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How do you say the name of your country in your own language?


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Posted

Its one of the weird things about language that the names of places are often (but not always) different from one language to another, sometimes hugely.

What English-speakers call Germans, Germans call Deutschland, which is confusing as heck for English speakers because the Dutch are from the Netherlands (or Holland, depending on who you ask, and we seldom ask the Dutch).

So just for a bit of fun, how do you say the name of your country in your own language? Bonus points if you help with pronunciation tips. And how do you say my country's name, Canada, in yours?

  • Like 1
1PL-Husar-1Esk
Posted

Poland ,Polska ,Kanada :)

Posted

Danmark , dansk / Canada 

  • 1CGS
Posted

Merica

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Posted

Deutschland (Zum Anhören bitte klicken! [ˈdɔʏtʃlant] , Kanada, german pronounciation would be as if it is written Kannada

VBF-12_Stick-95
Posted

United States and Up North, eh?  ?

Posted

Brasil, Canadá.

All "a" are "open", like in father.

  • Upvote 1
Posted

After our beloved PM Joris Bohnson?:)

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Posted
14 minutes ago, DD_Arthur said:

After our beloved PM Joris Bohnson?:)

Naturally. He shall send forth a decree. Anyway...this may verge on the political...and Dom's secret police may knock on my door in the small hours...

Posted

Canada >  the name is now accepted as coming from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word kanata, meaning "village" or "settlement"

  • Upvote 1
Posted (edited)

Norge/ Norsk is a dialect and modernization of Danish. Vocal very different but close in writing. 

Icelandic is closest to original Norwegian but it also have evolved.

We write and pronounce Kannada. Norwegian language is like that. We say what we write

Edited by LuseKofte
  • Upvote 1
Posted (edited)

Australia ~ Oshtray-ya

i have a mild phobia that I will accidentally say ‘Canadia’ in polite conversation. 

Edited by Feathered_IV
Posted

Hungary - Magyarország

  • Upvote 1
Posted (edited)

España 

 

Edited by RAY-EU
  • Thanks 1
CSW_Rannisokol
Posted

Czech Republic - Česko(Č is reading like "TSCH" in German), Kanada

Posted (edited)

Nederland [neigh durr lah-nd], known to others as that place the Dutch buy their weed, holland (though holland is only the westernmost one third of the country) or The Netherlands. Now if you really want to impress a dutchman, correctly pronounce Scheveningen. [s[insert a g that sounds like you're hawking up a good spit]hay vuh ning uhn]. https://forvo.com/word/scheveningen/

 

We say kah naa daa 

Edited by schurem
Posted

Well, this thread has been an education!

Its really interesting that the spelling for Canada in a lot of countries seems closer to the original word 'Kanata' that it came from. 
 

Posted
On 9/27/2019 at 9:21 PM, sallee said:

Dom's secret police

Classic Dom.

Posted

Cymru = C U M R E E

Posted

Where are the guys from Suomi or Sverige, and the far eastern guys from Nippon?

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

Thank you RedKestrel for this topic. I myself am also from Canada. It’s kind of weird, like why in English is it called Germany and not Deutschland. An answer may be the Germania river, but where does Allemagne come from in French? In Italian, Paris is Parigi. My French teacher went to many European countries in the late 90s early 2000s and was surprised at what we call a country/city in English is very different than how it’s locally called. 

  • Upvote 1
Posted
1 hour ago, Vig said:

AR-ken-saw ?

 

It always cracks me up when Americans complain that some English towns are pronounced strangely when they have Kansas and Arkansas pronounced completely differently ?

 

Ilive in a village called Praa Sands  that has been here for hundreds of years.  It only has about 560residents yet even within that small community nobody agrees whether to pronounce it Prah or Pray ?

  • Upvote 3
Posted

Arkansas and Kansas were named after related indian tribes, but Arkansas had more contact with the French and the French term "Arcansas" was adopted, including the French pronunciation.  Kansas, I guess, was more Anglicized, and they pronounce the final "s."

Posted
12 hours ago, Vig said:

AR-ken-saw ?

Gave me a good laugh.

 

11 hours ago, 56RAF_Roblex said:

 

It always cracks me up when Americans complain that some English towns are pronounced strangely when they have Kansas and Arkansas pronounced completely differently ?

 

Ilive in a village called Praa Sands  that has been here for hundreds of years.  It only has about 560residents yet even within that small community nobody agrees whether to pronounce it Prah or Pray ?

 

My state is pretty much pronounced the way it's spelled depending on where you're from. Most people would just say Louisiana but most natives say Loo-zi-ana.

Pronunciations get even stranger when saying city/town or place names, especially Native American ones.

Cities like Nachitoches you'd think would sound how they look but really it's pronounced like Nak-eh-dish or Nak-uh-dish.

  • Upvote 1
Posted
1 hour ago, Legioneod said:

Gave me a good laugh.

 

 

My state is pretty much pronounced the way it's spelled depending on where you're from. Most people would just say Louisiana but most natives say Loo-zi-ana.

Pronunciations get even stranger when saying city/town or place names, especially Native American ones.

Cities like Nachitoches you'd think would sound how they look but really it's pronounced like Nak-eh-dish or Nak-uh-dish.

 

I think the most extreme village name I am familiar with is Trottiscliffe...pronounced 'Troslee'  ?. When they built a country park nearby they just gave up and called it 'Trosley Country Park'    Most of the villages near me in Cornwall get pronounced wrong by tourists but it is usually just a case of remembering not to try applying French rules eg Breage='Breeg', Roche='Roach' or missing out a few letters eg Fowey' = 'foy'  or just slurring it enough eg Mousehole='mowzzle',  Redruth='R'drth',  Truro='Tr'ro.

 

Posted
15 hours ago, 56RAF_Roblex said:

 

It always cracks me up when Americans complain that some English towns are pronounced strangely when they have Kansas and Arkansas pronounced completely differently ?

 

Ilive in a village called Praa Sands  that has been here for hundreds of years.  It only has about 560residents yet even within that small community nobody agrees whether to pronounce it Prah or Pray ?

I used to live in a town called Gore Bay. Nobody knew why it  was named that, and all the theories skirted around the fact that it sounded like it was a B-movie horror film location.

16 hours ago, Vig said:

AR-ken-saw ?

I always thought Arkansas was just the part of Kansas where they made all the AR rifles! My whole life is a lie!

Posted

Sverige

Sve - ree - yeah!

 

Kanada, like in ice hockey:

 

Sverige 7 : 2 Kanada

 

(yeah, come at me)

Posted

How we say Canada in French?

Québec!!!!

 

?

[_FLAPS_]Grim
Posted

Austria - Österreich ...which means easterly empire ;)

Posted (edited)

Portugal, Portugal (go figure! And reads Poor-too-gall, tonic is last), Canadá (reads kuh-nuh-dah, tonic is last syllable too). Portugal is a 10 million pop. country, while portuguese has 215 million native speakers.Just for fun, letting you know Germany / Deutschland is Alemanha (reads Uh-leh-muh-ña) in portuguese, evocating the Alemanni people ("a confederation of Germanic tribes on the Upper Rhine River").

 

Edited by J2_Bidu
Posted

Aotearoa, the Land of the Long White Cloud.

 

 

Literally, ao = cloud, tea = white, pale, roa = long

Posted (edited)

Switzerland - Schwiiz?

Kanada

Edited by nirvi
  • Upvote 1
Posted

Ponce de Leon, Florida

 

Ponts da Lee-on, Floor-da

Posted

Suisse/Svizzera (Switzerland in french and Italian respectively). In both language we say Canada. 

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