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Archive 1Archive 2Archive 3→Archive 5

I am not sure that is the Valencian flag. I thought the flag had the crest with the crown and the bats?


By "Mistery Play" do you by chance mean mystery play, or is this something different? -- April


Is it historically the "Valencian Country"? I think it would be more accurate to say "Kingdom of Valencia" as an historical name. Has it been officially called "Valencian Country" at any point of the past?

I think not. Kingdom of Valencia is more correct. Valencian Country is a recent name, which was coined, I think, to parallel Basque Country and because Valencia is the only community which has to state its community status in the name. User:Marco Neves

It isn't a recent name. Under the 2d Spanish Republic, near 1936, there was a project of an autonomous community, and the official name would be Valencian Country. But, as we all already know, in this year started the Spanish Civil War, and this project never has been achieved. Before of this autonomous project, the name of Valencian Country is already used by a lot of valencian writers in catalan language, and the catalan-speaker people still say País Valencià or more simply València, but never Valencian Community, that's used by spanish-speakers --Martorell 19:16, 9 Sep 2004 (UTC)

You say "there was a project" "the name would be". That's crap. The OFFICIAL name is Comunidad Valenciana/Comunitat Valenciana, as is stated in the last statut, as choose by the great mayority of the people of Valencia in FREE ELECTIONS. This is an encyclopedia and deals with TRUE FACTS, not your dreams.



The name País Valencià (Valencian country) has never been official in any way but it has long been the informal name the Valencians themselves apply to their land (at least during 20th century).

The name Kingdom of Valencia is historically accurate til 1715 Decreto de Nueva Planta.

The name Comunidad Valenciana is a legalese invention of the 1980s.

You may roughly compare the respective usage with Google searches.

  • "comunidad valenciana" circa 159,000 (Spanish)
  • "pais valencia" circa 40,000 (Catalan)
  • "comunitat valenciana" circa 28,700 (Catalan)
  • "pais valenciano" circa 8,300 (Spanish)
  • "valencian community" circa 6,200 (English)
  • "valencian country" circa 5,000 (English)
  • "reino de valencia" circa 3,700 (Spanish)
  • "regne de valencia" circa 1,800 (Catalan)
  • "kingdom of valencia" circa 1,000 (English)
  • "valencian kingdom" less than 100 (English)

Some things become apparent:

  • As previsible, the number of hits in Spanish is higher than the number of hits in Catalan or English.
  • The huge advantage of "comunidad valenciana" shows this is the term widely used in Spanish now.
  • There is a preference for "pais valencia" in Catalan.
Just like it is not uncommon to see the expression països catalans to refer to Catalan-speaking regions (the usage is similar to la Francophonie in French). — Miguel 07:18, 2004 May 23 (UTC)

Although a Google search may show the current popularity of some denominations, it has nothing to do with actual historical accuracy. Therefore, I think that the sentence It is historically the Valencian Country should be changed in order to reflect the fact that "Valencian Country" is not an historical name, but a name that is currently in wide use.

The Autonomous Community locator map does not include the exclave of Valencia between Aragon and Castilla-la Mancha. (See [1]). Maybe someone could update the map? — Miguel 07:18, 2004 May 23 (UTC)

Hi people! I'm a valencian citizen, and living in Alacant (spanish Alicante). My english language skin is low, but I'm wondered to help anyone to add information about the Valencian Country and anything related to it. I'm also participating a lot in the catalan version of the wikipedia, and you can get info from there about the Valencian Country in catalan Bon vent! --Martorell 19:01, 9 Sep 2004 (UTC)

About Community or Country

Please, let's stop to think... what does mean the word "community" in english? And what does mean the word "region" or "country"? Have these the same meaning? According to Cambridge English online dictionary, following here are the meanings:

community: the people living in one particular area or people who are considered as a unit because of their common interests, background or nationality:

He's well-known in the local community.
There's a large black/white/Jewish community living in this area.
Her speech caused outrage among the gay community.
Drug trafficking is a matter of considerable concern for the entire international community (= all the countries of the world).
There's a real sense of community (= caring and friendly feeling) in this neighbourhood.

country: (POLITICAL UNIT) an area of land that has its own government, army, etc.

