Template talk:Foreign names: Difference between revisions

How are we to handle different translations into the same language? Case in point, the page for the [[Fountain]] lists its French name as "Salle de bains", which I presume is the name in the PAL version of SMG, because the NTSC French version calls it "la Fontaine". How should one remark both names? [[User:Gus|Gus]] 03:34, 23 October 2008 (EDT)

:Actually, I didn't even know that ''Mario'' games are available in different languages in North America. Are there more languages in North American versions (European ones usually offer five languages)? And what about Latin America, do they get ''Mario'' games in Spanish and Portuguese or just the English versions? And what is Rosalina named in NTSC French version, Harmonie like in French European version or Rosalina? Uh, to answer your question, I'd just enter both names like done [[Spiny#Foreign Names|here]]. --[[User:Grandy02|Grandy02]] 06:11, 23 October 2008 (EDT)

== Retitle ==

The proposal above decided that English would not become part of the template, so that's not what this question is about. However, I still think that "foreign" seems a little offputting of a title since I see it as a term that's relative to where someone is around the world (for example, an English speaker who lives in Japan wouldn't see Japanese as "foreign"), though I can't think of a better name. Are there any suggestions? [[User:Super Mario RPG|Super Mario RPG]] ([[User talk:Super Mario RPG|talk]]) 23:30, January 16, 2025 (EST)

:I am an American English speaker, so my perspective should not be weighed as heavily as that of others. However, because American English is the {{wp|lingua franca}} of our site, the application of "foreign" is correct in relation to Super Mario Wiki. For example, on our sister wiki Mario's Castle, English is among their foreign names because the lingua franca of their wiki is German. — [[User:Nintendo101|Nintendo101]] ([[User talk:Nintendo101|talk]]) 23:58, January 16, 2025 (EST)

Change to "NIOL". If the reference point of "foreign" is the fact that the wiki's lingua franca is American English, it follows that a British English name is, too, foreign and should be integrated in such a table, no? Yet if the above proposal is anything to go by, that is clearly not a stance the community is willing to take. Moreover, yes, implying that a language is foreign to the entire readership is kinda alienating. A Romanian name for Toad, for instance, is foreign, to whom? To the vast majority of you, absolutely. To me, a Romanian native, it isn't. The qualifier of "foreign" is thus both inconsistently applied, and inexact, and while I'm not really bothered by it, I think there's nothing valuable to lose from changing it. Also, "NIOL" takes less to type. There's that, too. {{User:Koopa con Carne/Sig}} 09:43, January 17, 2025 (EST)

:Those are all good points. — [[User:Nintendo101|Nintendo101]] ([[User talk:Nintendo101|talk]]) 09:49, January 17, 2025 (EST)

I prefer to avoid moving templates unless completely necessary, because it's just another thing that needs to be looked up when you're adding a template you've added a zillion times and suddenly it's a redlink. That's happened to me more than I'd care to count. [[User:Doc von Schmeltwick|Doc von Schmeltwick]] ([[User talk:Doc von Schmeltwick|talk]]) 09:46, January 17, 2025 (EST)

:It is necessary if the term is not applied correctly. [[User:Super Mario RPG|Super Mario RPG]] ([[User talk:Super Mario RPG|talk]]) 10:03, January 17, 2025 (EST)