A Country's Real Name?

Question

Does anyone think it would make things a lot easier if we called each country by the name they call themselves. For example why can't everyone call Germany "Deutschland" Italy "Italia" or Spain "España" etc.?

Germany for instance is:
Deutschland in German
Germany in English
Alemania in Spanish
Allemagne in French
Germania in Italian
where none of the last 4 have any similarity to the way it is in it's own language.

And I am not German, Germany was just my best example.

Answer 1

And don't forget Németország in Hungarian, which is spoken in Magyarország.

For the guy who answered right above me, it's NOT just the United States. Every single language in the world has a different set of names for the people living next door. In Hungary, Poland is Lengyelország, Germany is Németország, Italy is Olaszország, etc.

Let's not limit this to countries, either, the Navajo should be the Diné (because that's what they call themselves), but the Apaches (the Mescalero, the Jicarilla, the Chiricahua, the San Carlos, and the White Mountain) should also all be the Diné (since that's what they call themselves). The Shoshoni, the Comanche, the Timbisha, the Northern Paiutes, the Southern Paiutes, the Utes, the Kawaiisu, and the Mono should all be the Newe (since they all call themselves "people", or newe in their closely related languages). And don't forget that there are TWO countries that call themselves "Congo".

You see, there are some advantages to using names other than what the people call themselves.

Plus, what about countries like India or China or the Philippines, where there are over 200 different languages spoken within the borders? Which version of the name do we choose?

EDIT: And for the guy at the bottom of the page, YEA, Hungarians really rock ;)

Answer 2

At least for some cultures it will be difficult to pronounce it. Take China. There "R" isn't pronounce like the French "R" and thus they have some difficulties to say words with this letter. So saying France is out of the question. So they transform it and France have to possible ways to be said :
- 法国 : faguo ( fa for law and guo for country ) France being the country of the human rights
- 法兰西 : falanxi a phonetic way.

After it depends on the history. For Germany, it comes from German an old civilation. So for England it make sens. But for France and its Allemagne, it comes from the old nation "Alamannie" which consisted of Alsace ( now French ), Baden ( of Germain province ) and the Germain part of Switzerland.

So I guess for all the countries it depends whether it is more conviniant to use another way of not.

Answer 3

I don't think that's practical (out of the reasons that have already been explained, e.g. phonetical and transliteration difficulties) or even necessary. Germans certainly don't mind English speakers calling their country "Germany", and as for Austrians, they will have tears of gratitude in their eyes if Americans just stop mixing up their country with Australia. To call it "Österreich" would be to push it...

Seriously, I am deeply mistrustful of governments who want to prescribe the particular name of their country to the world. Cambodia was good enough until the murderous Khmer Rouge took over, and bingo: all the world had to call the country "Kampuchea". Same with Burma whose bloody and oppressive regime insists of being called "Myanmar" now.

In international diplomacy, it is customary to use a "correct" form ofthe official names, such as "United Kingdom of the Netherlands" for Holland (which is technically only a province of the Netherlands) or "Federal Republic of Germany" for Germany, but in everyday conversation the conventional names are just fine, I reckon.

Answer 4

It also depends on other things, too. For example, from years past the Czechs didn't understand the language of their neighbors, so they called them "Němec" which means "they can't speak." This stuck and Germany in the Czech Language is "Německo".

Country names change and many go really far back. Also, letters in different languages make different sounds. The "c" in Czech makes a "ts" sound, not a "k" or "s" like in English...

While it would be nice, it's just not possible. I mean, why don't we just all speak one language and call all animals and plants by their Latin names? Just not practical.

Answer 5

Wow! I'm quite impressed. It's amazing the names hungarian people have for other countries. I always thought that, at least in Europe and the West, the names of the different countries are quite similar in every european/western language (Schweden, Sverige, Suecia, Suede, Sweden, Svezia... ), but the Hungarians really rock, heheheee.

Answer 6

Sounds like a good idea but not practical.

As already mentioned - some langauges are tonal by nature and you would never be able to pronounce it properly just by reading it in tis written form. There are also certain sounds that does not exist in other languages (or at least possible to pronounce but does not exist in its own spoken laguage - for example "ng" in english)

So far - everything is workign fine.... and when something is working, don't fix it.

Answer 7

And how you would pronouce the following every time you mentioned (the country we call) Albania.

gjuha shqipe (albanian language)
Shqipëri (Albania)

What you describe is just not possible. And since English has become the international language, its easier to use the english names.

Answer 8

Won't work in Switzerland though, I mean Schweiz, I mean Suisse, I mean Svizzera, I mean Svizra.

And you should always be leery of any country that includes the word "democratic" in its name... (As part of Germany did not too long ago.)

Answer 9

Depends on what the people of those countries used to call the place known as Germany earlier.

Maybe its meaning is the same.

Could be another reason

Answer 10

Yes, but would you be willing to learn the correct Japanese characters for Nippon? And I know my tonal pronunciation is wrong when it comes to saying Chinese in Chinese (and should it be in Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghiese or one of the other languages?)