I don't pronounce San Francisco, Saint Francisco or Los Angeles, The Angeles . I think it is a sign of disrespect, what do you think ? it only leads to confusion for the Postal Service.
2007-03-12 02:40:14 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Travel ➔ United States ➔ New York City
They say that because, in Spanish, there is a word -Nueva- for New. But, there is no word for "York". So, they say Nueva York.
I suppose it makes more sense to them.
2007-03-12 02:48:08 · answer #1 · answered by Tibiman 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
English has changed the names of many foreign places. We found this out at the Olympics last year when the city people has known for centuries as "Turin" was suddenly called by its Italian name "Torino". Similarly the place Italians call "Roma" we call "Rome" in English and the place Austrians call "Wien" we call "Vienna". We also call the country where Spanish was first spoken "Spain" rather than "Espana" and the place German was first spoken "Germany" rather than "Deutschland".
Every language makes changes like this, especially with long-established well-known cities and countries. Most often it's simply that the pronunciation has been adapted to fit the sounds in the speaker's language. Other times (such as with "Nueva York") it is a direct translation of the meaning of the name into the speaker's language.
Newer places (like some Arabic place names that have recently become well known) are more often rendered as closely as possible to the original language. By the standards of a language, San Francisco (which, by the way means "St. Francis"--the Italian saint--not "St. Francisco") is a very new city), so it's not really a surprise that English uses its original Spanish name.
2007-03-12 14:42:38 · answer #2 · answered by dmb 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's not a question of pronounciation- it's a TRANSLATION. "new" in spanish is "nueva", and like someone else explained, York is not translated. Much like you say "New Delhi". It is not a sign of disrespect, it's just another language- and YOU have to respect that. You don't say Deutschland in English, you say Germany. You say Italy instead of Italia, Japan instead of Nipon, etc.. I'm sure the Germans, Italians, Japanese are not complaining that you speak your own language and therefore translate the name of their country.
And to the person who said it's "Spanglish", it is not. It's proper Spanish.
2007-03-12 16:16:12 · answer #3 · answered by chickie 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
When in Rome pronounce the city name Roma do as the romans do
When in New York pronounce it New York like New Yorkers do. It's a common courtesy to the host culture.
2007-03-12 12:36:11 · answer #4 · answered by smartrudman 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because it's Spanish!! It has to be different in order for you to distinguish another language from it.. However, everything can't always be in English.
2007-03-12 10:59:42 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You don't pronounce it like that because that is not what you have ever done, but spanish speaking people have always pronounced it like that even when they did not live in us
2007-03-12 09:47:16 · answer #6 · answered by AACTKLDT 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because that's how THEY prononuce it.
In Italy there is no Milan, it's Milano or Turin, it's Torino.
2007-03-12 09:58:16 · answer #7 · answered by joe s 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
it sounds Spangilsh.. its there preference
2007-03-12 11:35:52 · answer #8 · answered by jett 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