Hi all,
As far as German bird names go - I think all of them are capitalised and
very often form only one word, e.g. Affenente (literally "Monkey Duck") for
Freckled Duck. This is the more "classic" approach in German but this has
changed over time which means that for some species exactly the same rules
apply for in both English and German. Lesser Yellowlegs (Kleiner
Gelbschenkel) is a good example.
I'm definitely all for following the IOC's (capitalising) rules.
Dave and Bob,
Many if not all German birders I know will use the English bird names when
travelling overseas or coming across unfamiliar species - for a couple of
reasons.
First of all it's much easier to communicate with other foreign birders.
Also, most of the publishing is done in English, including site and field
guides. It would be rather useless to study all of the names in German as
well, unless you have a keen interest (like me).
Interested discussion anyway. Would love to hear what other fellow
foreigners have to say.
Cheers,
Falk
On Apr 14, 2013 12:26 PM, "Dave Torr" <> wrote:
> I think most languages have their own names for at least the local birds -
> so English name is perfectly accurate in Aus (and UK, USA etc) whereas the
> common name for House Sparrow in French is "Moineau domestique" (see
> http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/house-sparrow-passer-domesticus).
> Interesting that the "domestique" (=House) is not capitalised....
>
> On 14 April 2013 11:57, Robert Inglis <> wrote:
>
> > In the name of pedanticism............
> >
> > There must be a better label than “English names”. Personally, I prefer
> > “common names”.
> >
> > Or should we only capitalise/capitalize the English versions of bird
> > common names?
> >
> > It would seem that some non-English speaking (as a ‘first’ language)
> > birdwatchers also capitalise bird common names. For example my copy of
> > “Robert’s Birds of Southern Africa” lists common names in a number of
> > languages and they all capitalise the names. That is, to maintain the
> > pedantic theme, except for the Zulu names which all start with one, two
> or
> > three lowercase letters immediately followed by what looks like the
> actual
> > name headed by an uppercase letter. I don’t speak or understand “Zulu” (I
> > barely understand English these days and that is certainly often the case
> > when it is written) so I can’t comment on that form of spelling and
> format.
> > Of course, that version of that field guide was published in 1984, before
> > “texting” and “SMS” so it also has punctuation and the text uses complete
> > words.
> >
> > Do, for example, German, Japanese, Spanish (but to name a few)
> > birdwatchers refer to “English names in their everyday birding
> > conversations?
> >
> > Just to make it clear, I always capitalise (but rarely capitalize) bird
> > Common Names.
> >
> > Bob Inglis
> > Sandstone Point
> > Qld
> > Australia
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