[SlovLit] Fw: The spelling of "euro" in Slovenian

[Miran]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Marko Jesenšek" <marko.jesensek na uni-mb.si>
To: "'Miran'" <miran.hladnik na guest.arnes.si>
Sent: Sunday, November 07, 2004 7:14 AM
Subject: FW: The spelling of "euro" in Slovenian


Miran, v vednost, nisem še uspel odgovoriti, lahko pa mu posredujemo
vse, kar si objavil na Tvojemlitu. [...] Marko

-----Original Message-----
From: Aino Piehl [mailto:apiehl na kotus.fi]
Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2004 2:31 PM
To: marko.jesensek na uni-mb.si
Subject: The spelling of "euro" in Slovenian

Dear Mr. Jesensek,

I would be very grateful for all information I can get about the
spelling and usage of the word "euro" in Slovenian. I know that there
has been a dispute about how the word is written in the Constitution of
the EU. Has there been a public discussion about this in Slovenia? Which
spelling have You decided to use, or are there several opinions?

Of course, there is nothing to be done now about the EU constitution: it
is printed with "euro" in all language versions. But I think the madness
should end there, and all languages should be able to use their own
spelling in other EU texts.

We had problems with the euro also in Finnish, because the printed text
on the notes is not correct according to the Finnish grammar either (nor
in French, Spanish or Portuguese, as You know). The matter was decided
by the officials of the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Finland. The
linguists were not consulted nor was there any discussion in the public
arena.

So we got new notes and coins with incorrect grammar. Still, there were
a few Finns who insisted that the word "euro" could not be declinated,
because it wasn't done on the notes and coins. There were others who
thought that we must follow the international (=English) practice in all
matters of euro in writing, and not our own.

My research institute Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus and our
telephone service got a lot of bewildered questions. We offered
co-operation to the ministry of Finance and they published a leaflet
about euro that contained besides other practical information, also
guidance about writing and spelling "euro". It was distributed to every
Finnish household. We put the guidelines also in the Internet, and it
was our most popular site for several months.

Best regards, Aino Piehl, senior researcher,
Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Research Institute for the Languages of
Finland)
www.kotus.fi