Question for my Latin American Friends

[Breakwood]

I've seen some jerseys in MLB and the NBA that target the Latin American demographic by adding Los before the nickname. Sometimes they keep the nickname in English (Los Lakers) and sometimes they change it to Spanish (Los Cerveceros).

Now I'm curious as to why they seem to pick an choose. In hockey in Quebec, the only two teams that have names in French are the Canadiens (only in french, and the Senators, who become Les Senateurs). All the other teams in the league go by their English name, no matter how easy it would be to translate. Example: The St. Louis Blues become Les Blues de Saint-Louis, instead of Les Bleus de Saint-Louis. The reason for this is because of trade-marks. Only Montreal and Ottawa have their names trademarked in French.

I remember a couple years ago, going on vacation to the Dominican Republic and watching Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN Dos, and they were advertising the game using Spanish nicknames. I believe it was Los Gigantes vs. Los Fillies. (obviously San Fran vs. Philly). But then today I was watching some highlights on the ESPN Deportes website, and they were using English names like Blue Jays and Red Sox.

So my question is if there is any rule as to what language the nickname is used in? Is it just whatever the announcer feels like? Just a questions that's been annoying me.

[arr1023]

I've seen some jerseys in MLB and the NBA that target the Latin American demographic by adding Los before the nickname. Sometimes they keep the nickname in English (Los Lakers) and sometimes they change it to Spanish (Los Cerveceros).

Now I'm curious as to why they seem to pick an choose. In hockey in Quebec, the only two teams that have names in French are the Canadiens (only in french, and the Senators, who become Les Senateurs). All the other teams in the league go by their English name, no matter how easy it would be to translate. Example: The St. Louis Blues become Les Blues de Saint-Louis, instead of Les Bleus de Saint-Louis. The reason for this is because of trade-marks. Only Montreal and Ottawa have their names trademarked in French.

I remember a couple years ago, going on vacation to the Dominican Republic and watching Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN Dos, and they were advertising the game using Spanish nicknames. I believe it was Los Gigantes vs. Los Fillies. (obviously San Fran vs. Philly). But then today I was watching some highlights on the ESPN Deportes website, and they were using English names like Blue Jays and Red Sox.

So my question is if there is any rule as to what language the nickname is used in? Is it just whatever the announcer feels like? Just a questions that's been annoying me.

When I talk to my other spanish speaking friends I always call teams by just using "Los" in front of their name because we don't like changing the names, like "Los Lakers". I wouldn't even know how to translate some team names, and if I did, the person who I was talking to would probably not know what I'm talking about.

If you're name was Michael, I wouldn't call you Miguel, that's not your name.

[Sport]

I've seen some jerseys in MLB and the NBA that target the Latin American demographic by adding Los before the nickname. Sometimes they keep the nickname in English (Los Lakers) and sometimes they change it to Spanish (Los Cerveceros).

Now I'm curious as to why they seem to pick an choose. In hockey in Quebec, the only two teams that have names in French are the Canadiens (only in french, and the Senators, who become Les Senateurs). All the other teams in the league go by their English name, no matter how easy it would be to translate. Example: The St. Louis Blues become Les Blues de Saint-Louis, instead of Les Bleus de Saint-Louis. The reason for this is because of trade-marks. Only Montreal and Ottawa have their names trademarked in French.

I remember a couple years ago, going on vacation to the Dominican Republic and watching Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN Dos, and they were advertising the game using Spanish nicknames. I believe it was Los Gigantes vs. Los Fillies. (obviously San Fran vs. Philly). But then today I was watching some highlights on the ESPN Deportes website, and they were using English names like Blue Jays and Red Sox.

So my question is if there is any rule as to what language the nickname is used in? Is it just whatever the announcer feels like? Just a questions that's been annoying me.

When I talk to my other spanish speaking friends I always call teams by just using "Los" in front of their name because we don't like changing the names, like "Los Lakers". I wouldn't even know how to translate some team names, and if I did, the person who I was talking to would probably not know what I'm talking about.

If you're name was Michael, I wouldn't call you Miguel, that's not your name.

This is why I've always found it odd that we (english speakers) have english translations for country and place names. Why do we say "Italy" when the actual italians say "Italia"? That's their name, who are we to change it?

[sc49erfan15]

This is why I've always found it odd that we (english speakers) have english translations for country and place names. Why do we say "Italy" when the actual italians say "Italia"? That's their name, who are we to change it?

Pretty much every language does that. It's not exclusive to English.

We're "Estados Unidos" or "EEUU" in Spanish. Germany is "Alemania," etc.