Er... Unless everything I've read and heard so far was wrong, including The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/b) and the Foreign Office (http://digitaldiplomacy.fco.gov.uk/en/guidance/content/editorial/style/uk-britain), "Britain" is synonymous with the UK as a political unit. (Which is why Northern Ireland residents are officially British - whether that title is appropriate or not is a different issue.) I'm not British so I might be wrong, but I'm not going to argue with the UK Foreign Office.
Nevertheless: Igirisu = a popular, sort of informal shorthand for "United Kingdom" = Britain. (The formal/official shorthand is Eikoku, which is used by the British Embassy, but at Wikipedia even Eikoku redirects to Igirisu.) Himaruya said that he was the UK/Britain (pick one). In the manga all characters call him Igirisu, all the time, even Sealand. Even in early medieval times when he's just England. As well as simplicity, I think this also has to do with his historical strips being the history of the UK and not just England, but my understanding of the Japanese treatment of UK history is shaky to say the least so I'm not sure about this. (However, don't forget that when he first meets little America, he's already England and Wales, called England because Wales was regarded as a part of the Kingdom of England after England conquered it in the late 13th century, which is why it's not represented on the Union Flag. So...)
Yes, those pictures say "England," but they also depict him with the Union Flag. Himaruya always depicts him with the Union Flag, too, except for the football strip and the one where he destroys Spain's Armada - both for obvious reasons. And seeing how many people say "England" when referring to the UK, either because they don't know that it's incorrect or because they're lazy and think it's okay because it's informal usage... well, yeah. Btw, to my best knowledge most languages have a word for the UK - French, Russian, Spanish, German and Italian definitely do, and yet in volume 3 they said England while other languages said UK. (I actually laughed at Hungarian, of all languages, being correct because in Hungary "Great Britain" is the most widely used term for the entire UK, even though we have a term for "United Kingdom." It just sounds way too formal.)
Anyway, I'm not trying to say he's not England, he obviously is. I'm trying to argue that going by canon and Word of Himaruya, he is also Britain/the UK (pick one) by virtue of him representing the entire state, even during various stages of its development, and as such, the translator was right to call him Britain. The backlash is inevitable, anyway - "Britain" will have backlash in historical strips, but "England" would have backlash in strips set after the Act of Union.
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Date: 2010-07-14 05:19 pm (UTC)Nevertheless: Igirisu = a popular, sort of informal shorthand for "United Kingdom" = Britain. (The formal/official shorthand is Eikoku, which is used by the British Embassy, but at Wikipedia even Eikoku redirects to Igirisu.) Himaruya said that he was the UK/Britain (pick one). In the manga all characters call him Igirisu, all the time, even Sealand. Even in early medieval times when he's just England. As well as simplicity, I think this also has to do with his historical strips being the history of the UK and not just England, but my understanding of the Japanese treatment of UK history is shaky to say the least so I'm not sure about this. (However, don't forget that when he first meets little America, he's already England and Wales, called England because Wales was regarded as a part of the Kingdom of England after England conquered it in the late 13th century, which is why it's not represented on the Union Flag. So...)
Yes, those pictures say "England," but they also depict him with the Union Flag. Himaruya always depicts him with the Union Flag, too, except for the football strip and the one where he destroys Spain's Armada - both for obvious reasons. And seeing how many people say "England" when referring to the UK, either because they don't know that it's incorrect or because they're lazy and think it's okay because it's informal usage... well, yeah. Btw, to my best knowledge most languages have a word for the UK - French, Russian, Spanish, German and Italian definitely do, and yet in volume 3 they said England while other languages said UK. (I actually laughed at Hungarian, of all languages, being correct because in Hungary "Great Britain" is the most widely used term for the entire UK, even though we have a term for "United Kingdom." It just sounds way too formal.)
Anyway, I'm not trying to say he's not England, he obviously is. I'm trying to argue that going by canon and Word of Himaruya, he is also Britain/the UK (pick one) by virtue of him representing the entire state, even during various stages of its development, and as such, the translator was right to call him Britain. The backlash is inevitable, anyway - "Britain" will have backlash in historical strips, but "England" would have backlash in strips set after the Act of Union.