Robert Elz via tz said:
And of course we do the same to country names, Germany, Spain, Austria Ivory Coast, (even Russia I think, not sure about Ukraine).
And I kind of doubt that English is the only language/culture that does this, I seem to recall that in German, France, England (probably more) aren't the same as they are in English (or their native - but I picked France because that's the same in both EN and FR).
I happen to know that the Dutch for "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" is "England", possibly because they have their own United Kingdom.
I have absolutely no idea how Kyiv is supposed to be pronounced, and will keep pronouncing it as I do Kiev (which I think most English speakers do, otherwise no-one would know what they're talking about) - but I doubt that is very much related to how someone speaking Russian pronounces it.
BBC Radio 4 seems to be using something closer to "Keev" (as in "keep") than "Key-ev" these days. -- Clive D.W. Feather | If you lie to the compiler, Email: clive@davros.org | it will get its revenge. Web: http://www.davros.org | - Henry Spencer Mobile: +44 7973 377646