Wielkopolska vs. Greater Poland

06:04 Oct 23, 2013 

Thank you all for your comments and contributions. Your assistance has been very helpful.

03:46 Oct 21, 2013 

"great" would not be correct, "greater" is what is used in other contexts --
for this I would suggest both; the translation of "Wielkopolska" along with the origional.

15:11 Oct 18, 2013 

I do think it is important that soemwhere or other, at the start of your document, perhaps, you should give an explanation of the connection with the historic name 'Greater Poland' — that way, no-one is left out or forgotten. After all, there are plenty of precedents for translating place names, the practice seems to have gone out of fashion a bit these days, helped of course by places recovering their original (or newly-coined) 'native' names.

14:55 Oct 18, 2013 

though I suppose this album may well reach people outside Poland; it's not necessarily just for people who are actually there. But the name of the region will clearly have been dealt with at an early stage.

14:39 Oct 18, 2013 

the fact that this is in a local museum, and that the readers presumably do have some idea of where they are, i.e., their current geographical location! In other words, "Wielkopolska" will already have been glossed - if indeed that is necessary.

14:11 Oct 18, 2013 

I think this is a tricky decision. There are arguments both ways.

“Greater Poland” is not a recent coinage by some Polish translator; it’s a long-established historical English name for the region, derived from the Latin name Polonia maior. Historians always refer to the Chronicle of Greater Poland (thirteenth century) rather than the Chronicle of Wielkopolska. So whatever its virtues (or lack of them) as a name, it is sanctioned by long use.

However, it isn’t really a very satisfactory name, since most people unfamiliar with it (which is most people) would naturally take it to mean an area larger than the current political territory of Poland, perhaps where Poland has had a historical influence or Polish is spoken or ethnic Poles live. This is particular so by analogy with greater Germany, Großdeutschland, the ideal of pan-Germanists.

Besides, by Polish standards (with great respect), “Wielkopolska” is not a particularly alarming word for English speakers. I think on balance, in this context, I would use it with an explanation at some point, probably mentioning the English name “Greater Poland”.

13:39 Oct 18, 2013 

Wielkopolska anyway, then presumably it has already been glossed/explained for the British-speaking audiences.
personally, I had never heard of it, but as this is in a local museum, then, presumably, the readers will know where they are!

But in any case, you could do worse than refer to the guardian style guide on the matter, although note that their list of exceptions is NOT exhaustive: http://www.theguardian.com/styleguide/f

Scroll down to "foreign placenames" (sic)