region: a particular area or part of the world, of the body, etc., or any of the large official areas into which a country is divided:

the semi-desert regions of Australia
the Birmingham region

In order of these meaning, I think that saying "Valencian Community" as name of the article is incorrect, because here we aren't explaining about valencian people who lives in all the world (such as the jews), or without a region with oficial borders (such as the people of the Kurdistan). Whe are talking about an autonomous land into Spain, altough its official name is Comunitat Valenciana, but there isn't any official english name, and so we are free to write english correctly. In fact, in the catalan wikipedia the name of the same article is País Valencià (Valencian Country) because it's the correct meaning and common word in catalan, altough into the article it explains wich is the official name with no problem.

So it would be more correctly if the name of article was "Valencian Country or "Valencian Region". The choice depends of the point of view. My point of view is that the Comunitat Valenciana has an autonomous government with a large and wide governamental competences transfered from Madrid Government, and the Spanish Constitution says that Spain is composed by regions and nationalities. Valencian Kingdom was an independent nation until 1707. In order of the meaning of country from Cambridge's English Dictionary, I think that Valencian Country is the most correct choice.

So, if anyone is disappointed, i will rename the name of the article after a week (deadtime: near Setember 16th).

--Martorell 20:13, 9 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Another English word you might want to consider is "commonwealth". Morphologically, it is closer to the word "comunitat" than "region" or "country.

If you move the article make sure you do it properly so as to preserve the edit history, and that you create a redirect from the old name to the new name.

— Miguel 22:04, 2004 Sep 9 (UTC)

"Community" is obviously a misnomer and stupid-sounding, but it's just as bad in Catalan and Spanish, so it's a good translation. Leave it until the Spanish government changes it. Chameleon 04:44, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I've seen that people here has searched for number of results in google in every name in catalan in spanish, but not in english. So I've done it, and here is the table:

Name Results
Valencian Community 15.400
Valencian Country 7.800
Region of Valencia 2,870
Kingdom of Valencia 2,290
Valencian Region 837
Land of Valencia 578
Valencian land 137
Valencian Kingdom 94
Country of Valencia 18

About the opinion of Chamaleon, I think that making literal translations isn't the best way, it isn't any official name in english, and it must be correctly interpreted to english-readers. I'm not a professional translator nor interpreter, but I've my doubts about its comprehension of the reality, because I'm not sure that the people reading "community" can associate it to a region/country with autonomous government. The official name is Comunitat Valenciana, of course, and it still would remain in the data table, such as in catalan wikipedia tough the name of the article is Valencian Country. And about the name of "Valencian Region", I think that it would be better writed as "Region of Valencia", in order of number of google's results. I'm still appointed that the choice must be between "Region of Valencia" or "Valencian country".

