Needing to translate a website into Spanish and am wondering whether the common names of the plants should also be in Spanish? (For example, Showy Lady’s Slipper, Cypripedium reginae) The translator wondered because they assume the common name is considered a proper name so I felt the best place to …

If you use common names, then translate them, if not, you can add them if it’s not too complicated. ups. of course I mean add actual common names, not just translate them.

Maybe worth asking this question in General - Español so a Spanish speaker can provide a common name? Forgive my very poor Spanglish , something like: Como se dice Cypripedium reginae en Español? Often, right below the taxonomy information , there is a section called Names which shows names in many…

I can’t speak for plant names, but a lot of the Spanish-language common names for Mexican amphibians and reptiles are not simply direct translations from the English-language name for species that also occur north of the border in the U.S. The naturalists/herpetologists in Mexico have their own com…

I would definitely not just literally translate English common names into another language. Like @jnstuart says, many common names come from a place’s own culture and history and might be completely different from the English common name.

I agree, that’s probably a bad idea. There’s another option which I’ve seen with some taxa, like Fourleaf Manyseed (Polycarpon tetraphyllum) , where the common name is directly taken from translating the scientific name. Not very useful with things named after people though, like Weed’s Mariposa Lil…

One thing I did when I needed local common names for Costa Rican plants was plug the scientific name in Spanish Wikipedia and use what I found on the species page there. However, this was more for bureaucratic purposes than actual communication. (The permit people would reject forms if they had no c…

If possible I would replace the names to the ones commonly used in the area. For example the Crested Caracara is commonly called Carancho in Mexico, most online translators will just translated the Crested part. If not possible you can go either three ways, a) ignoring the common names, b) transla…

Spanish is SOO WIDE, it depend of the country, and even the town. My comments it would be, focus in the country and try to find a speaker in that area who could help you to translate the names :)

The Spanish common names I have learned seldom have anything do with translations from English. (And isn’t that rather a colonial idea?) A few examples: Petiveria alliacea , which (according to iNat) is called “guinea-hen weed” in English, is known to Dominicans I talk to as anamú. (Strangely, iNat u…

Translations of common names into foreign languages?

Nature Talk

maskedlynx August 1, 2022, 9:56pm 10

Honestly yeah, I live in Mexico up in the North, and it’s so different how other people call things down south. And in other countries it’s practically unrecognizable.

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Translations of common names into foreign languages?

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