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52 minutes ago, RobMcCaffery said:

Bear in mind the Russian names are translations from the Russian script, cyrillic, so there is no official spelling in our alphabet. We convert to how we would spell the names and the Poles their way. Their w is a v sound so what we would call Victor would be Wiktor in Polish, and something looking totally different but sounding pretty much the same n Russian. 

Going back over the years the English translations have varied. Take Grigori Chlinovsky, aka Grigory Khlinovsky. Likewise Grigori/Grigory/Grigorij Laguta.

The problem gets more complex with Latvia where two alphabets are in use, Russian and Latvian so an ethnic Russian's name in his own language may be Andrei Lebedev (check the back of his kevlars) or Andzejs Lebedevs in Latvian!

In English we have very few accents over or under letters like the e in cafe. Other languages have many. I don't want to wrestle with the keyboard too much but taking the Antonio Lindback case. The a in Lindback in Swedish has a double dot accent over the a, known in German as an umlaut,  making his name phonetically closer to Lindbeck. In English we don't use that accent so we usually add an e to the vowel, hence the occasional use of Lindbaeck. 

The English alphabet isn't flexible to accommodate all these accents, usually applied to vowels to change their sounds. We compromise, and in so doing often get the pronunciation of foreign names very wrong. A y in Swedish is usually pronounced more like ew or a g like a y. The Poles don't just mess with vowels which is why Lech Walesa's name is pronounced Vawensa and Lodz as Woodz. In both cases the l has a bar across it, changing it to w. 

How do you cope? Compromise. We convert foreign names to our alphabet as best as we can  and the pronunciations accordingly. Other nations do the same. I remember being amused at the 1982 Intercontinental Final at Vetlanda announcer refer to Kelly Moron. Well, he as many things, but not that....

It works in reverse. The Russians don't use the letter h so to get close to that sound they use a mix of x and i. I learned this when I covered ice racing n Russia using a programme obviously written in Russian and with the names similarly treated. It took a while to find Jarmo Hirvasoja.....

So, it's all compromise in adjusting from one alphabet to another. Our lack of accents being used with vowels helps make English a tricky language to learn. 

Just a final one, Google Translate can offer some interesting translations. Dawid/Wiktor Leopard (Lampart) , Rafal Innkeeper (Karczmarz), Pawel Month (Miesiac). Oh and speedway to Zuzel, or .....Slag.......

Hope this makes sense. 

 

Perfect sense!,I’m away for a lie down now:D

 

  • Haha 2

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1 hour ago, Fromafar said:

Perfect sense!,I’m away for a lie down now:D

 

Announcing/commentating isn't as easy as some might think. ;)

  • Haha 1

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Rafal Innkeeper is my favourite :D 

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Teams confirmed in Gorzow.

Gorzow

9 Wozniak

10 Zmarzlik

11 Klindt

12 Thomsen

13 NKI - R/R(ZZ)

14 Jasinski

15 Karczmarz

16 Pytlewski

Wroclaw 

1 Janowski

2 Drabik

3 Berntzon

4 Fricke

5 Woffinden

6 Chugunov

7 M Curzytek

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1 minute ago, KingoftheTrack said:

Evening all very difficult meeting to predict tonight.

Fricke needs a good one otherwise he's done for imo.

Fricke is safe really as they are only allowed to use 1 guest, which they are doing for Bewley.

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Curzytek had plenty of time to move out of the way. Blue was in front.  Pedersen does that all the time and the rider behind has to shut off.:(

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1 minute ago, KingoftheTrack said:

Anybody else having streaming problems?

Yip wonder if it is the weather!  I can’t get Maniek of daddylive on I pad.

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6 minutes ago, KingoftheTrack said:

Anybody else having streaming problems?

Had problems at start of last match then went okay the end of match then dodgy at the very start of this match.

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I remember watching Anders Thomsen in the Championship at Peterborough. I could always tell that he was destined for the top.

Jack Holder used to ride for us too.

Edited by KeirStarmerFan

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