Stil/Steele

[Kriton Kyrimis]

DON:

> (not "Stil"... the real
> names of actual people should not be translated)

I don't know if this was a typo in the posting to which you are replying, but 
in some cases, it might be best if names are phonetically transcribed to 
something that sounds similar in the target language. In Greek, e.g., 
literally transcribing "Steele" as sigma-tau-epsilon-epsilon-lambda-epsilon 
would result in something pronounced steh-eh-leh, so "Stil" (using Greek 
letters, of course) is the preferred transcription. The only issue is whether 
the "i" should be an iota (current transcription practice) or an eta (older 
transcription practice). I wonder if this is the same case with Polish, where 
"Steele" might be equally unpronounceable.
-- 
	Kriton.
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"There's something unnervingly recursive about digging up the remains of
  dead archaeologists."
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