Upper/Lower case in titles - Progressive Rock Music Forum

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kazansky

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 09:20

err, but wouldn't that reduce the originality of the album itself ?

The devil we blame our atrocities on is really just each one of us.

Philéas

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 09:18

I agree with Tony. The site looks more tidy if all titles are written in the same way.

Raff

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 09:17

Tony R wrote:

With all due respect this is an English language site so surely presentation of titles etc should follow the English style...?

No, Tony, languages should follow their own rules even when quoted in a foreign language context. This is a basic rule of linguistics. Of course, when talking about languages not written in the Roman script, translitteration is essential to afford comprehension. This is not the case with European languages, though.

Raff

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 09:14

Fassbinder wrote:

I want to bring my apologies for the mess caused by my posts and for the uncomfortable feelings of everybody who was hurted by them.

What? Are you joking? I'm NOT hurt by anything... As a native speaker of Italian, I just wanted to set the record straight in order to help you do the best possible job. Just that! Wink

Tony R

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 09:12

With all due respect this is an English language site so surely presentation of titles etc should follow the English style...?

Raff

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 09:07

I am referring to both. In Italian titles are written just like normal phrases and sentences. Upper case is only used for the first word in a phrase, or for proper nouns - e.g. "Felona e Sorona".

Fassbinder View Drop Down

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 09:06

I want to bring my apologies for the mess caused by my posts and for the uncomfortable feelings of everybody who was hurted by them.

Joolz

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 09:02

Ghost Rider wrote:

Only the initial word of the title - e.g. "Stati di immaginazione", "Io sono nato libero", "Per un amico", etc. Italian has very strict rules concerning the use of upper case initials - they are mostly used for proper nouns. Names of languages, for instance, all have lower case initials.

Can you just confirm you are specifically referring to titles and not generally? For example, in English ...

as a title .... A Hard Day's Night .... In The Wake Of Poseidon

general grammar .... A hard day's night .... in the wake of Poseidon

Fassbinder View Drop Down

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 08:58

When I growed up, there was very right proverb in the USSR -- "Initiative is punishable"...

Raff

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 08:54

If he needs help, I'll try to give him a hand with Italian titles. After all, being my mother tongue, I'm sure not to make mistakes!

Fassbinder View Drop Down

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 08:52

Great. It means that almost all the titles in Italian, appearing in PA, should be rewritten now...

Poor Joolz...

Edited by Fassbinder - January 21 2007 at 08:53

Raff

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 08:49

Only the initial word of the title - e.g. "Stati di immaginazione", "Io sono nato libero", "Per un amico", etc. Italian has very strict rules concerning the use of upper case initials - they are mostly used for proper nouns. Names of languages, for instance, all have lower case initials.

Fassbinder View Drop Down

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 08:45

Ghost Rider wrote:

Fassbinder wrote:

PFM 2006 -- Stati di immaginazione.

It should be written as Immaginazione, with the initial upper case letter, since it is a noun.

Sorry, but as a native speaker of Italian I disagree. The title is NOT in English, so it shouldn't submit to the rules of the English language. When I write titles in English in an Italian context (something that happens quite often), I always use upper case initials for nouns, adjectives and verbs - please, let's not Anglicise all languages, as much as I love English! Wink

OK. Then, should all the other titles in Italian be reconsidered? Most of them are written with the upper case initial letters...

Fassbinder View Drop Down

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 08:42

Well, this is what I have for the moment:

A bulik másképpen! (Népstadion 1994/99), OMEGA (HR) (2002) -- in Hungarian -- ??? about the parts of speech

A Hard Day's night, BEATLES, THE (1964)

A live Show , MALIBRAN (2001)

A Night At Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, MOODY BLUES, THE (1993) -- I still think that only main parts of speech should be capitalised

A ti se ne daj, MLINAREC, DRAGO (1971) -- Serbocroatian, I can't be sure here

A Trick Of The Tail, GENESIS (1976)

A Vision Of A Dying Embrace, ANATHEMA (2002)

A work of Art , MIND'S EYE (2002)

Aborescence/Become The Other , OZRIC TENTACLES (2003)

Ach to státu hanobení, PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE, THE (1977) -- ???

Acorralado Por Ti , NU (1984) -- "por"

Acoustic Live In Toronto At Hugh's Room, STRAWBS (2004)

Acquiring The Taste , GENTLE GIANT (1971)

Across The Circle's Edge, WINTER (1992)

Raff

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 08:41

Fassbinder wrote:

PFM 2006 -- Stati di immaginazione.

It should be written as Immaginazione, with the initial upper case letter, since it is a noun.

Vompatti

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 08:40

^It's the same thing with Finnish titles. All words should be in lower case, except proper nouns which are always in upper case.

Tony R

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 08:39

I think that people are copying and pasting the foreign language titles from another source because they are uncomnfortable with the language or form and forgetting to recapitalize.
I think that they should take more care..or not do it at all.

andu

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 08:35

Fassbinder wrote:

PFM 2006 -- Stati di immaginazione.

It should be written as Immaginazione, with the initial upper case letter, since it is a noun.

That is correct as it is written. What you say would be correct if it was about English or German, but that's in Italian. Latin languages don't have this rule. For example these Romanian titles are also not correct: Cei Ce Ne-Au Dat Nume or Mugur De Fluier. They should be written "Cei ce ne-au dat nume" and "Mugur de fluier".

Joolz

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 08:26

Quite agree .... as far as I am concerned all words in titles should be capitalised .... but, I am not familiar with the conventions of languages other than English which may differ .... eg in French should it be "L'Homme" or "l'Homme"?

Done ... thanks

PS - there are many cases of this where people have added titles with lower case initials - generally, as I make my way around the DB I change them if I spot them

Edit: just noticed your post above Embarrassed

Edited by Joolz - January 21 2007 at 08:28

Fassbinder View Drop Down

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Posted: January 21 2007 at 08:23

I'm working for a while with the titles beginning with "A". There are plenty of inaccuracies already. The project will take some good days (or even weeks). The main problem is, of course, with the non-English titles. But it is possible to overcome too, with the help of the native speakers of the correspondent languages, since the rules are the same -- main parts of speech begin with upper case letters, the others -- with lower case.

L'Odyssee should be written with lower case "l" when in the middle of the title, since "l" stands for the article "le" or "la", and with upper case "l" when it's at the beginning of the title.