Toponymist Thread poster: John Colangelo
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John Colangelo 
United States
Local time: 18:54
Member (2006)
Arabic to English
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Dear colleagues,
I hope you are all having a wonderful day.
Could anyone explain to me what exactly a toponymist does and why defense contractors are interested in hiring them?
I've noticed the demand for toponymists in languages like Arabic, Chinese and Spanish and was wondering what these positions actually demand from the subject matter expert.
Thank you.
| | | | | My two cents | Dec 21, 2022 |
John Colangelo wrote:
Dear colleagues,
I hope you are all having a wonderful day.
Could anyone explain to me what exactly a toponymist does and why defense contractors are interested in hiring them?
I've noticed the demand for toponymists in languages like Arabic, Chinese and Spanish and was wondering what these positions actually demand from the subject matter expert.
Thank you.
A toponymist is a person who studies place names | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples.
Check Google!
| | | | | Typical job description | Dec 21, 2022 |
https://www.geographicservices.com/careers/toponymist-linguist-geonames-specialist
The Analyst / Linguist will analyze and conflate information associate with the feature data within the Geographic Names Database (GNDB). Using government guidance and policies, will respond to questions concerning the proper and correct usage of names, vari... See more https://www.geographicservices.com/careers/toponymist-linguist-geonames-specialist
The Analyst / Linguist will analyze and conflate information associate with the feature data within the Geographic Names Database (GNDB). Using government guidance and policies, will respond to questions concerning the proper and correct usage of names, various Romanization systems, and the treatment of descriptive information on standard products. The Analyst / Linguist shall use the Geographic Names Processing Systems (GNPS), charts, imagery, source information in Romanized and native text, and geospatial tools to refine names information for use in all types of products and to respond to use question via the Ad Hoc Query process. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Nikolay Novitskiy
Russian Federation
Local time: 03:54
Member (2018)
English to Russian
| Military purpose | Dec 21, 2022 |
When you plan a military operation in another country, your officers should be able to read local maps. All those tiny villages and rivers your army fights for, all of them have their names. I mean, you don't want to find your squad in a situation when you ask locals for a map but can't neither read it nor tell your findings to the HQ. So... Arabic, Chinese and Spanish? OMG.
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Joakim Braun
Sweden
Local time: 00:54
German to Swedish
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| Transliteration | Dec 21, 2022 |
Nikolay Novitskiy wrote:
When you plan a military operation in another country, your officers should be able to read local maps. All those tiny villages and rivers your army fights for, all of them have their names. I mean, you don't want to find your squad in a situation when you ask locals for a map but can't neither read it nor tell your findings to the HQ. So... Arabic, Chinese and Spanish? OMG.
And having half a dozen different transliterations of the same weird-alphabet name could well be a security issue.
| | | | Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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| Names, spellings, transcriptions, and multiple languages = chaos | Dec 21, 2022 |
Toponyms in foreign territories are typically a mess. As things go digital, it gets even worse.
Government needs experts to decipher the mess.
For a good example, see the current war in Ukraine.
For any given location, you can have:
1. Old Soviet name(s)
2. New Ukrainian name
3. Russified version of the new Ukrainian name, as used by locals
4. Russian government's opinion on what the name should be
5. Different phonetic and for... See more Toponyms in foreign territories are typically a mess. As things go digital, it gets even worse.
Government needs experts to decipher the mess.
For a good example, see the current war in Ukraine.
For any given location, you can have:
1. Old Soviet name(s)
2. New Ukrainian name
3. Russified version of the new Ukrainian name, as used by locals
4. Russian government's opinion on what the name should be
5. Different phonetic and formalist transcriptions thereof
6. Other historical names used by other regional powers such as Poland, Romania, Turkey, etc.
7. Other spellings generated by re-translations of text
8. Misspellings
9. Misreadings, such as confusion between cities, districts, and regions bearing the same namesake
10. Same names in different places
11. Local slang names in one or more languages
Ex: Is Dnipro a city, a river, or one of the gazillion things named after one or the other? When is Dnepr the same thing and when isn't it? Which one is also known as Dnepropetrovsk?
Is Donetsk a region in Ukraine, most of a region under Russian proxy government, a city in that region, or a wholly different city 230km away in undisputed internationally recognized Russia (all of the above)?
[Edited at 2022-12-21 14:32 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-12-21 14:33 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-12-21 14:34 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:54
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Nikolay Novitskiy wrote:
When you plan a military operation in another country, your officers should be able to read local maps. All those tiny villages and rivers your army fights for, all of them have their names. I mean, you don't want to find your squad in a situation when you ask locals for a map but can't neither read it nor tell your findings to the HQ. So... Arabic, Chinese and Spanish? OMG.
That's why any country that believes it is about to be invaded removes all place names and direction signs immediately
| | | | John Colangelo
United States
Local time: 18:54
Member (2006)
Arabic to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Thank you... | Dec 22, 2022 |
Colleagues,
Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I appreciate your input.
Respectfully,
John
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