Which variant would be preferable or more precise for a title: 'Reindeers and People' or 'Reindeers and Humans'

I would much appreciate your help with an adequate translation of a photo book title. It is about life in Chukotka peninsula that is inhabited by Chukchi people, who are reindeer herders. I had furst translated the title as 'Reindeers and People' but started hesitating. The book is not focused on those people as an ethnic group. It is rather about life conditions, daily interactions with reindeers, common life of reindeer herders etc. Wouldn't a word 'humans' (rather than 'people') be a better alternative? Thank you so much in advance!

Solution 1:

While reindeer and people, or reindeer and humans or reindeer and man, are grammatically correct, they are not particularly attractive titles for a book of photographs.

The title of anything should generally both explain what it is about, and inspire one to read it. The titles you give are a bit.. literal.

Ambiguity:

Also, while correct, there are a few flaws in the titles as follows which could result in misunderstanding (or lack of sales):

• Reindeer and people - is grammatically correct (you cannot say ‘deers’) however, and because the singular of ‘reindeer’ is also ‘deer’ I am imagining one reindeer with a bunch of people, when I hear it, which seems a bit weird.

  Reindeer and humans - is grammatically correct (you cannot say ‘deers’) however, and because the singular of ‘reindeer’ is also ‘deer’ I am imagining one reindeer with a bunch of people, which also seems strange. And also, I’m left wondering what is the connection between reindeer and humans. Is it genetic? Is it humans as opposed to what - aliens? It sounds odd.

  Reindeer and man - is grammatically correct (you cannot say ‘deers’) however, and because the singular of ‘reindeer’ is also ‘deer’ I am imagining one reindeer with one man, when I hear it. And while ‘man’ is perfectly correct in meaning ‘humanity’ it also sounds the same as just one man, and again my mind thinks of one reindeer and one man and kind of goes ‘eh?’

Having said that - as long as the cover has an image that clearly depicts a multiple-reindeer filled landscape with a load of people mingled in, then you can get away with using any of these three. ie the image can overcome the ambiguity. But that still doesn’t make any of these a ‘good title’.

Alternatives

Lastly, I think something like ‘reindeer herders and their reindeer’ or ‘reindeer herders of Chukchi and their reindeer’ would be a better title because otherwise it’s a bit... literal.

I mean, it’s a bit like the difference between saying ‘a piece of bread and a piece of cheese; when you could say ‘a matured brie sandwich on sourdough with mustard pickle and nice cold butter’.

Hope that helps!

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reindeer