What is the Japanese Language Stack Exchange called in Japanese? I came up with 日本語のスタック交換.
1 Answer
In technical documents or technical news media, the name of a foreign website or company is typically written completely as-is.
- 米国Microsoft社のWindows
- 日本語についての質問サイトであるJapanese Language Stack Exchange
Mass media for general public (e.g., 読売新聞) usually katakanize foreign proper nouns because many of their readers do not understand English at all:
- 米国マイクロソフト社のウィンドウズ
- 日本語についての質問サイトであるジャパニーズ・ランゲージ・スタック・エクスチェンジ
You should not "translate" foreign proper nouns. Even in English, Mont Blanc is Mont Blanc and Rio de Janeiro is Rio de Janeiro. You should not "translate" them into White Mountain or River of January. Likewise, since Stack Exchange is the name of a website, you must not convert it to スタック交換.
EDIT: An ordinary noun with a literal meaning can be translated, such as 大学 ("University"), 協会 ("Association"), 基金 ("Fund"), 国際 ("International"). A brand name should not be translated even if it has a meaning as a common noun (Apple, Windows, Android, Office, Fox, Seven Eleven, ...). As @Yosh said, partially-translated 日本語スタックエクスチェンジ may also be acceptable in newspapers.
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2There are some cases with partial translation of proper nouns though: the University of California systems is called カリフォルニア大学. Compare to University College London which is ユニヴァーシティ・カレッジ・ロンドン– RingilSep 9, 2019 at 22:29
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1+1. However, Japanese Language part can also be seen as a kind of modifier to the Stack Exchange (specifying which site of the stack exchange network). Hence I feel that partially-translated "日本語(の)[スタックエクスチェンジ/stack exchange]" can be acceptable.– YoshSep 10, 2019 at 4:24
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3@Ringil University College London is a quite interesting case but I don't think you can translate this "university" in a short and meaningful way. It's a rather context-dependent name that means it is a "college" distinguished from others by its former name "university". Moreover we haven't had a "college" equivalent higher education system. Sep 10, 2019 at 6:56
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4As comparison, the Japanese version of Stack Overflow is called スタック・オーバーフロー, but its tour mentions "Stack Exchange" in English. Sep 10, 2019 at 8:00
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1"You should not "translate" foreign proper nouns". Some proper nouns do have translations though. For example the German city Cologne, is actually called Köln in German or Keulen in Dutch.– IvoSep 11, 2019 at 7:48