It's a shame that some of your readers continue to threaten you or give you ultimatums about how to spell things in English rather than making a reasoned case. So, some Balts want English language-newspapers to use parts of their alphabets when writing proper names, whether or not those symbols have any meaning in English. In what other printed languages should this occur?
Using exaggeration to make my point, should the Chinese newspapers switch to Latvian alphabet when spelling "Riga"? Would it make sense for Diena to use Chinese symbols to spell "Beijing"? In what languages do people want to draw the line?
While appearance is important and can be very charming, this is really about conveying meaning in the best way to readers. In English, not everyone knows what "i" means or how to pronounce it, and why do we want them to guess?
I prefer to have a consistent way of spelling proper names in other alphabets and languages, which insures communication of pronunciation and meaning. That way we have one way to spell Beijing in English, correctly, and not so many different ways to spell Gaddafi/Khadafy/ Qadhafi.
Robert Ross
Riga
