For English-speaking Latter-day Saints, the letters “CTR” are synonymous with the reminder to make good choices or “Choose the Right.”
The reminder phrase exploded in popularity after 1970 when Primary children were first given tiny rings with the letters “CTR” set in the now-familiar logo of a green shield. In the years following, the shield also began appearing on official Church materials.
Now, the phrase “Choose the Right” has been translated for members around the world as a simple reminder to make wise and righteous choices. The Church Distribution Center’s online store even offers CTR rings in 28 languages. But a not all of these phrases are direct translations. Here are a few fun facts and special cases where “Choose the Right” was altered to better fit the culture and language constraints.
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A CTR ring in Japanese
In Japanese, the phrase “Choose the Right” is condensed to a single word—“Righteousness”—represented on their rings by the characters 正義.
In Russian, the Church has chosen to use Выбирай Истину as their official translation for “Choose the Right.” It literally translates to “Choose Truth.” There is no word for “the” in Russian and the Russian word for “Right”—Правда—is also the name of a newspaper owned and run by the Communist Party in Russia.
Brazilian members of the church wear CTR rings, but not for the English “Choose the Right.” Instead, it’s for Conserva a Tua Rota, which in Portuguese translates to “Stay to the Path.”
In many languages like Danish, Romanian, and Finnish, due to the grammatical structure their phrases all directly translate closer to "Choose the Right (Ones).”
Haley is the production editor for LDS Living with a passion for writing and social media. Previously, she worked at Boncom where she assisted with Church campaigns like “Light the World” and “Because of Him.” When she isn’t working, you can find Haley traveling with her husband, Mike, and snuggling her little boy, Calvin.
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