User talk:Ashes to ashes

My mama said to get things done, you better not mess with Major Tom

1er RPIMa
Hello, I have noticed that you moved the article about the 1er RPIMa from 1st Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment to 1st Airborne Marine Infantry Regiment giving the reason for this as it being a better translation. As I created and named the article, I am curious why it is a better translation than the one I did. Carl Logan (talk) 21:07, 19 February 2010 (UTC)
 * I see that the reason you give for your moves are that the French ministry of defence translated RPIMa into Airborne Marine Infantry Regiment and it is the then the official translation. I assume that you mean by an official that it was made by a section of the French government. I have looked around and found three other “official” translations:


 * 1. The homepage of the 1er RPIMa translate its name into “1st Naval Infantry Paratrooper Regiment”.


 * 2. The homepage of the French Embassy in the United States translate the 8e RPIMa into the “8th Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment”.


 * 3. The homepage of the French Army Forces in the Southern Indian Ocean Zone translate the 2e RPIMa into the "2nd Marine Infantry Airborne Regiment".


 * Additional only a small part of the ministry of defence homepage is accessible in English and most that is accessible are translated communiqués, calling that an official translation is in my opinion reading a little too much into it.


 * In any case the naming conventions for non-English language units say nothing about official translation, but it does say that the translation “should follow the conventions employed by reputable historical works on the topic”. And the overwhelming majority of sources, both on the internet and in books, translate “parachutistes” into parachute or more seldom paratrooper, paratroop or parachutist. The translation is almost never used. There is a good reason for this as the French Army uses the term airborne (Fr: aéroportée) in airborne force (fr: troupe aéroportée) and airborne group (Fr: groupement aéroporté). Additionally most sources use the same sequence as I do. Carl Logan (talk) 00:10, 25 February 2010 (UTC)