Off topic: What would you call "Little XXXX(insert any nation)" Thread poster: yolanda Speece
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I was thinking about this the other day. I saw an article where they talk about an influx of immigrants coming into a particular area and then they call it "Little XXX".
What would you call that?
Would you use a diminutive where possible? Take for example Little Italy or Little China. Would it Be Italita or Chinita or would it be "el barrio italiano" or "el barrio chino".
What if you are talking about a Mexican community. Would a "Little Mexico" become "Mexi... See more I was thinking about this the other day. I saw an article where they talk about an influx of immigrants coming into a particular area and then they call it "Little XXX".
What would you call that?
Would you use a diminutive where possible? Take for example Little Italy or Little China. Would it Be Italita or Chinita or would it be "el barrio italiano" or "el barrio chino".
What if you are talking about a Mexican community. Would a "Little Mexico" become "Mexiquito"?
Take for example you have a lot of immigrants coming in from Venezuela. Would it become "Venezuelita"?
Venezuela already means "Little Venice" so how would you express this in Spanish? Would it be Little Little Venice?
I thought this would be something fun to discuss so please feel free to input your suggestions.
This will serve as a learning experience and a way for us to come up with names for places like this.
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| | | | Jan Willem van Dormolen (X) 
Netherlands
Local time: 13:55
English to Dutch
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| Dutch = English | Oct 18, 2007 |
In Dutch it's the same as in English. Although we wouldn't use it as an 'official' name (just as nickname), and you won't find it on maps. When I was a student, I had a room in 'Klein Turkije', the neigbourhood of Utrecht that is officially called Lombok. Which, BTW, is an island in the Indonesian archipelago, that used to be a Dutch colony once upon a time. So it went from one foreign/immigrant name to another...
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At least in English, adding the word 'Little' before the country would solve the problem, but in other languages, that can't be done without changing the name of the country or even coming up with some new and horrible words: Mexiquito
The standard, at least in some Roman languages, is to add the word barrio, quartier, bairro, etc.
Claudia
[Edited at 2007-10-18 20:21]
| | | | Yaotl Altan
Mexico
Local time: 05:55
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
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We use "Barrio chino" in Mexico. "Quartiere Latin" in Montreal.
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Juan Jacob
Mexico
Local time: 05:55
French to Spanish
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...I should agree.
"Mexiquito" como que no me suena mucho, la verdad.
México, país de pocos inmigrantes, sólo está el Barrio chino, que mide como 150 metros de largo, nada más.
| | | | Henry Hinds
United States
Local time: 05:55
English to Spanish
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In memoriam
Of couse, "barrios" can have many names, but speaking of ethnicity, you would just say "barrio" followed by the appropriate term.
Of course if some guy comes by in a car and yells "¿qué barrio?" at you, better run the other way.
| | | | | Pequena Venezuela | Oct 19, 2007 |
I don't think Little Italy is used as a diminutive (as in cute and fun Italy). I think it is rather a question of size (as in small version Italy).
| | | | | not in ireland | Oct 19, 2007 |
We don't have this concept in Ireland yet, as immigration is a relatively new thing for us.
I expect in 5-10 years time, some areas will be unofficially rechristened to reflect the high numbers of Poles, Asians, Russians and so forth.
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Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 05:55
Dutch to English
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| Chinatown etc. | Oct 20, 2007 |
Even in English there are different terms depending on the country. We speak of little Italy, the French quarter, Chinatown, etc.
| | | | yolanda Speece
Local time: 06:55
English to Spanish
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TOPIC STARTER | so then it wouldn't have some cute way of nicknaming a particular place | Oct 20, 2007 |
I know sometimes it doesn't sound right but not everything that is translated is right or sounds right, you know?
Just look at a lot of the different terms in different fields.
Simply saying "el barrio XXX" doesn't make it seem as creative as "Little XXX".
I thought maybe this would be an opportunity to be creative.
Thanks for the input!!!
[Edited at 2007-10-21 17:28]
| | | | | Sometimes.... | Oct 22, 2007 |
Viktoria Gimbe wrote:
I don't think Little Italy is used as a diminutive (as in cute and fun Italy). I think it is rather a question of size (as in small version Italy).
Sometimes placing "Little" in front of a country might be considered 'offensive' by the inhabitants of that country or the host country. It's a delicate metter.
| | | | NancyLynn
Canada
Local time: 07:55
Member (2002)
French to English
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Moderator of this forum | Not offensive | Oct 22, 2007 |
In Ottawa, the Italian-speaking community refers to the Preston-Gladstone area as Little Italy. Nothing offensive about it. Every Ottawa resident knows that the place to get a good vitello piccata is in Little Italy, where some of the street names now have unofficial Italian names as well as their official "anglo" names that were determined when thi... See more In Ottawa, the Italian-speaking community refers to the Preston-Gladstone area as Little Italy. Nothing offensive about it. Every Ottawa resident knows that the place to get a good vitello piccata is in Little Italy, where some of the street names now have unofficial Italian names as well as their official "anglo" names that were determined when this part of the city was created.
http://www.prestonstreet.com/
They use the term in their own website.
Nancy ▲ Collapse
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Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:55
Russian to English
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In memoriam | Can this be done in Russian? | Oct 23, 2007 |
There is a place in Russia called Китайгородок (Kitaigorodok), which literally means Chinatown, using the diminutive form of town (gorodok, from gorod), but this is just a place name for one town, and I don't know if it occurs in districts in towns.
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