Bildung und Gebrauch der deutschen und polnischen Toponyme und Probleme bei deren gegenseitiger Wiedergabe

Every translator is often confronted with the problem of translatability of proper names, which include geographical names called toponyms (i.e. choronyms, proper toponyms, urbanonyms, hydronyms and oronyms). German and Polish toponyms differ from each other in gender and number as well as in spelling and the order of components. Many differences in the creation of toponyms result from the different ways of thinking in the two nations. Before translating these lexical units, we should first consider whether they can be translated at all, and if so, how to do it, and what criteria should be applied. The (un)translatability of toponyms is strongly conditioned by culture, history, politics, and of course topography itself, which is shown in this article by means of an example of selected groups of Polish and German geographic names. In official documents, where the criterion of comprehensibility is decisive, foreign language equivalents of toponyms are generally used, provided such equivalents exist. Some toponyms have to be modified in translation to make them more precise or to clarify their meaning. Toponyms that are typical of a country or culture and have no foreign language equivalents are usually not translated, but preserve their original form in the translated texts. In order to convey their meaning, foreign language generic names are usually added before them.