Turin vs. Torino

One of the questions we have been asked is about the "real" name of the city that will host the upcoming Olympic Games. In fact, my mom sent out her holiday letter with Turin being the city and people asked me if she needed some help with spelling. So to put this issue to bed - well, sort of - I wanted you all to see the following article. Enjoy.

Turin or Torino? It's all Italian to some
Opinions mixed on what to call Olympic city
By NANCY ARMOUR
The Associated Press

Turin or Torino? It's the Olympic version of "You say tomato, I say tomahto."

The city in northern Italy that's hosting the Winter Olympics next month is "Torino" to the locals and NBC. For most of us non-Italians, it's always been Turin.

The explanation for the different versions is simple.

Sort of.

"Turin is the English translation of the Italian word Torino,"said Clara Orban, a professor of Italian at DePaul University. "Standard practice in the United States is if a city name has been translated differently, go with the English translation."

That's what The Associated Press is doing. Its policy - and it was around long before Turin was awarded the Olympic Games - is to use the English version of foreign cities. It's Rome, not Roma. Munich, not Muenchen. Moscow instead of Mockba or Moskva.

"We use Turin in accordance with our long-standing style to use English names on English-language wires," said Terry Taylor, AP sports editor. "It's the Shroud of Turin, for instance, not the Shroud of Torino. And when the World Cup comes to Germany this summer, we will write that games will be played in Munich, not Muenchen.

"Of course, in the interest of accuracy, we will not Anglicize the name in full references to the Olympic organizing committee, which uses Torino, and we will not change Torino to Turin in quotations."

Even the Italians go with English translations sometimes. One of their top soccer teams is AC Milan, not AC Milano, and it's supposedly because when the club was founded, the namers wanted to stick with the sport's English roots.

So why the linguistic confusion?

The official name of the games is "Torino 2006," and the International Olympic Committee refers to the city by its Italian name. When the games were awarded in June 1999, then-IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch announced, "The hosts of the 2006 Games will be Torino."

After NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol took a trip to Turin, he decided the network would go with Torino, too. NBC has the U.S. broadcast rights to the games.

"Dick was hearing the way the locals were saying Torino, and how it's so magnificently Italian how it rolls off the tongue," said Mike McCarley, vice president of communications and marketing for NBC Sports. "He decided on that trip that we would call it Torino."

USA Today also went with Torino because that is the official name, said Monte Lorell, the paper's managing editor for sports.

"We had to decide what is the least confusing to our readers. You could say the Torino Olympics in Turin, but that just leads to confusion," Lorell said. "We decided to just make it uniform all the way throughout.

"I feel a little bit better that NBC is using Torino," Lorell said, "because that's what readers will be seeing on TV."

So, Turin or Torino.

Either way, the Winter Olympics will simply call the city home next month.

"I think," Jolly said, "people will be able to figure it out."

Until they do, confusion is sure to be the rule.