Miguel, don't worry :), I would be care abount the links, and if the article would be renamed, I would see before wich pages are linked to it, and I would fix it. Ah! And thanks to refer me to a wikipedist who can help me about translations. --Martorell 09:07, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Els problemes de comprensió que poden existir en anglès són els mateixos que poden existir en qualsevol altra llengua. Si dius a un colombià que Espanya es divideix en «Comunidades Autónomas», li semblarà estrany. És que les divisions territorials espanyoles tenen noms estranys. Però això no vol dir que s'hagin d'inventar noms completament diferents en cada idioma. Tenim ací un article amb el nom «Autonomous communities of Spain i està bé. No és «Countries of Spain». Es diu «Comunitat Valenciana» perquè és la comunitat autònoma dels valencians. «País Valencià» és només per als nacionalistes. «Regne de València» és històric. Tampoc a mi no m'agrada el nom oficial, però per a evitar-lo dic senzillament Valencia (ciutat, província i comunitat autònoma), com acostumem fer els angloparlants. Camaleó 11:24, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Dir només "València" seria una bona solució, també, ho reconec. Però no estic d'acord amb tú en que el nom de País Valencià és un ús només nacionalista. Si de política es tractara, tenim al segon partit polític més important del País Valencià, el Partit Socialista, que precissament se'n diu Partit Socialista del País Valencià (PSOE-PSPV), que no és gens nacionalista, i els sindicats de treballadors se'n diuen CC.OO. del PV, i UGT-PV, com podràs vore a les seues pàgines webs. A més a més, a les Universitats valencianes, per altra banda, a la titulació d'Història, les assignatures relacionades amb el País Valencià se'n diuen "Història medieval del Regne de València", i quan es tracta de l'època de després de l'any 1707, quan desapareix el Regne de València, se'n diuen per exemple "Història Contemporània del País Valencià", en castellà o en valencià. És un nom totalment comú, si bé l'utilitzem més els catalano-parlants, que no gens els hispano-parlants, tot i que el llibre d'estil del periòdic "El País", en castellà, recomana la utilització de "País Valenciano", en castellà, en la redacció normal, tot i que el suplement té de capçalera el nom de "Comunidad Valenciana".
Havia començat a canviar el nom a tot arreu de la viquipèdia anglesa, però vist que encara hi ha discussions, m'aturarè fins que ens aclarim. És una bona opció utilitzar el terme "Valencia" només, en anglès, però també crec que s'ha d'utilitzar "Valencian Country" quan és necessary per a diferenciar de la província de València i/o de la Ciutat de València. Ah! I no es el mateix una comunitat autònoma com, per exemple, la Rioja o Múrcia, que es tracten de regions, que per exemple el País Valencià, Andalusia, o Galícia, que es tracten de nacionalitats. --Martorell 11:32, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)
I «Valencia, Spain», «Valencia (province), «Valencia (Autonomous Community)»? Camaleó 11:43, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Açò seria tornar a com estava abans. D'acord, ho podem fer així, però, per favor, admet que s'ha de poder dir "Valencian Country" o "Autonomous Community of Valencia" quan faça falta en la redacció, algunes vegades. --Martorell 11:46, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)
We have a policy on Wikipedia that says we must use the form most commonly used in English. It is clear that the most common way of referring to the territory in English is simply "Valencia". When greater precision is required, we say "Kingdom of Valencia" if referring to mediaeval times, "Valencian Community" if referring to post-Franco times ("Autonomous" can be thrown in for extra clarity) and "Valencian Country" otherwise. Chameleon 12:11, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)
And what about to use the following police: "Valencia" to referring to the autonomous community, "Kingdom of Valencia" if referring to medieval times, and "Valencian Country" if referring to locate some valencian sub-division in order to avoid confusions between administrative subdivisions. By exemple, "Alacant is a city in the southern of Valencia" may confuse about Alacant is within the province of Valencia because Alacant has its own province, so it would be cleared if we write "Alacant is a city in the southern of the Valencian Country". If we say "Alacant is a city in the southern of the autonomous community of Valencia" it's too large. --Martorell 12:22, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)
According to policy we should write "Alicante is a town in the south of the Valencian Community". The following is not too long, and has the advantage of linking to appropriate articles: "Alicante is the capital of the province of the same name in the south of the Autonomous Community of Valencia." Chameleon 13:25, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)
I've said already that I accept these terms: "Valencia", "Valencian Country", and "Autonomous Community of Valencia", but I don't accept the term "Valencian Community" because it's inexactly in english meaning. --Martorell 13:49, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Tot-hom sap que lo de Pais Valencia es solament usat p'els imperialistes catalans, el primer pas per al seu Anschluss anomemat Països Catalans. El nom oficial i UNIC es el de Comunitat Valenciana.

Dont know if I'm missing anything but if we all seem to agree that "Valencia" will do, why is the article still titled "Land of Valencia"? sounds like and idiotic compromise to me that absoloutely no one will use in practical terms when referring to the region/community/kingdom

It's the used name in English according from official tourism web page by the own Valencian government. --Martorell 06:28, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
Not sure that's the best criterion to follow.. They also refer to Region of Valencia a lot.. and in any case if Spanish translations to English are often not the best reference to take, even less if they're done by bureaucrats
"Region of Valencia" is the former name under Franco's Dictatorship, and because of it it isn't be used as top title in the web, surely. "Community" or "autonomous community" in English isn't meaning the same in Spanish as it refers to a little group of persons. Read further more above here. --Martorell 06:18, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
But, as already said by Chameleon on 10 Sep: this meaning is also the one that the word originally had in Spanish (cf. RAE & COED). So "Community" appears indeed to be the best translation, after all... Regards.--Periku 19:42, 28 July 2005 (UTC)
And because of it, as you argued, the article name was changed from "Community of Valencia" to "Valencia (autonomous community)". But any of these two name isn't being used by the Valencian Government who uses in Enlish "Land of Valencia", in French "Communauté du Valence", and in German "Landen Valencia". And so, it was changed again to "Land of Valencia". It is also correct than "Community of Valencia", but it's also an official use, so there are two arguments in favour. --Martorell 08:43, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

