Wikipedia seems to suggest the people originally classed as “Germanian” may have been Celts—that is, the word predates the current association between the region and an ethnic group
4 Likes
When it comes to the PR actions of thin-skinned dictators, the best solution is to disregard it entirely.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I want to go to the Czech Republic to see the Prague astronomical clock.
English is the official language of more countries than any other language
So, basically the opposite of that
7 Likes
Even more than Spanish?
1 Like
Spanish and French are fighting for second place?
but whoever is Number 1, drive-by snark that nobody speaks English is just silly
7 Likes
I looked it up and you’re right (although there are many countries where English is one of many official languages). It looks like the British did a very good job at colonizing back in the day.
Now I feel less bad about not studying Spanish (though I still want to if I get a chance).
4 Likes
Spanish has a lot of native speakers but never achieved the snob appeal of French or Italian
3 Likes
It’s the same with Arabic. Lots of beautiful and widely spoken languages get overlooked because of what a bunch of high-society socialites decided were “fancy” languages.
2 Likes
Exactly. I think if Hans asks to be called Hans, and people roll their eyes and say “Whatever, Hank”, well, they’re jerks. That isn’t even what is going on here though. This is Hans choosing what Hans will call Hans.
At the very least I would think Hans has the right to choose to call himself Hans, surely.
2 Likes
I agree that countries should be allowed to decide what they will be called (although it can be really hard to pronounce sometimes), but some countries can’t even decide what they call themselves.
For instance, Japan is both “Nihon” and “Nippon.”
6 Likes
I don’t really think colonialism is the reason. After all, that doesn’t explain how Deutschland became Germany in English, or Roma became Rome.
3 Likes
The bird named after the country?
9 Likes
Doesn’t it? I can’t think of a better example than the term “Germania”, really. Granted, you’d have to go back 2500 years or so. The ones that aren’t to do with colonialism have more to do with obstinance, I think.
2 Likes
This story makes me Hungary.
5 Likes
My guess on that would be they were each local dialects and neither died out or won.
I mean, is it America or Murcah? After hundreds of years and a lot of elections gone wrong, people might be asking why we write “America” on things and not “Murcah”.
1 Like
Yes, evidently “Nihon” was commonly used in Edo (now Tokyo) while “Nippon” was used in Western Japan during the Edo Period, but now both are used in both regions.
“Nippon” seems to have more nationalistic overtones (Japanese people cheering their compatriots at the Olympics will always shout “Nippon” instead of “Nihon”), which may have to do with the fact that the name for the Japanese Empire was only read “Dai-Nippon” (大日本, literally: “Great Japan”).
3 Likes
Makes sense. “Murcah” tends to be more nationalistic here, too >.>
1 Like
I don’t know about Italian, but having some French speaking dude invade England 1000 years ago and declare he was the king didn’t help.
I guess this is where I remind everyone that William the Bastard was never our king in the far North-West. There had to be some advantage to living in Carlisle.
16 Likes
French somehow appointed itself the Official Language of Cooking, and Italian appointed itself the Official Language of Music
and this still manages to impress people, even those of us who are not into “opera” or “cuisine”
7 Likes
Okay, but only on condition that they bring back the fez.
3 Likes
