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Talk:Republika Srpska

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English translation of name

[edit]

The literal translation of Republika Srpska has been edited quite a few times. As the article states in the 'Name' section, Srpska is not an adjective in this context, but a noun, rather like Poljska or Češka. It is usually left untranslated in English (including in the Dayton Agreement, which translates Federation but not Republika), though the most accurate translation would be Republic of Srpska. 3eleni3ub (talk) 17:06, 20 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@3eleni3ub: You are right that "Srpska" is a noun, like "Češka/Česko". But, if Česko is translated as "Czech Republic", then Srpska should be "Serb Republic", isn't it? It seams like you are contradicting yourself. Vanjagenije (talk) 23:34, 20 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Češka is admittedly perhaps not the best example given the widespread use of ‘Czech Republic’ in English, though even in this case it would be wrong to call this a ‘literal’ translation. Češka corresponds far more closely to Czechia, also widely used in English.
Another example would be Kraljevina Norveška, which is the Kingdom of Norway, not the Norwegian Kingdom. On the other hand, Francuska Republika (note the word order here) can be translated as French Republic, as this corresponds to the official name République française.
I’m not too concerned about contradicting myself, but as the main body of the article already states that the ‘Serb Republic’ is a common mistranslation, we should avoid contradicting ourselves in the lede. 3eleni3ub (talk) 00:51, 21 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]