The Energon Pub

Does it still make sense to call countries by names other than what their own people call them? It would seem to make a lot of sense. Two examples that spring to mind are Deutschland and Nippon.

In this day and age, does it really make sense to continue calling countries by other names? People are rapidly becoming more international, so having different names for countries seems confusing and counter productive. I tell people I live in Nippon and they say they've never heard of it. My Deutsch friend had the same problem when he visited the United States.

What do you think?

I'm sure a bunch of readers here could do without ever hearing "Los Estados Unidos" again.

I can see pros and cons with calling a country only by the native language's name for it.

For one thing, you're gonna get some terrible mispronounciations "Nip on" for example. Another thing is, there are usually multiple languages in a country, so which name would you go by?

Los Estados Unidos doesn't bother me, it's just the country's name translated (I would hate to have to remember the translated names of everything...), but it is odd to call the country Japan when the people call it Nippon/Nihon and the same with Germany, but I wouldn't expect most people to know the true names for each country. So yeah.

Well, it's kind of confusing. As English (Anglo-Saxon) speaking people, we labelled different people of the world with names that fit our language.

Likewise, other languages have done the same. Some stuff I've learned about ancient cultures during the fall of the Roman Empire: I believe that the French (Originally of the Germanic Frank tribe) decided to use a word based upon the Allemani (Another Germanic Tribe) to describe residents of Germania (Modern day Germany).

So while we call the country Germany, and the people who live there call it Deutsheland, their neighbors also call them by another name as well.

To me, it would make the most sense to go with what Prof. Smooth suggested and label each nation on the map in their native language.

Fender Bender wrote: I believe that the French (Originally of the Germanic Frank tribe) decided to use a word based upon the Allemani (Another Germanic Tribe) to describe residents of Germania (Modern day Germany).

You are correct. In fact, in Espanol, the world for Germany is Allemania.

Professor Smooth wrote:

Fender Bender wrote: I believe that the French (Originally of the Germanic Frank tribe) decided to use a word based upon the Allemani (Another Germanic Tribe) to describe residents of Germania (Modern day Germany).

You are correct. In fact, in Espanol, the world for Germany is Allemania.

And who says video games aren't educational!? (Learned that from Rome: Total War)

Fender Bender wrote:
And who says video games aren't educational!?

People who've never played one, mostly.

It sure would make all the textbooks confusing though!

I'm all for calling countries what they are called in their native tongue, as long as the countries do not revert to their original names.

But what happens in countries with multiple languages thus have multiple "native" names???

i_amtrunks wrote:
But what happens in countries with multiple languages thus have multiple "native" names???

The same thing that happens now?

Just try changing New Zealand to Aotearoa, no tourist will be able to say that, not properly anyways!

I'm all for it, in fact I've been thinking about the same thing for while.

Though you know most Americans will be calling Germany Doucheland.

GetterDragun wrote:Though you know most Americans will be calling Germany Doucheland.

Splendid.

GetterDragun wrote:I'm all for it, in fact I've been thinking about the same thing for while.

Though you know most Americans will be calling Germany Doucheland.

That is cool, may I put it in my sig?


It would be a little problem with a few contries, since some may not be able to pronounce them.

Would you believe that I never knew countries were named differently in other languages? I always just assumed that English translations were of the real name of the country.

Counterpunch wrote:

GetterDragun wrote:Though you know most Americans will be calling Germany Doucheland.

Splendid.

Just like home, eh, CP?

Zuko wrote:Would you believe that I never knew countries were named differently in other languages? I always just assumed that English translations were of the real name of the country.

Seriously?

Counterpunch wrote:

GetterDragun wrote:Though you know most Americans will be calling Germany Doucheland.

Splendid.

I was trying to work you in there!

Professor Smooth wrote:Does it still make sense to call countries by names other than what their own people call them? It would seem to make a lot of sense. Two examples that spring to mind are Deutschland and Nippon.

In this day and age, does it really make sense to continue calling countries by other names? People are rapidly becoming more international, so having different names for countries seems confusing and counter productive. I tell people I live in Nippon and they say they've never heard of it. My Deutsch friend had the same problem when he visited the United States.

What do you think?

I'm sure a bunch of readers here could do without ever hearing "Los Estados Unidos" again.

The only thing I wonder is if some territores are disouted (like the Catalan region of Spain), do you use the official country language or the local dialect?

