Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (anglicization)

message: I have noticed that many of the Norse/Icelandic/Scandinavian article titles make use of special characters, and I believe this is in violation of the Manual of Style. I generally write Japanese-related articles, and for those, we always avoid using "ō" and the like in article titles, reverting to the more well-known spellings, such as "Tokyo" instead of "Tōkyō" or "Toukyou". The same standard should be held for pages of other cultures, e.g. "Tromso" instead of "Tromsø". I understand the desire to do things the "right" way according to your language and culture, but this is an English-language encyclopedia, and using special characters just makes articles harder to find, and harder to read (more esoteric). LordAmeth 01:42, 14 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Norse/Scandinavian titles 

message: Although I am not a native English speaker, I believe that it is reasonable to anglicize names in en.wikipedia.org. The English language Wikipedia is a learning instrument for English speakers. People who speak English as their second or third language should contribute to the extent of their knowledge, but they should respect the conventions decided by English speakers for English speakers just as they have to respect English grammar and spelling. It is perfectly normal for English speakers to name the world around them in their own language. That being said, it will not hurt English speakers to be aware of the existence of other linguistic worlds on the same planet that they live on. In other words, knowning that Christopher Columbus is the anglicized name of a person who probably refered to himself as Cristofero Colombo in his own language. In fact, this is valuable information, the kind of valuable information one expects to find in an Enclyclopedia.
However, I believe that the case where official names do exist has not been discussed seriously. How should we handle this? Normally, if the name of a place or institution was made official, it is because some authority wanted this name to be used in all formal communications. Is Wikipedia the type of media that should relay what is formally known or what may possibly be used more often in informal communications? 
Here is my example:
There is a yearly even here in Montreal that is officially called Le Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. Visiting the website of the event at http://www.montrealjazzfest.com/, we see that it is that name alone that is used in both the French and English sections. Participating to the event, we find out that all brochures also use the official French name even where the text is destined to English speakers. 
A majority of English speakers who participated to the festival probably called it the "the jazz festival" or the "Montreal jazz festival" just as Spanish speakers probably did the same in the their language. This is perfectly normal, and the policy to use only the official French name (even in English translated material) doesn't aim at forcing people to use it. The fact that the domain name is in English is there to show that the organizers are aware that many of the visitors speak English only and won't type the French name of the event when they search for it in Google.
The article Festival International de Jazz de Montréal was created with the official titled and eventually moved and renamed to the anglicized Montreal International Jazz Festival. 
Which name should the article have? The unofficial and informal English translation or the official French name? Should we have Montreal International Jazz Festival (Official French: Festival International de Jazz de Montréal) or the opposite Festival International de Jazz de Montréal (English: Montreal International Jazz Festival)
-- Mathieugp 15:04, 10 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  In the case where there exists an official non-English name