I ask responsible people of Wikipedia, not to let you influence by the catalanistic imperialism. If you want to know about the valencian reality, ask valencians. There are a lot of them (the majority) not being paid by any catalan organisation. Have a look at the following web sites: www.elpalleter.com www.loratpenat.org www.oronella.com www.racv.es www.amics-racv.org www.valencianlanguage.com www.llenguavalenciana.com The problem of the catalans is, that they do not have got anything of its own, and they try to build up a "nation"(?) not having own history, not having own language, not having middle-age literature (all written in provenzal) and even not having an own flag, because the currently used belongs to Aragon. Poor, poor catalans...

This sentence is really funny, and I think it should be corrected: "The official languages are Castillian (Spanish) and Valencian (Catalan), although the last one is considered legally as a language of its own, according the "Law of Use and Education of Valencian" approved in 1983." If it is a language of its own by law, then the official languages are Spanish and Valencian.

Land of Valencia != Autonomous Community of Valencia

Reading this article seems that the medieval Land of Valencia is the same that the current Autonomous Community of Valencia, and that's untrue. Also, in an strange way, Autonomous Community of Valencia redirects here. This article should be merged with Kingdom of Valencia and a new article for Autonomous Community of Valencia must be written. -- —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 83.57.211.236 (talk • contribs) 00:00, 23 October 2005 (UTC).

I'm disagree with it. Land of Valencia is used today as English name for "Comunitat Valenciana" according to the above given link about official tourism by Valencian government. The word "Land" is used to give a meaning of a territory with some level of political autonomy such the german "landers", because in English the meaning of "Community" is different than in Spanish "Comunidad". In fact, "Community" in English sounds me more used to refer, i.e., to jewish/spanish/afroamerican/irish/polish/german/francophone/etc. community into a metropolitan area of a city. Anyway, the borders of Kingdom of Valencia are generally the same as today Land of Valencia, and there is a historical continuity. In my own opinion, the correct way would be creating an article about the "Kingdom of Valencia", and the actual Valencia goes on Land of Valencia.
In the other side, in Spanish wikipedia es:Comunidad Valenciana it refers also to the Kingdom of Valencia in order to explain the existence of this Land, and the two first paragraphs on English version seem to be based about a translation from Catalan wikipedia ca:País Valencià, wich is a very large article and was also a featured article by its quality. --Joanot Martorell ✉ 05:47, 24 October 2005 (UTC)
This article leads to confusion, because the old Land of Valencia is not the Autonomous Community of Valencia. For example, it is like if the article Russia redirected to USSR. Russia was part of the USSR, but the Soviet Union is not Russia.
If you look at the article name in other languages, you will observe that the term used is Autonomous Community, because these articles correctly differentiates the medieval independent territory of the current administrative division of Spain, except strangely in Catalan. The Deutsch article was Valencia (Region), before Martorell changed it to Land (NPOV?), you can check this looking at the history of the Deutch article.
Also, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names' (US BGN) database of foreign geographic feature names, which is the official repository of foreign place-names for usage in the United States, developed by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, says that the English translation for Comunidad Autónoma must be Autonomous Community for the shake of correctness. This is an excerpt of the full database.
PS, the English version of official website uses the term Autonomous Community, not Land. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 83.57.211.236 (talk • contribs) 00:00, 25 October 2005 (UTC).

