Krakow embarks on an international fight to clarify it’s proper name. So far Poland’s most popular southern city has been known by many names. Even though rather consistently pronounced as “Krakow” it was, nevertheless, spelt in a variety of ways – with the initial letters being either “K” or “C”, middle “k” often substituted by “c” and its final letters being either “w” or “v”.

Those are just a few of the existing modifications of the name. With the city becoming one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe, Krakow could at some point boast of having over 10 different versions of its name.  Krakow is not the only European city that has faced the spelling difficulties. It’s enough to mention the troubles tourists all over the world have with the German city Munich and Italian Milan.

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The city officials have also announced that a new campaign is to be launched in Great Britain with the aim of familiarizing the British people with the new name. The phoneticians from both Polish and English speaking universities also want to make sure that the old pronunciation of city’s name – “Krakow” which was popularized by the Germans in late 19th and early 20th century – is to be finally substituted by “Krakow” – phonetically more difficult but much more similar to Polish sound system.

Over 10 million tourists who are still expected to arrive in Krakow before the end of 2006, should from now on keep in mind that they’ll be coming to Krakow: K – R – A – K – O – W.

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Source: Radio Polonia