Re: [gnso-contactinfo-pdp-wg] Examples of addresses

[Volker Greimann <vgreimann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Chris,

you raise an excellent point.

Do not forget Japanese personal names where one Kanji (chinese 
character) combination can have any number of possible different 
readings. There is a reason why there is special dictionaries for 
possible name readings.
One further common transliteration of longer vowels is with by adding an 
"h" at the end, so Mr. Saitou could also spell himself as either Saitô, 
Saitō or Saitoh. In Japan, I have seen all kinds of different 
transliterations commonly used and mixed. There does not seem to be an 
"official" transliteration that is commonly used or more correct than 
another.
Just one example why I think that transliteration may be impossible to 
do well, and that is just one language of many...
Volker

> From: <Dillon>, Chris <c.dillon@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:c.dillon@xxxxxxxxx>>
> Date: Tuesday, January 14, 2014 7:15 AM
> To: "gnso-contactinfo-pdp-wg@xxxxxxxxx 
> <mailto:gnso-contactinfo-pdp-wg@xxxxxxxxx>" 
> <gnso-contactinfo-pdp-wg@xxxxxxxxx 
> <mailto:gnso-contactinfo-pdp-wg@xxxxxxxxx>>
> Subject: [gnso-contactinfo-pdp-wg] Examples of addresses
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
> I would like to start a collection of international addresses on this 
> list. Many will be in non-Latin scripts, but some may be using the 
> Latin alphabet perhaps with lots of diacritics (accents) or in some 
> other way.
> I hope the following Japanese example, taken at random, makes this 
> suggestion clear:
> The address is how it appears at the bottom of the organization’s 
> website, www.nii.ac.jp <http://www.nii.ac.jp> :
> 国立情報学研究所　テ101-8430　東京都千代田区一ツ橋2－1－2
>
> On English pages of the same site, for example, www.nii.ac.jp/en 
> <http://www.nii.ac.jp/en> , it appears as:
> National Institute for Informatics
>
> 2-1-2 Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-8430
>
> *Notes*
>
> The name of this organization has a well established English 
> translation and acronym (NII). It is not always clear whether an 
> organization prefers its long name or its acronym. Many/All of the 
> divisions and other parts of the organization also have established 
> English translations. What should the policy be when an organization 
> name has no established English translation?
> The rest of the address is transliterated using some form of Hepburn 
> Romanization. Strictly speaking Tokyo should be Tōkyō. See here for 
> further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepburn_romanization
> Japanese addresses are not normally translated. I shall translate this 
> address to illustrate the point and for your amusement:
> 2-1-2 One Bridge, Thousand Generations Field Ward, East Capital 
> Metropolis, 101-8430
> Each speaker of Japanese would probably produce a different rendering.
>
> It is interesting that the ku in Chiyoda-ku is not usually translated 
> as “ward”. Note also the hyphen.
> The order of the address is more or less reversed. Literally in 
> Hepburn it would be: Kokuritsu Jōhō Kagaku Kenkyūjo 101-8430 Tōkyōto 
> Chiyodaku Hitotsubashi 2-1-2
> I have added spaces and capital letters. テcomes before the Japanese 
> postcode.
> 研 究所may be romanized as kenkyūjo or kenkyūsho. NII prefers the 
> former, but machine transliteration would produce two possibilities if 
> it did not know this specific organization.
> There are some other Romanizations in fairly common use in Japan e.g. 
> Kunrei-siki and these cause confusion. One may see, for example, 
> Hitotubasi instead of Hitotsubashi and frequently an address in 
> Hepburn may have a couple of spellings borrowed from another system.
> I am not aware of a Romanization that officially spells out long ō 
> vowels as in e.g. jōhō as ou, but one sees this frequently e.g. 
> jouhou. The officially Hepburn way of doing it, if one has no access 
> to macrons is joohoo. One also sees jôhô (borrowed from Kunrei-siki).
> I hope this will be a good way of discovering current practice and issues.
>
> Regards,
>
> Chris.
>
> --
>
> Research Associate in Linguistic Computing, Centre for Digital 
> Humanities, UCL, Gower St, London WC1E 6BT Tel +44 20 7679 1599 (int 
> 31599) ucl.ac.uk/dis/people/chrisdillon