Land of Valencia == Autonomous Community of Valencia

Please, dont put POV notice again in the article because you aren't discussing about its content. I don't care about the other translations, because there are surely a literal translation from Spanish or Catalan. But you're mistaken because Land of Valencia isn't the same as "Kingdom of Valencia", because "Land of Valencia" is referring to valencian territory in any time. Perhaps naming it "Autonomous Community of Valencia" is correct as "Land of Valencia", because both are used for Valencian Government. But I think it's better to choice the most shortest name, as it's used for general visitors outside Spain. If you called it as "Autonomous Community of Valencia", it would be the same case naming "Spain" as "Kingdom of Spain", but anyone wouldn't agree surely with this form, because it would be redundant. But Valencia are three things: a city, a province, and a land, so it was called as "Land of Valencia". In German case, "Land" has the same meaning way that "Comunitat Autònoma". --Joanot Martorell ✉ 16:33, 25 October 2005 (UTC)
Anyway, I don't see where the name "Autonomous Community of Valencia" is strong noticed in http://www.gva.es as "Land of Valencia" is showly in the English header of official tourism webpage http://www.comunitatvalenciana.com . Instead of it, it's more used "Valencian Community", but it's so ambiguous in English. One more thing, if you travel here ever, and you ask for tourist information, you would receive the flyers, books, guides, plannings, etc... whith the name "Land of Valencia" in the English version. --Joanot Martorell ✉ 18:43, 25 October 2005 (UTC)


Joanot, your reasoning is flawed for the several reasons: (1) see my post below; (2) see my post further below -- there is no official translation of "Comunidad Valenciana"; relying on what English speaking governments or encyclopedias list is our best bet, seeing as the tourist page is inconsistent (3) if you do a google search on the generalitat's website, gva.es for different possible titles you get the following: 6 hits for Land of Valencia, 87 hits for Valencian Community, 31 hits for Valencian Region, and 22 hits for Region of Valencia (including Autonomous Region of Valencia) (4) It doesn't matter whether "community" in English means the same thing as it does in Spanish--in this context they are technical terms. For example, in the U.S. you refer to the highest level of local government as a state, even though in any other context state refers to a national government. Guess how they translate the state of California into Spanish? La provincia de California? No; they use el estado de California even though it doesn't mean the same thing. -- Malandi 02:33, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

Only nacionalists like Martorell, less than 10% of the Valencian vote, name "Pais Valencia" usually to the Community of Valencia. Land of Valencia is the traduction in english of País Valenciano or País Valencia, In my opinion it is not a good and correct name. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.120.17.126 (talk • contribs) January 25, 2006.


Wiki, not Disney

>>In German case, "Land" has the same meaning way that "Comunitat Autònoma".<<

What has that to do with anything? This is the English- not the German-language Wikipedia. Nor yet is it is the Valencian, Catalan, or Spanish-language Wikipedia. The fact is that "the Land of Valencia" is something dreamed up by the marketing department of the Consellería de Turisme de la Generalitat Valenciana. It might be fair enough to use that invented term to adorn tourist brochures, but as an official name for the autonomous region under discussion here it sounds so ridiculously twee!

Are we talking here about the real Valencian Community (as that political and economic entity is most widely known in the real English-speaking world) or about a Disneyworld-type fantasy? The Wikipedia convention on naming (unless it has been changed when I wasn't looking) is not to slavishly follow Tourist Boards or any other marketing departments, but to use the de facto most widely established designation – certainly never one chosen simply because someone might wish it were used instead: otherwise the naming of articles simply turns into a battleground based on wish-fulfillment.

>>"Community" or "autonomous community" in English isn't meaning the same in Spanish as it refers to a little group of persons.<<

Does it? The population of the European Community in its final year (1993) was at least 345 million people. A "little group of persons"?! -- Picapica 16:26, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

Why not Autonomous Community of Valencia? -- Jmabel | Talk 07:47, 10 December 2005 (UTC)

Land of Valencia sounds really bad for me. In my opinion, whether it's Autonomous Community of Valencia or Valencian Community, it should be changed. Tsuba 04:51, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

