I've always thought that the word "Robot" comes from Slovak "robota" (regular work, commonly used) instead of Czech word "robota" (forced labor, rarely used). It was explained to me by people from former Czechoslovakia that Karel had his brother Josef recovering from an illness in Tatra region of Slovakia in 1919 where people used the word all the time; Josef then suggested Karel to rename his originally intended "Laboři" (laborers) as "Roboti" (robots). BTW, they both were devastated by Munich Agreement 1938 and Josef later died in a concentration camp, so one could wonder what could have been...
Moreover, Rossum from R.U.R. is a word play on "rozum", which is a Czech/Slovak word for mind/brain. Mind's Universal Robots ;-)
I loved War with the Newts ( or as it was called in the Russian translation, War with the Salamanders). At the time I didn't even know sci-fi was a thing.
R.U.R. is a great quick read, and while some aspects are a bit dated, a lot of it is quite ahead of its time. Or perhaps I just feel that way due to way in which so many modern scifi stories (be it in books, tv, movies, games) were clearly influenced by this.
Either way, if you're into scifi, I consider this play required reading.
The article hints at this, but I thought it was interesting that Capek's robots, though mass-produced tools, were not mechanical: "There are descriptions of kneading-troughs for robot skin, great vats for liver and brains, and a factory for producing bones. Nerve fibers, arteries, and intestines are spun on factory bobbins, while the Robots themselves are assembled like automobiles." (Wikipedia.)
"The power of man has fallen. By gaining possession of the factory we have become masters of everything. The period of mankind has passed away. A new world has arisen. … Mankind is no more. Mankind gave us too little life. We wanted more life."
Karel Čapek's name is a perfect example of the ridiculous habit of English-speakers to preserve foreign spelling. As you'll notice, ‘Čapek’ isn't written in English, as ‘Č’ isn't a letter in English alphabet. Now, how many people in English-speaking countries know how to pronounce Czech letters? I've heard the name pronounced as ’Kahpek‘ or ‘Kaypek’ (e.g. right in the Librivox book linked in the thread). But it's actually [tʃapɛk], which would be better represented as ‘Chapek’.
Apparently, since English-speakers have no idea how to pronounce English words that they didn't memorize beforehand, they also gave up on the idea of representing foreign words phonemically. But they still keep trying to read them that way if they see vaguely-Latin alphabet.
I wouldn't attribute this to English or English speakers at all. Imagine I am Czech (I am) and my last name is "Gödel" (it is quite similar, and Kurt Gödel was actually born in what is now Czechia). Such a name has at least three pronunciations which are relevant to me -- the way Czechs themselves pronounce it [Ge:dl], the way Germans do [ɡøːdl̩], and the way an English speaker would [ˈɡɜːrdəl].
Can you really say the Czech pronunciation is correct because I am Czech? Or the German one, because it is a last name of German origin? If so, are all the people in my native country mispronouncing my last name? :-)
The response to that is more education and more curiosity. Pronouncing <cz> as /tʃ/ is no more obvious than the reading of <č> except in the word Czech because of how common it is. But the advantage of using the original graphy is (1) it's more respectful to the original, (2) it can motivate people to search about it and learn stuffs because it is unusual.
As an aside, I would love that more scientific papers use original names in their original scripts in the references section in addition to transcription, the way Knuth does it in tAoCP.
On the other hand Arabic names do get transcribed and as a consequence you can find like 15 different spellings of Al-Qaida. At least you can write it whichever way you want
Inconsistent localization of names and people struggling with pronunciation an unfamiliar glyph is not a problem unique to English native speakers.
As a counterpoint foreign names - let's say Serena Williams - can get sort of inconsistently mangled in Czech too. Sometimes it'll be left alone as "Serena Williams", sometimes localized "Serena Williamsova". And the sometimes the "W" might be pronounced correctly or mistakenly pronounced as "V".
Nobody's perfect, people make mistakes and if you are able to suggest a correction then most people are happy to learn the "correct" way.
The general rule of thumb is not to transliterate names written in Latin sript, but to transliterate those not written in Latin script (e.g., Cyrillic, Arabic).
The annoying habits are people who preserve the basic acute, grave, diaeresis, and circumflex accents on vowels but not those in other contexts (such as the Turkish ǧ, which really changes how the word is pronounced)--The Economist is a.bad offender here.
Well let's see what do Czech people do when they encounter English names. It seems like they learn about how to pronounce them in English. So why should the vice-versa be any different?
I couldn't disagree more. Literally no one has a problem pronouncing yet another great Czech: Dvořák. And I defy you to turn that into a phonetical spelling that isn't a abomination upon church and Christ.
We shouldn't be afraid of asking too much of people in regards to other cultures and languages. We humans are more intelligent than you're giving us credit for.
[+] [-] bitL|6 years ago|reply
Moreover, Rossum from R.U.R. is a word play on "rozum", which is a Czech/Slovak word for mind/brain. Mind's Universal Robots ;-)
[+] [-] yorwba|6 years ago|reply
There's also an audiobook available from LibriVox: https://librivox.org/rur-rossums-universal-robots-by-karel-c...
[+] [-] pavel_lishin|6 years ago|reply
(For example: Omnics in Overwatch, Synths in Fallout.)
[+] [-] PhasmaFelis|6 years ago|reply
But yeah, there's a lot to say about sci-fi/fantasy settings that give special names to well-worn setting concepts!
[+] [-] zepn|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sorokod|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ableal|6 years ago|reply
(The pantheists were right, and the new matter to energy conversion plants liberate "The Absolute". Hilarity ensues.)
[+] [-] joemi|6 years ago|reply
Either way, if you're into scifi, I consider this play required reading.
[+] [-] PhasmaFelis|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Animats|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lidHanteyk|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aasasd|6 years ago|reply
Apparently, since English-speakers have no idea how to pronounce English words that they didn't memorize beforehand, they also gave up on the idea of representing foreign words phonemically. But they still keep trying to read them that way if they see vaguely-Latin alphabet.
[+] [-] NotOscarWilde|6 years ago|reply
Can you really say the Czech pronunciation is correct because I am Czech? Or the German one, because it is a last name of German origin? If so, are all the people in my native country mispronouncing my last name? :-)
[+] [-] tasogare|6 years ago|reply
As an aside, I would love that more scientific papers use original names in their original scripts in the references section in addition to transcription, the way Knuth does it in tAoCP.
[+] [-] i_am_proteus|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yread|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smcl|6 years ago|reply
As a counterpoint foreign names - let's say Serena Williams - can get sort of inconsistently mangled in Czech too. Sometimes it'll be left alone as "Serena Williams", sometimes localized "Serena Williamsova". And the sometimes the "W" might be pronounced correctly or mistakenly pronounced as "V".
Nobody's perfect, people make mistakes and if you are able to suggest a correction then most people are happy to learn the "correct" way.
[+] [-] jcranmer|6 years ago|reply
The annoying habits are people who preserve the basic acute, grave, diaeresis, and circumflex accents on vowels but not those in other contexts (such as the Turkish ǧ, which really changes how the word is pronounced)--The Economist is a.bad offender here.
[+] [-] trickstra|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] billfruit|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] david927|6 years ago|reply
We shouldn't be afraid of asking too much of people in regards to other cultures and languages. We humans are more intelligent than you're giving us credit for.