John Leonard wrote:
>4. There already exists a sort of unofficial official world-list of bird
>names in English, which birders whose first language is not English tend to
>use in preference to the scientific names (this was brought home to me in
>Malaysia, whereI heard German, Dutch, Japanese and birders of other
>nationalities all used English names, even when talking to each other in
>their own languages). If we started renaming Australian birds then this
would
>create disturbance to this de facto list of official English names.<<
Hi John:
I saw your post on the listserve an thought that I would reply. While I
agree that English is the world standard for Common Names, I have been
working on developing a system that allows folks to use what I call an
"Alternate Common Name" . I have at the moment world lists that include
along with the standard Latin and English, common names in German and
Japanese (which my customers in those countries much prefer) as well as many
geographical specific lists in various languages, and the program that
allows you to use either (if you would like to have a look please go to the
URL in my "signature"). Occassionally it is possible to "have your cake and
eat it to" :-)
Ian Patton
_____________________________________
BIRDERS COME IN ALL LANGUAGES.
IF IT HAPPENS THERE, IT HAPPENS HERE.
Ian Patton
Edmonton Alberta
Canada
http://www.ccinet.ab.ca/merlin/
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