To add insult to injury, what they call it, Deutschland, sounds like what we should call Netherlands
Americans are slowly learning about the rest of the world.
Better late than never.
America was originally just the name of South America, then the English lazily coined the term “North America”.
You have it backwards.
German in German is “Deutsch” or “Duits” in Dutch.
Dutch in Dutch is “Nederlands” or “Niederländisch” in German.
“Deutch” comes from an old high german word “diutisc” which meant “of the people”
“Dutch” comes from “Diest” meaning “people’s language”
When the Romans invaded England, they important the Latin “Germania” to refer to Germany and gradually started to use “Dutch” for the common people of the “lower countries” (Belgium and Netherlands)
Where does “Alemania” (what they call Germany in Spain) come from?
AFAIK French has something similar. I might be wrong, but similarly to the Holland/Netherlands (Nederlanden) story, it was named after one of the tribes in Germany (alamanni, “all men”), before the great unification.
I think the term “The Nethetlands” was coined after the Reformation and Counter-Reformation when the northern provinces ,which became Lutheran, separated from the southern provinces which remained Roman Catholic.
The country was usually referred as “Holland” (a northern province) before then.
Technically, Japan is not called Japan in Japan. Its Nippon.
In Germany Nippon is a brand of puffed rice with chocolate.
That’s it, I’m going back to bed
Not technically, it just plain isn’t called Japan.
More often Nihon than Nippon. The latter is somewhat archaic.
Both are spelled almost the same in Japanese (kana): にほん vs. にぽん.
日本 could be either, but most often Nihon.
Fun fact:
You might know China as 中国
But Chinatown is not China 中国 + Town 城
I never heard of any Chinese diaspora use 中国城
It’s always 唐人街 Tang-People Street, Tang referring to China’s most powerful dynasty, or 華埠 Hua-City, Hua also refers to Chinese people, it’s actually a character in the official name of both PRC 中华人民共和国 (in simplified) and ROC 中華民國 (in traditional)
Overseas Chinese is typically not referred as 中国人 but as 華人 (Hua People)
Chinese Americans are not really referred to as “Americans” but the emphasis is put on the Citizenship, rather than being an “American”
Like in 美籍華人 which Google Translate says is “Chinese American”, but really transliterates to “Hua (meaning ethnic Chinese) Person with American Citizenship”
To emphasis on the “American-ness” I’d have to use 華裔美國人 which transliterates to “American of Hua (aka: Chinese) Ethnicity”, which I think would sound really weird and I think I’d get weird looks if I use the term 美國人 (American), so I probably would never call myself an “American” in front of Chinese-speaking people, but use 美籍華人 instead.
(Sort of like code-switching. I call myself American in front of other Americans to fit in, but call myself 華人 (ethnic Chinese person) to other ethnic Chinese so I could also fit in.)
Likewise, Germans feel betrayed when they find out that you don’t call your country Deppendorf
But we are not a village
Deppenmetropole*
A metropolis in size can still be a village in spirit.
Wait until you learn about Japan
Nippon! Wait…Nihon! Err…
I’m a Newfoundlander. My sister felt betrayed when she found out that what we call turnips, most people call rutabegas
I could have sworn rutabagas were a different vegetable…
They are, I can buy both at the local grocery. Turnips are white, rutabaga are a yellowish color.
deleted by creator
Exactly, instead of saying USA, we say NAZI now.
deleted by creator
美國 “Beautiful Country” in my language.
“America” as in the continent would be 美洲
“American” as in American Nationals would be 美國人 and is distinct from 美洲人 which means the “American” as in "People who live in the Americas.
So you don’t need terms like “US-Americans” or “USA’ians”.
Chinese is such a simple and beautiful language. Easy to understand.
deleted by creator
Eh. The country is beautiful.
Politics is ugly, regardless of where you are in the world.
No shit?!
What’s Germany? You mean Německo?
No, he meant Allemagne
You mean Niemcy?
and Japan is is not Japan in Japan.
NaNi-ppon?
Ah, but Canada is Canada. More or less consistent around the world. One of the few countries that is.
Kanada.
same pronunciation
And the country of Georgia isn’t called Georgia either!
And lets not even get into named country’s in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Wait’ll you hear about Japan.
The wiki on Names of Japan is a rollercoaster.
Or China!
In the Netherlands, we don’t call out country The Netherlands.
We call it: “Nederland”. Completely different.
But the Americans seem to think you are Duits.
There isn’t called there when you are there. It’s called here there.
Same same but different
