SEELANGS Digest - 25 Mar 1996 to 26 Mar 1996

[robert orr]

Just a couple of small points to add to the discussion:
1) "Peking" is actually a fairly close approximation of the Cantonese for "Beij
ing", and, if my memory serves me correctly, most of the early contacts
between  English speakers and Chinese speakers involved Cantonese rather than
Mandarin/Putonghua.  It's a bit like English using, e.g., "Cologne"
for "Koln", or "Lvov" for "Lviv".
2) When I did my study in Russia I was based in Edinburgh (for those of us who
read the "Globe and Mail" , the spelling with "borough" was quite acceptable in
 the 18th century).  When asked where I was from, I would say "Edinburg", as
givne in dicitonaries, maps. etc.  I was asked several times "Pocemu u vasej st
olicy  nemeckoe nazvanie"?  Although that's the capital of another small countr
y(?), etc., etc., I must admit I found it rather amusing.