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This article has been revised as part of a large-scale clean-up project of multiple article copyright infringement. (See Sisiluncai) Earlier text must not be restored, unless it can be verified to be free of infringement. For legal reasons, Wikipedia cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or printed material; such additions must be deleted. Contributors may use sources as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences or phrases. Accordingly, the material may be rewritten, but only if it does not infringe on the copyright of the original or plagiarize from that source. Please see our guideline on non-free text for how to properly implement limited quotations of copyrighted text. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously. -- Mkativerata ( talk) 22:28, 12 June 2010 (UTC)
A few suggested improvements:
EenJavaanseChinese ( talk) —Preceding undated comment added 15:04, 23 September 2016 (UTC)
The result of the move request was: moved. ( non-admin closure) JudgeRM (talk to me) 17:30, 16 January 2017 (UTC)
Kapitan China → Kapitan Cina – It's a Malay language title, not an English title (anyway, a more correct English translation would be 'Captain of the Chinese'. The Malay form is more commonly used in academic and other written sources in English. On google, "Kapitan Cina" yields 15,400 results, while "Kapitan China" yields only 6,540 results. On Google News, "Kapitan Cina" yields 82 results, while "Kapitan China" only 43 results. And on Google Books, "Kapitan Cina" has 2,400 results, while "Kapitan China" only 2,070 results. 180.252.44.222 ( talk) 06:21, 9 January 2017 (UTC)
1. US writers also show a preference for "Kapitan Cina", see: my Google Books Ngram search in American English
2. Google Search results should also be taken into account as they indicate that contemporary and common practice favours "Kapitan Cina"
3. "Kapitan China" is misleading as the title 'Kapitan' refers to administrative authority over local Chinese people, not over China. The Indonesian and Malaysian languages use the word 'CIna' to refer both to the Chinese people and China, but native speakers would understand the historic and cultural context of "Kapitan Cina" as referring to a headman of local Chinese, rather than a leader of China. The hybrid form "Kapitan China" brings into English the ambiguity of the Indonesian and Malaysian versions without the historic and cultural context to clarify the intended meaning of the title. And frankly, to me it reminds me too much of "Captain America".
4. And most importantly, English language references to the office during the colonial era were not standardised: "Kapitan China" could be found as readily as "Capitan China", "Chinese Captain", "Captain China", "Captain of the Chinese" and various variations thereof. In fact, older sources on Google Books Ngram seem to favour "Capitan China". It's clear that today there's no accepted standardised version of the title in English either. This sharply contrasts with the situation in Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia, where "Kapitan Cina" has become the standardised spelling. Both the Malaysian and Indonesian versions of this article use the spelling "Kapitan Cina". As "Kapitan Cina" is as much used as "Kapitan China" in English, and in certain cases (e.g., American English) more so; and as there is no official guideline from any English language authority on which version is preferred, I think it makes sense to use the accepted standardised spelling in Malaysia and Indonesia. I think we should use "Kapitan Cina" for the sake of uniformity between the English, Malaysian and Indonesian versions of this article, to acknowledge the foreign origin of the title, and to avoid the ambiguity that false familiarity ("Kapitan China") might create among English language readers.
This article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This article has been revised as part of a large-scale clean-up project of multiple article copyright infringement. (See Sisiluncai) Earlier text must not be restored, unless it can be verified to be free of infringement. For legal reasons, Wikipedia cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or printed material; such additions must be deleted. Contributors may use sources as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences or phrases. Accordingly, the material may be rewritten, but only if it does not infringe on the copyright of the original or plagiarize from that source. Please see our guideline on non-free text for how to properly implement limited quotations of copyrighted text. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously. -- Mkativerata ( talk) 22:28, 12 June 2010 (UTC)
A few suggested improvements:
EenJavaanseChinese ( talk) —Preceding undated comment added 15:04, 23 September 2016 (UTC)
The result of the move request was: moved. ( non-admin closure) JudgeRM (talk to me) 17:30, 16 January 2017 (UTC)
Kapitan China → Kapitan Cina – It's a Malay language title, not an English title (anyway, a more correct English translation would be 'Captain of the Chinese'. The Malay form is more commonly used in academic and other written sources in English. On google, "Kapitan Cina" yields 15,400 results, while "Kapitan China" yields only 6,540 results. On Google News, "Kapitan Cina" yields 82 results, while "Kapitan China" only 43 results. And on Google Books, "Kapitan Cina" has 2,400 results, while "Kapitan China" only 2,070 results. 180.252.44.222 ( talk) 06:21, 9 January 2017 (UTC)
1. US writers also show a preference for "Kapitan Cina", see: my Google Books Ngram search in American English
2. Google Search results should also be taken into account as they indicate that contemporary and common practice favours "Kapitan Cina"
3. "Kapitan China" is misleading as the title 'Kapitan' refers to administrative authority over local Chinese people, not over China. The Indonesian and Malaysian languages use the word 'CIna' to refer both to the Chinese people and China, but native speakers would understand the historic and cultural context of "Kapitan Cina" as referring to a headman of local Chinese, rather than a leader of China. The hybrid form "Kapitan China" brings into English the ambiguity of the Indonesian and Malaysian versions without the historic and cultural context to clarify the intended meaning of the title. And frankly, to me it reminds me too much of "Captain America".
4. And most importantly, English language references to the office during the colonial era were not standardised: "Kapitan China" could be found as readily as "Capitan China", "Chinese Captain", "Captain China", "Captain of the Chinese" and various variations thereof. In fact, older sources on Google Books Ngram seem to favour "Capitan China". It's clear that today there's no accepted standardised version of the title in English either. This sharply contrasts with the situation in Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia, where "Kapitan Cina" has become the standardised spelling. Both the Malaysian and Indonesian versions of this article use the spelling "Kapitan Cina". As "Kapitan Cina" is as much used as "Kapitan China" in English, and in certain cases (e.g., American English) more so; and as there is no official guideline from any English language authority on which version is preferred, I think it makes sense to use the accepted standardised spelling in Malaysia and Indonesia. I think we should use "Kapitan Cina" for the sake of uniformity between the English, Malaysian and Indonesian versions of this article, to acknowledge the foreign origin of the title, and to avoid the ambiguity that false familiarity ("Kapitan China") might create among English language readers.