Ramrider wrote:

Zuko wrote:Would you believe that I never knew countries were named differently in other languages? I always just assumed that English translations were of the real name of the country.

Seriously?

Indeed. It was just never a thought that would normally cross my mind. I've never had a need or want to leave the US and I'm really not into geography.

Zuko wrote:Indeed. It was just never a thought that would normally cross my mind. I've never had a need or want to leave the US and I'm really not into geography.

You're missing out. Here in Nippon, I can walk into a store, buy a beer and some fireworks, and a Masterpiece Megatron, then walk down the street drinking said beer. How's THAT for freedom?

Zuko wrote:

Ramrider wrote:

Zuko wrote:Would you believe that I never knew countries were named differently in other languages? I always just assumed that English translations were of the real name of the country.

Seriously?

Indeed. It was just never a thought that would normally cross my mind. I've never had a need or want to leave the US and I'm really not into geography.

You need to travel, it's enlightening. Experiencing different cultures kind of lets you know where your from and why you like the things you do. Plus it makes you appreciate home more.

Drive up to Canada, it's like America without the pretensiousness, especially Quebec. Every one seems less stressed and to appreciate things a little more, which is not a bad feeling to come home with.

I could never leave the states, but I enjoy it better by taking eperiences from different cultures and applying it to everyday life. Like when I worked in England, people seem to work hard during the day, but all go out together at night (as coworkers), which gave you a better apprciation of the people you work with. Applying that hospitality to our life here, just gets you more friends. Oh yea, the food in Italy is un real!

Lewis Black does a great bit on the benefits of travelling outside of ones own country.

Hmm. Even if I wanted to, my income would never allow it. At least not at the moment.

Professor Smooth wrote:Lewis Black does a great bit on the benefits of travelling outside of ones own country.

Maybe some countries are giving away free stuff!

GetterDragun wrote:

Professor Smooth wrote:Lewis Black does a great bit on the benefits of travelling outside of ones own country.

Maybe some countries are giving away free stuff!

From later on in that same bit:

America is the only country that tells the rest of the world, on a nearly constant basis, that they're the greatest country in the world. And that's...a little obnoxious. Let me prove it to you. If you went in to work and, everyday, there was a guy who got up and yelled, "I'm the greatest ****er here! And all of you miserable ****s would shrivel up and die without me!" I guarantee, by the end of the week, you'd have killed him. And eaten him...just to try to gain his power.

I have to agree with Lewis Black on this one. In the US, there are US flags EVERYWHERE. On T-shirts, backpacks, hung on damn near every building (inside and out) in every classroom, etc. There are peeling flag bumper stickers on cars, half ripped flags dangling from homes. Flags everywhere. Not so in other countries I've lived in or visited. Japan, Korea, Canada, etc. There are flags in places you'd expect to see a flag, but you don't see the country's flag everywhere you go.

I guarantee, by the end of the week, you'd have killed him. And eaten him...just to try to gain his power

Sorry to disappoint you, but encountering someone in the workplace who acts like that much of a pompous jerk wouldnt foster killing and eating. In a customer service industry 85% of the time someone who acted like that would be fired from the company for being detrimental to profits. Couldnt tell you about office politics never had the chance to work in one. However in a factory setting someone like that would quickly find work an uncomfortable place to be due to "little" things going wrong, like say workboots superglued to the floor, locker superglued shut, lunch missing and noone would have any idea who did it. Which isnt quite the same as canniblism. We aren't that uncivilized, despite what people think.

Fender Bender wrote:

Professor Smooth wrote:

Fender Bender wrote: I believe that the French (Originally of the Germanic Frank tribe) decided to use a word based upon the Allemani (Another Germanic Tribe) to describe residents of Germania (Modern day Germany).

You are correct. In fact, in Espanol, the world for Germany is Allemania.

And who says video games aren't educational!? (Learned that from Rome: Total War)

Non, non, non, m'sieurs.
It is (hem, hem) Allemagne. (The pronunciation is sounds like "-monia" though.)
Spain has the same pronunciation in French as in Spanish.
(Espagne in French sounds like España.)
In Mexico (and Texas), the x sounds like an 'h'.
(Yes, some people still say Tejas. They're just not the 170-year-long majority.)
Somewhere along the way the Ivory Coast got officially renamed "Côte d'Ivoir".
Oh well, I'm just too used to living in L'Etâts-Unis d'Amerique.
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This thread was so good, I had to link it to my myspace blog.