Take it up with your ancestors (or the English, if you have no English ancestors yourself). They started calling the Dutch “Dutch” when people in what is today The Netherlands and Germany were both called deutsch/dutch, and the English didn’t care to adjust when the distinction started to matter/people from the Netherlands stopped calling themselves deutsch/dutch.
But Germans are not much better, it’s absurd that Italian city names that aren’t at all hard to pronounce for Germans have different names in German, e.g. Torino, Milano, Roma (Turin, Mailand, Rom), and we also call Japan “Japan”, even though Japanese is one of the few languages that uses a word for Germany that is derived from “Deutschland” and “Nippon” isn’t hard to pronounce for Germans, either.
Also, the saxons never lived in the area of the German federal state of Saxony.
Guess what? The modern state of Saxony (aka Upper Saxony, Obersachsen) is not even contiguous with the state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen). They’re separated by nearly 300 km.
Although to be somewhat fair they are connected by Sachsen-Anhalt. And basically all of northern Germany was at one point called Saxony (“Old Saxony”, Altesachsen), at least by some others in the first millennium.
Of course history is funny; The lands of Upper Saxony weren’t part of the medieval Duchy of Saxony that followed, despite eventually taking the name (via “Electorate of Saxony” and then “Kingdom of Saxony”).
But anyway the “Anglo-Saxons” were probably really from Denmark and northern Schleswig-Holstein. The southern parts of their region might’ve been called Saxony at the time.
(I’m mostly posting this because I wanted to figure it all out)
“Nippon” isn’t hard to pronounce for Germans, either.
I don’t know about that. Even if Germans are not shy of pronouncing letters wrongly (using V as F for instance), the P in Nippon makes no sense in German. It would have to be spelled with an H to make the right sound.
OK. German has an H (same as English, which makes it weird that it’s written with a P in the first place) and isn’t shy about spelling reforms, either.
Those have more straightforward transliterations. But where the fuck does the L even come from?
Firenze was also the art and culture capitol of Europe for quite some time, so this isn’t some backwater town. It’s like the CCP telling people that New York is now officially called “Not Yoodle” in Chinese.
No, in Italian, the city’s name is Firenze, which is much cooler IMO than nasal EN/DE Florence. Which, TIL, is from the Latin Florenti, as in “Florentine” as the ajdectival form.
Those are good points but Torino as Turin is complicated, some folks there still call it that in dialect etc. and historically, run by the Lombards and all that.
English is terrible at this, Venice is Venezia, if you can say pizza you can say that.
I speak two languages so yes, i’d say it really is. Some spanish place names are completely different than english ones and trying to dredge them up in conversation can be tedious if you don’t often use them.
But keep downvoting people you mildly disagree with. It really improves the platform and discussions. /s
Cool beans, I speak three languages and there’s no way you believe that some arbitrary vocabulary is harder than grammatical finesses, or some outrageous slang, or idioms/shibboleths.
Maybe you aren’t “speaking” that second language as well as you think?
Also, imagine caring about votes 😂 it’s not a disagree button, Brudi. But your high effort post probably deserves all the updoots.
Take it up with your ancestors (or the English, if you have no English ancestors yourself). They started calling the Dutch “Dutch” when people in what is today The Netherlands and Germany were both called deutsch/dutch, and the English didn’t care to adjust when the distinction started to matter/people from the Netherlands stopped calling themselves deutsch/dutch.
But Germans are not much better, it’s absurd that Italian city names that aren’t at all hard to pronounce for Germans have different names in German, e.g. Torino, Milano, Roma (Turin, Mailand, Rom), and we also call Japan “Japan”, even though Japanese is one of the few languages that uses a word for Germany that is derived from “Deutschland” and “Nippon” isn’t hard to pronounce for Germans, either.
Also, the saxons never lived in the area of the German federal state of Saxony.
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Guess what? The modern state of Saxony (aka Upper Saxony, Obersachsen) is not even contiguous with the state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen). They’re separated by nearly 300 km.
Although to be somewhat fair they are connected by Sachsen-Anhalt. And basically all of northern Germany was at one point called Saxony (“Old Saxony”, Altesachsen), at least by some others in the first millennium.
Of course history is funny; The lands of Upper Saxony weren’t part of the medieval Duchy of Saxony that followed, despite eventually taking the name (via “Electorate of Saxony” and then “Kingdom of Saxony”).
But anyway the “Anglo-Saxons” were probably really from Denmark and northern Schleswig-Holstein. The southern parts of their region might’ve been called Saxony at the time.
(I’m mostly posting this because I wanted to figure it all out)
I don’t know about that. Even if Germans are not shy of pronouncing letters wrongly (using V as F for instance), the P in Nippon makes no sense in German. It would have to be spelled with an H to make the right sound.
OK. German has an H (same as English, which makes it weird that it’s written with a P in the first place) and isn’t shy about spelling reforms, either.
IIRC Germany is named weirdly different around the world with names stemming from several roots.
Deutschland, Germany, Alemania, Nemezky, Saksa,…
Plus the true downgrade of Firenze to “Florence.”
Florenz, but yeah
Naples? Rome? Venice?
Those have more straightforward transliterations. But where the fuck does the L even come from?
Firenze was also the art and culture capitol of Europe for quite some time, so this isn’t some backwater town. It’s like the CCP telling people that New York is now officially called “Not Yoodle” in Chinese.
Florence comes from the Latin name of the city Florentia.
TIL
Napoli. Roma. Venezia.
Czech: Neapol, Řím, Benátky.
Do you perhaps mean “Florenz”?
No, in Italian, the city’s name is Firenze, which is much cooler IMO than nasal EN/DE Florence. Which, TIL, is from the Latin Florenti, as in “Florentine” as the ajdectival form.
What’s “Florenz”?
Those are good points but Torino as Turin is complicated, some folks there still call it that in dialect etc. and historically, run by the Lombards and all that.
English is terrible at this, Venice is Venezia, if you can say pizza you can say that.
“Venedig” in German, even though they literally use (almost) the same sound for z as Italian …
Having to learn new names for countries and cities is one of the worst parts of learning a second language.
lol it’s not by far
I speak two languages so yes, i’d say it really is. Some spanish place names are completely different than english ones and trying to dredge them up in conversation can be tedious if you don’t often use them.
But keep downvoting people you mildly disagree with. It really improves the platform and discussions. /s
Cool beans, I speak three languages and there’s no way you believe that some arbitrary vocabulary is harder than grammatical finesses, or some outrageous slang, or idioms/shibboleths.
Maybe you aren’t “speaking” that second language as well as you think?
Also, imagine caring about votes 😂 it’s not a disagree button, Brudi. But your high effort post probably deserves all the updoots.
“/s” 🤣 holy Moses, Reddit is leaking hard.
I’m glad accounts like yours out themselves so early after joining. Makes you easier to block.
Keep questioning peoples lived experiences. I’m sure you’ll make lots of friends that way. /s
I won’t be responding as i’ve blocked you.