Most countries call Finland something that phonetically sounds like "Finland." (Curiously, the Finns call their country Suomi, but that's another story.)
In Katakana, Japanese call Finland フィンランドwhich sounds like "Hunrando."
Why is that? What is the etymology of the Japanese word?
What do the Chinese call Finland? Does it also sound (more or less) like "Hunrando"?
Bonus Queston: Are there other countries that don't call Finland something that sounds vaguely like "Finland"?
2007-01-09 09:30:02 · 6 answers · asked by Francis 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
This is where you're going wrong.
It doesn't sound like "hunrando".
Do you see the small イ next to フ? This marks a change in pronounciation and changes "fu" to "fi". Thus it is "Finrando", a very good equivalent (for the Japanese) or "Finland".
2007-01-09 09:34:45 · answer #1 · answered by Belie 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
1. No idea about pronunciation but .....
Korean: 핀란드
Chinese Simplified: 芬兰
http://dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/Finland/
2. It is certainly an intriguing subject matter. I learnt a little of the East African language of Swahili. Some country names are similar, but others are not even close .....
SIMILAR
Uchina - China
Urusi - Russia
Ufaransa - France
Ugiriki - Greece
Hispania - Spain
Marekani - America
Uingereza - England (well almost similar!)
DIFFERENT
Ureno - Portugal
Ulaya - Europe
Misri - Egypt
Uajemi - Iran
[Finland is Ufini, by the way]
http://research.yale.edu/cgi-bin/swahili/main.cgi?right_frame_src=http%3A//research.yale.edu/cgi-bin/swahili/specialized_vocab.cgi%3FDiaOrTerm%3DTerminology%26DiaOrTermNum%3D21%26EngP%3D1
2007-01-09 10:24:33 · answer #2 · answered by ♫ Rum Rhythms ♫ 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Actually the pronounciation you got is not correct.
In Japanese, "フィンランド" will sounds and pronounce as "Finland" :-)
フィ (fi) ン (n) ランド(land)
2007-01-09 11:35:52 · answer #3 · answered by sunflower222 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Because Japanese has no "F" and "L" sounds. We don't know how to pronounce F and L properly.
In Japanese, a consonant always comes with a vowel after it except for "n". Therefore, we say "do" not "d" in the word of "Finland".
2007-01-09 11:31:43 · answer #4 · answered by Black Dog 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋
it really is a inventory understanding from my Asian historic previous Nippon- Land of the growing to be solar They call themseleves Nippons because they stay in Japan and they communicate Nipongo. i imagine of their own languagem nippon ability eastern. In English we named a set of people by way of their international places. Like England- English, India-India, China-chinese, Taiwan-Taiwanese..similar with Japan-eastern..we cant call them Nipponese or Niponggose...
2016-12-28 13:26:46 · answer #5 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In Chinese, 芬兰 (simplified) 芬蘭 (traditional), FENLAN (pinyin phonetics), which translates to Fragrant Orchid.
2007-01-09 10:11:49 · answer #6 · answered by G G 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