the United States consider their country "a country of immigrants" and proudly call themselves "Americans" no matter what kind of ethnic origin they may have, it is culturally incorrect and outright insulting to call all the citizens of the former Soviet Union or even the present Russian Federation as "Russians". Many of the citizens of those political entities have a national origin that is ethnically and linguistically quite distinct from that of Russian. Never mind the former Soviet Union, even the Russian Federation alone has dozens and dozens of ethnic groups residing in autonomous republics. A Tatar being of Chinese origin and practicing Islam in the Russian Federation, or a Chechen fighting to separate his land from that country will give you an angry look if you address to them as "Russians".

Translation Tradition is a serious matter in the translation industry. Not respecting this tradition at best leads to minor cultural friction, and at worst to the "creation of new entities in places where the original entities already exist", thus giving rise to serious political mistakes, loss of careers, and what not. To avoid this, one would need to give serious consideration to the Translation Tradition of the target language.

I have observed an interesting positive development in this regard in the US business community, - cash register clerks, bank tellers and customer support operators are required nowadays to make an honest effort to pronounce customers' names as carefully as they can. You can imagine how much fun I have with my last name.

Victor Zabolotnyi grew up in the heart of GULAG land in the former Soviet Union. He has taught languages in Russia and the USA where directed the International Multimedia Resource Center at Lehigh University. He currently works in Software Internationalization and Localization at FGM, Inc. in Dulles, Virginia.