August 2, 2016

Allan Stevo

A few weeks ago I was on the excellent freelancer search website Elance. On the website I was looking to get the attention of someone with Slovak, Polish, or Czech language ability.

I noticed that Elance recognizes the languages as Polish, Czech, and Slovakian, rather than Polish, Czech, and Slovak. The later – Slovak – is a significantly more correct term than the former – Slovakian and for at least four reasons.

1. Consistency

Why say Czech and then say Slovakian? Why say Polish and then Slovakian? No one other than those poorly educated in the English language would ever say Czechian or Polishian.

2. Economy

Why say Slovakian when Slovak gets the point across just as well? Adding extra letters to English to make Englishian is not a useful or accepted option. It would merely be an unnecessarily uneconomical use of letters.

3. Internationalism

The word Slovak means something in the Slovak language. Slovakian means nothing. The word Czech similarly means something in the Czech language, whereas the word Czechian means nothing.

4. Sleek

The word Slovakian is much more cumbersome than the sleeker word Slovak. Plus ending with a K is cool. It’s more unique as well by being an irregular word.

Do you prefer to use Slovak or Slovakian in English? Why? What good arguments do you have either way? Which do you tend to hear?

Allan Stevo writes on Slovak culture at www.52inSk.com. He is from Chicago and spends most of his time traveling Europe and writing. You can find more of his writing at www.AllanStevo.com. If you enjoyed this post, please use the buttons below to like it on Facebook or to share it with your friends by email. You can sign up for emails on Slovak culture from 52 Weeks in Slovakia by clicking here.