Warning, this subject is old (5842 days without answer)
antp
"Classe" in French
Well I wanted to write "Class"
antp
Ideally we should change it according to different language versions of the site,
Well, as Mercedes themselve use the "classe" name in their commercial documents, that's not very logical: would you see all "Citroën 15 Légère" as "Light Fifteen"? Or only the English ones?
G-MANN
"It would be like changing 'Jaguar Mk.VII' to 'Jaguar Ausf.7'...."
Well I don't think it's like that. Did people ever say "Jaguar Ausf.7"? I don't know. But nobody in Britain or America says "Mercedes S-Klasse".
Ideally we should change it according to different language versions of the site, but it doesn't bother me too much because at least "Klasse" is fairly similar to "Class".
antp
There are three possibilities:
- follow site language
- follow car's country language
- use original's car name
As the "klasse" name was used in ads etc. and translated, it is hard to justify that the original name should be used (which is the current solution, and which does not especially annoy me even if it is not the most logical).
Alexander said
It would be like changing 'Jaguar Mk.VII' to 'Jaguar Ausf.7' in German, or 'Citroën 2CV' to 'Citroën 2PS'
But as far as I know these cars were keeping their original name in other countries, didn't they?
G-MANN
Let me just say again, despite what Alexander said it would not be incorrect to change "Klasse" to "Class" for the English version of the site (it could still stay the same for the German version, couldn't it). Mercs sold in English-speaking countries are officially named "#-Class", that's what it says in adverts and such. I don't think it would take too much time to rename the entries, I'll help out and so could some other admins.
G-MANN
The term 'S-Klasse', short for 'Sonderklasse', was officially used for the first time with the introduction of the W116 in 1972. Before the top of the range models got the letter 'S' to indicate their upper class level. First in that row was the Mercedes-Benz 170 S [W136] from 1949. The W108/W109 model is in retrospective view being regarded as the first instance of what is today understood by the term 'S-Klasse'. Even Mercedes-Benz officials say that that is the first 'S-Klasse' without having the name.
So would it be OK for us to list the big Mercs from W116 onwards as "S-Klasse" by default (if it isn't possible to determine the exact engine size)?
G-MANN
Antoine, please don't change the word 'Klasse' according to the language used. That term is officially used by Mercedes-Benz and should stay like that. It would be like changing 'Jaguar Mk.VII' to 'Jaguar Ausf.7' in German, or 'Citroën 2CV' to 'Citroën 2PS'.
That's because Mercedes is a German company. "Klasse" is merely the German word for "Class" they mean exactly the same thing, except Klasse is pronounced "Classer". Nobody in the English-speaking world says "Mercedes S-Klasse", they say "Mercedes S-Class", that's how it appears in the English language advertisements and brochures that Mercedes produces.
But if it's too much bother to change this for the English version of the site, than I guess we can live with that.
antp
Antoine, please don't change the word 'Klasse' according to the language used. That term is officially used by Mercedes-Benz and should stay like that.
But they use it only in Germany and Netherlands... (and half of Belgium
)
Logically we should use the name used in the country from where the car is.
Anyway, it is not a problem for me to keep the current system
In the same way, the BMW should be named 3er, 5er, etc. Or "3-series" in US/UK, "série 3" in France, etc.