The tourism website isn't a definitive source

On the main tourism page there are TWO distinct uses of the name: Land of Valencia in the header, but Region of Valencia everywhere else on the actual content of the main page.
If you look a little deeper, you'll see that this is not just a black and white issue with the (official) tourism website. Hear me out a little. On the OFFICIAL PUBLICATION page (yes, publications in English authored by the government) they use the terms Land of Valencia and Region of Valencia INDISCRIMINATELY:
A global view of the Land of Valencia...
Information on the inland areas of the Region of Valencia including routes,
Collection including some of the most representative festivities in the Land of Valencia.
Historical of the monthly magazine CVNews, which provides interesting information
about the Region of Valencia
and finally:
Maps of the Region of Valencia
If you look in the 84-page generic leaflet, there are ZERO occurrences of "Land of Valencia", ZERO occurrences of "Valencian Community", and yet TWENTY-ONE occurrences of "Region of Valencia".
The four publications under Collection product guides use only Region of Valencia.
The four publications under Theme leaflet collection use only Land of Valencia.
The sixteen publications under Districts of the interior collection use only Land of Valencia.
The eightteen publications under Magazine CVNews use only Region of Valencia and cite the President of the Valencian Regional government (cf Presidente de la Generalitat Valenciana)
Conclusion? Both "Land of Valencia" and "Region of Valencia" are possible translations, neither of the two is preferred, and one must be consistent when using them, at least on the tourism website.

-- Malandi 09:30, 14 January 2006 (UTC) Malandi


I found on the web a tourist guide book edited by the Valencian Government (in English, of course) where uses always the name "Land of Valencia" in all the whole 60 pages. This book is edited on 2002 year. This book seem to being printed in paper and distributed on important events. In fact, the web where I've found this guidebook is about the 57th International Astronautical Congress that will take on Valencia in 2006 year. --Joanot Martorell ✉ 08:26, 16 January 2006 (UTC)


