Talk:Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company

Latest comment: 12 years ago by Oreo Priest in topic Another abbreviation for the English language

Another abbreviation for the English language edit

Maybe it's an idea to solve the double language problems/ language wars on the English Wikipedia by using always the English version of names and abbreviations, for example: Art-Law in the Brussels metro could be taken as an option, although the local government won't recognize. Sometimes however, it is complicated since an abbreviation for the STIB/MIVB in English would be BITC, which looks too much like an insult or profanity. Someone helps? It won't work to use French or Dutch words to choose one of them, that's insulting the local population.

Acronyms should not be translated. There is only one name for FIFA, for example, although it is French. The article here says "It is usually referred to as the STIB in English", but you changed to text to give duplication. Station names are considered to be proper names and should not be translated, although I agree that some titles are a little awkward. Jean Drapeau, the former mayor of Montreal, was referred to as Johnny Flag, by some English speakers. Sw2nd (talk) 23:24, 24 November 2011 (UTC)Reply
You'll see from the Brussels Naming Conventions infobox above that this was discussed at length. In short, the consensus was to use English where it obviously works, what's used most in English where it doesn't work. In practice, for better or for worse, this is almost always French. Oreo Priest talk 03:17, 25 November 2011 (UTC)Reply