Talk:Strugglers for the Unity and Freedom of al-Sham
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[edit] Name
It seems a bit odd to translate almost the whole of the long name for this organisation into English, but to leave out the final word "al-Sham". Such practice inevitably promotes alienation in the many readers who don't recognise the reference. Another example occurs when an American journalist who whould never include the statement "Pierre was praying to Dieu" consistently refer to Arabs praying to Allah. (For those who don't know, Arab Christians also pray to Allah; and Jesus used a close Aramaic cognate).
The only possible justification I can see for naming the group this way is that al-Sham under some circumstances could be ambiguous, meaning either Syria or Levant. In this case however, it is unmistakeably the latter meaning, as the group indentifies itself with Syria's role in Lebanon. I therefore have in mind to change the reference. In keeping with my usual practice, I'd like to first give other readers time to react.
--Philopedia (talk) 22:31, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