Well, I emailed the Generalitat Valenciana about how to translate the name because this is ridiculous. My question was what was the preferred or official translation "Comunidad Valenciana" in English. Here is what they said:
Estimado Sr.
El nombre oficial es Comunidad Valenciana, en castellano, y Comunitat Valenciana, en valenciano, tal como se indica en el art. 1 del Estatuto de Autonomía en las versiones correspondientes. En inglés no existe denominación oficial al no ser este idioma oficial en la Comunidad.
Las denominaciones País Valenciano y Región Valenciana corresponden a distintas concepciones históricas y políticas de la actual Comunidad Valenciana. Aunque todavía se siguen utilizando estas denominaciones no tienen el valor de oficiales, si bien son un reflejo de estas dos concepciones, como se expone en el preámbulo del Estatuto.
LEY ORGÁNICA 5/1982, DE 1 DE JULIO, DE ESTATUTO DE AUTONOMÍA DE LA COMUNIDAD VALENCIANA [DOGV núm. 74, de 15 de julio]
http://www.gva.es/cidaj/cas/sc5/op2.htm
Artículo 1. Uno. El pueblo valenciano, históricamente organizado como Reino de Valencia, se constituye en Comunidad Autónoma, dentro de la indisoluble unidad de la nación española, como expresión de su identidad histórica y en el ejercicio del derecho de autogobierno que la Constitución reconoce a toda nacionalidad, con la denominación de Comunidad Valenciana.
(My) Translation of the above:
"Dear Sir, The official name is Comunidad Valenciana in Spanish and Comunitat Valenciana in Valencian, as per Article 1 of the Statute of Autonomy of the respective versions. In English there is no official name since it isn't an official matter in the Community.
The names "País Valenciano" [cf. Land of Valencia] and "Región Valenciana" [cf. Region of Valencia] correspond to different historical and political conceptions of the present-day Comunidad Valenciana. Although the former names are still in use, they carry no official weight, even though they reflect those two conceptions, as the preamble to the Statute puts forward:
This should put to rest any speculation as to what the preferred translation is, because there is none. As journalists we must reflect this in the article and not prefer any either. Any preference on our part would either be speculatory or biased. -- Malandi 19:09, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
Note that "Land of Valencia" isn't a translation of "País Valenciano", which the correct one is "Valencian Country" (such as "País Vasco" -> Basque Country). In fact, the translation of "Región de Valencia" in Spanish can be two, using "Land" or using "Region". But according to the same Statute[2], there never use the term "Regió" (in Catalan), in those document the names used are "País Valencià" (Valencian Country), and "Regne de València" (Kingdom of Valencia, not Region of Valencia), both in the preamble, and "Comunitat Valenciana" (unknown translation) as official name. In the past 20th century, Valencia was named "Valencian Region" and was named "Valencian Country" also. If we use "Region of Valencia" it mostly would refer to an historical period (before the 2nd Spanish Republic, mainly).
In these Statute Valencians don't consider themselves as a Region of any other upper entity, as "Region of Murcia" does, but also the Valencian nationalist movement hasn't enough force as in Basque Country there has (in fact, Valencian nationalism is the third political force in number of municipality councillors and fourth political force in regional elections, but they haven't got any regional deputy yet). If you use "Region" or "Country" maybe you're using a political viewpoint, but if you use "Land" maybe you're being more neutral on political viewpoints. Anyway, as you can see, the tourist guide material from Valencian Government is being widely distributed with the name "Land of Valencia" on important events nowadays. --Joanot Martorell ✉ 20:07, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
I see your point, but you still suggest that since the tourist guide material from Valencian government is being widely distributed with the name "Land of Valencia" on important events, that the name should be translated "Land of Valencia". Apparantly you have not considered (or have selectively ignored) the tourist guide materials I cited above, including an 84-page tourist guide published in 2005 that only uses the term "Region of Valencia", among others. Both translations are in wide circulation by official sources in recent materials. Seeing as there is no de facto translation, it suffices that we use both. -- Malandi 21:30, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
I'm not ignoring this fact, I know it, but as I've said already, saying "Region" here implies a political viewpoint. Nowadays, the political party wich is governing now in Valencia (Partido Popular) in last years are supporting this political background, and the term "Region" may being favoured because of it. --Joanot Martorell ✉ 21:51, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
OK. If you're worried about political bias, since there is no official translation and the tourism sources are hardly definitive, here are some official and unofficial (but scholarly) sources:
http://www.constitucion.es/constitucion/lenguas/ingles.html. Spanish Constitution, official translation to English. Note that "Comunidad" and "Comunidad Autónoma" are translated as "Community" and "Autonomous Community".
http://www.uv.es/~webuv/ingles/guide.pdf. Guide to the University of Valencia, English translation. On page 5, "Readers will find in it the widest study offer for both official and UV–specific degrees in the Valencian Community, delivered in three campuses and six scientific areas."
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9074684. Encyclopedia Britannica article on Valencia. Note the textual use of "comunidad autónoma", the translation as "autonomous community" at the beginning (defining the term for the rest of the article).
http://www.orbilat.com/Encyclopaedia/V/Valencia_community.html. Orbis encyclopedia article on Valencia. Same as above.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/v/valenc-rgn.asp. Columbia encyclopedia article on Valencia. Translated as "autonomous region".
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761573717/Valencia_(region_Spain).html. MSN Encarta online encyclopedia article on Valencia. Same as above.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=valencia. American Heritage dictionary entry on Valencia. "A region of eastern Spain on the Mediterranean coast..." There are separate entries for the province and city of Valencia.
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/valencia. Meriam-Webster dictionary entry on Valencia. "region & ancient kingdom E Spain" There are separate entries for the province and city of Valencia.
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/valencia.html MSN Encarta World English dictionary entry on Valencia. "1. capital of the autonomous region of Valencia in eastern Spain."
It looks like "region", "autonomous region", and "autonomous community" are the standard fare in literature. -- Malandi 22:58, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
I think that official tourism is a reliable source and, as you mentioned above, there is using two terms: Land of Valencia and Region of Valencia. It can be mentioned on the article, but it would need also to mention the local political backgrounds that implies the term "Region". All this discussion may be used to expand the article. --Joanot Martorell ✉ 23:35, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
Fine. I changed the discussion heading to "the tourism site isn't a definitive source" to reflect that the translation appears to be ad hoc. Keep in mind that the encyclopedias I cited above are often held in high esteem, so they bear mentioning too.
We should just title the article "Comunidad Valenciana" or "Valencia (autonomous community)" and have every other form (Land of Valencia, Valencian Community, Autonomous Community of Valencia, Region of Valencia, Valencian Region, Valencian Country) redirect there. This is how other notable encyclopedias in English have done it, and it offers the least ambiguity and political misgivings. OK? -- Malandi 01:31, 17 January 2006 (UTC)
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