[INDOLOGY] Language use at the site of the Statue of Unity

[Dan Lusthaus]

It is curious that the Spanish, French and Chinese offer translations of the title, while the Russian, both arabic-persian script attempts (with slight differences), and the devanagari offer transcriptions of the English title — privileging the English, which is also graphically lifted above the rest, as if the other languages were incapable of expressing the idea ’statue of unity.’ How British.

Dan

> On Nov 2, 2018, at 12:11 PM, Tyler Williams via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
> 
> Dear Palaniappan,
> 
> The Perso-Arabic script transliteration in this photo is not even close to being correct, reading "stāt āf unatī".
> 
> Best,
> TWW
> 
> On Fri, Nov 2, 2018 at 10:59 AM Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info <mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:
> On a plaque at the site of the statue of Sardar Patel, the name ‘Statue of Unity’ has been transliterated or translated into different languages as shown in the attachment. The terrible rendering in Tamil became widely ridiculed on the Web. Some wondered if it was a photoshopped joke. But BBC Tamil <https://www.bbc.com/tamil/india-46054914> has confirmed that it is true and shows a picture with attempted erasure of the Tamil version after the problem was brought to the attention of the authorities. The designer of the plaque was Larsen & Toubro. Can other language experts comment on the other versions on the plaque?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Regards,
> Palaniappan
> 
> 
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