TomSouthwell wrote:
It's not hard to understand, you've asked for a staff opinion, both me and Juan have given our opinion. That should be the end of the discussion unless Jan or David come in and over-ride us.
NO you have NOT answered my question! Once again plainly as I can WHY is it OK to allow names to be added both ways with no consistancy? That is the question you all have been avoiding!
JAGUARDOG wrote:
NO you have NOT answered my question! Once again plainly as I can WHY is it OK to allow names to be added both ways with no consistancy? That is the question you all have been avoiding!
Since their isn't a policy saying otherwise. The policy covers show names and summaries only, a persons name can sometimes be difficult to translate, either because it won't translate into a name in English or the person is simply known by their foreign name or it could be that we have a foreign contributor working on that show, working in their language, we can't expect a site with international users to work solely in English, especially for a Russian show... that will attract more Russian users then English.
For actors, you should use their original name and character set that's most commonly used in the credits.
In 99% of the cases this is the original character set. E.g., for a Russian actor who primarly stars in Russian shows, their original Cyrillic name should be used.
Only in a rare case of a (e.g.) Russian actor that's primarily starring in English language shows, credited under their Romanized name, the Roman ("English") name could be appropriate.
I think it is quite simple.
A Russian actor/actress who mainly stars in american films and is always credited there as for example : "Anna Kournikova" should be listed as Anna Kournikova here, her Russian name should be the aka.
If the actor/actress mainly appears in Russian film and is credited there in the Russian alphabet, then the listing here should also be that way, an aka can be added with the English name.
There's a number of ex-CIS actors and actresses who, at some point, moved to Europe, Canada or USA. They have "permanent" Latin names, backed by government records. There's actors still living in Russia, but often being cast in foreign productions, therefore having an "official" Latin transcription, which they using in contracts, credits etc.
And then there's Russian (Ukrainian, Belorussian etc.) actors, who live In the country of origin, work only on local productions and therefore have no "official" transcription. And many Russian names and surnames have a several ways to be transcribed. I'm from Ukraine, and every time my foreign passport being re-issued, some clerk would try to transcribe my name in some different way.
My point is, there's just no "official" Latin name transcription for some of the actors. So, instead of inventing some questionable non-existing names, we're using for those actors their real names, and there's nothing wrong with it.
Yes, if you try hard enough you'll find a possible exception to every rule. I said it covered 99%, not 100%.
Stick to what I said for the 99%. For the remaining 1% that's split evenly between Cyrillic and Latin credits, choose whatever. :)
david wrote:
Yes, if you try hard enough you'll find a possible exception to every rule. I said it covered 99%, not 100%.
Stick to what I said for the 99%. For the remaining 1% that's split evenly between Cyrillic and Latin credits, choose whatever. :)
I'm supporting your position, not confronting it :)
I've just tried to explain, what logic is behind using Cyrillic names for some (but not all) Russian actors.
JuanArango wrote:
I think it is quite simple.
A Russian actor/actress who mainly stars in american films and is always credited there as for example : "Anna Kournikova" should be listed as Anna Kournikova here, her Russian name should be the aka.
If the actor/actress mainly appears in Russian film and is credited there in the Russian alphabet, then the listing here should also be that way, an aka can be added with the English name.
I think this is a good example of what you are saying. An American show with some Russian/Ukrainian actors that primarily work in Russia have Cyrillic spelling. There are also Russian/Ukrainian actors who work primarily in US/UK productions with Roman spelling.
http://www.tvmaze.com/episodes/1039849/the-americans-5x08-immersion/cast
Looks like the data policy was updated with the People section. Here's what it says about the names:
The name this person is most commonly credited as. The original language/character set should be used as commonly displayed in TV credits for this actor. For example, a Russian actor predominantly starring in Russian language shows will likely be credited under their original Russian name in the Cyrillic character set. In that case, the same Cyrillic name should be used here. Only when a Russian actor is predominantly starring in English language shows, it's likely that they are commonly credited under their Romanized name. In that case, the Romanized name may be used here.
