Comment on the article from The Economist

Sir,

In your article Place names – Goodbye, Bangalore on 9th of November 2006 you complained that:

“Only English-speakers, it seems, are expected to kowtow to name-changers’ whims. No one berates the French for Pékin, Le Caire and Edimbourg, the Italians for Ucraina, Città del Messico and Pechino, or the Germans for Kapstadt, Singapur and Temeschburg. Dear Name-Changer, feel free to adopt any moniker you fancy, but do not hector others if they jib. A city of beans by any other name will smell as sweet, or beany.”

French does no longer hold a status of Lingua Franca. The world has shifted to English a while ago.

English is no longer the language of Great Britain, but of the planet Earth. It is a significant part of the world’s heritage and hence it is up to every one, from the old school as well as from the new one, to decide how to spell the names of the cities properly.

You managed to spell Kyiv correctly in Media freedom – Hacks v beaks on 8th of May 2008 and already back in Ukraine – Pipe dreams on 5th of April 2001. If you would tell your Russian journalist who covers Ukraine to finally stop using ex-Soviet era propaganda, travel to the country, and see that it is Kyiv every where from the airport to the down town.

For the great paper like The Economist, with the recognition also comes responsibility.

Please do enjoy it.