Slaughter on Wikipedia Avenue: A Multilingual Journey Through Les Villes Jumelles.
Just for fun, read the Wikipedia articles written in other languages for the city you live in sometime. See how the information aligns with your own experiences living in the city, and how it aligns with your own perceptions of how your city might be perceived by native speakers of those languages.
For example, in the entry for Minneapolis, note that the Germans lightly scold us for our inefficient mass transit:
Im Vergleich zu anderen Metropolregionen der Vereinigten Staaten gilt der Personennahverkehr als unmodern und ineffizient. Es konnte in der Vergangenheit nicht mit dem Wachstum und dem gesteigerten Mobilitätsbedürfnis der Region mithalten.
Compared to other metropolitan regions of the United States of transport is considered old-fashioned and inefficient. In the past [they] did not keep up with the growth and the increased need for mobility in the region.
The French take a more lenient stance:
Beaucoup d’habitants utilisent pour leurs déplacements les transports en commun ou les taxis. Pour la plupart d’entre eux, ceci fait suite à un choix financier tandis que d’autres préfèrent substituer l’automobile par le vélo ou la marche.
Many residents travel by public transport or taxis. For most of them, this follows a financial choice, while others prefer to replace the automobile by cycling or walking.
The Dutch don’t have a lot to say about transit, but they do include this fascinating target-shaped map, which doesn’t appear in any other language’s Wikipedia. It amuses me to know a Dutch Wikipedia reader can easily visualize the distance between downtown Minneapolis and Lauderdale, a town perhaps best-known for being home to one of the more notable speed traps on 35W.
The Spanish language entry is fairly brief, but does note two interesting facts heretofore unknown to me. One, the Spanish language spelling is Mineápolis, with one n and an accent mark on the a, something I have never seen before, despite living in a heavily Spanish-speaking neighborhood (although often you do hear references on Spanish language commercial radio to “Mineápolis y San Pablo”). And two, a native of Minneapolis is known as un/una Minneapolitano/a. With two n’s.
Unsurprisingly, Norwegian Wikipedia points out this well-known fact:
Minneapolis regnes for en av de mest «norske» byer i USA, fordi et stort antall norske immigranter bosatte seg i Minnesota, ikke minst sør og vest i delstaten. I Minnesota ligger hovedkontoret til Sons of Norway (på West Lake Street) og dessuten American-Swedish Institute. I sør ligger en egen norsk kirke (Mindekirken) med prest utsendt fra Norge. Norsk-ættede amerikanere feirer Grunnlovsdagen hvert år i blant annet Loring Park.
Minneapolis is considered one of the most “Norwegian” cities in the U.S., because a large number of Norwegian immigrants settled in Minnesota, especially south and west in the state. In Minnesota, the main office of the Sons of Norway (on West Lake Street) as well as American-Swedish Institute. In the south is a Norwegian Church ( Memorial Church ) with a priest sent from Norway. Norwegian-Americans celebrate Constitution Day every year, for example, in Loring Park.
The Swedes don’t feel similarly compelled to point out any ancestral ties, but the Swedish-language entry does include this curious assertion:
The Replacements och Husker Du anses ofta vara första vågens punkrocksband som härstammar från Minneapolis, en genre som har återuppväckts av nya hardcore-punkband såsom Set Your Goals och the Grunge-influerade Slaughter on Penn Ave.
The Replacements and Husker Du are often considered to be the first-wave punk band that originated from Minneapolis, a genre that has been resurrected by new hardcore punk bands like Set Your Goals and the grunge-influenced Slaughter on Penn Ave.
Who?? According to (English-language) Wikipedia, Set Your Goals are a band from San Francisco, and Slaughter on Penn Ave. are apparently an “American Punk Rock” band from Minneapolis that are described as being “a cult favorite by many people in and around the Minneapolis music scene and particularly high school teenagers.” Very good, but how did they get in the Swedish-language Wikipedia entry on Minneapolis? Maybe they are a cult favorite by Swedish high school teenagers, too.
