# Do Foreign Languages Have Their Own Names For American States **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 12, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847 "2010-04-12T15:48:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/21 "2010-04-12T17:39:44Z")
> [@Neptunian\_Slug](#): > > Russian is a mixed bag. For states with “New” in them, Russian uses “Нью” which is just a literal transliteration of New. > > For states with directionals, they put the directional in Russian, “Северная Дакота” or “Severnaya Dakota”. Maybe it doesn’t quite count as a “different” name, but many Russian names for U.S. states (and cities) do adjust the phonetics to better fit Russian pronunciation: **Вайоминг** (vie-oh-ming) = **Wyoming** **Огайо** (oh-guy-oh) = **Ohio** **Нью-Гэмпшир** (nyew gem-sheer [hard g]) = **New Hampshire** **Айдахо** (aye-duh-kho [where kh is like the beginning of Yiddish _chutzpah_]) = **Idaho** ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/22 "2010-04-12T17:48:44Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Do the French everywhere use this? Or is it a French Canadian translation. In other words would French speaker all over the world use these? Well, the [map of Canada in wiki-français](http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Carte_administrative_du_Canada.png) uses these terms, so I would assume that they are in general use in French, not just in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/23 "2010-04-12T17:51:44Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Maybe it doesn’t quite count as a “different” name, but many Russian names for U.S. states (and cities) do adjust the phonetics to better fit Russian pronunciation: > > **Вайоминг** (vie-oh-ming) = **Wyoming** > **Огайо** (oh-guy-oh) = **Ohio** > **Нью-Гэмпшир** (nyew gem-sheer [hard g]) = **New Hampshire** > **Айдахо** (aye-duh-kho [where kh is like the beginning of Yiddish _chutzpah_]) = **Idaho** There’s no h sound in Russian, so they use the next best letter, often “г” (the Cyrillic letter derived from the Greek gamma, and sounding like g). I once saw a [Russian movie of “Hamlet”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet_%281964_film%29) with the title “Гамлет”, i.e. “Gamlet”. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/24 "2010-04-12T19:02:29Z")
Lithuanian modifies the endings of foreign proper nouns including foreign place-names, so that they can be declined according to the requirements of Lithuanian grammar. So Texas becomes Teksasas (adding a 1st declension “-as” ending); Chicago becomes the 2nd-declension “Čikaga”, and so on. Strict phonetic spelling rules mean that the Lithuanian version can appear quite different to the English: can you recognise the states of “Juta”, “Aidahas”, and “Vajomingas”? Irish has “Nua Eabhrac” for New York. In Canada you have “Talamh an Éisc” (Newfoundland) and “Nua Albain” (Nova Scotia). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/25 "2010-04-12T19:05:43Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > Irish has “Nua Eabhrac” for New York. In Canada you have “Talamh an Éisc” (Newfoundland) and “Nua Albain” (Nova Scotia). “Newfoundland” is “Land of the Fish” ? How bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/26 "2010-04-12T19:25:42Z")
> [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](#): > > Older phonetic terms often work better when pronounced in a southern dialect such as Cantonese, for obvious reasons. 😕 I’m afraid it’s not obvious to me. Please explain. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/27 "2010-04-12T19:28:28Z")
[QUOTE=Dr. Drake] “Newfoundland” is “Land of the Fish” ? How bizarre. [/QUOTE] Not when you remember that that’s how Cabot sold his discovery of Newfoundland and the Grand Banks to King Henry VII, as recounted in this [Canada History Minute](http://www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.do?id=10122): > [@](#): > > What’s more, Cabot returned with stories of the Grand Banks, where cod appeared so thick that a person “could walk across their backs.” That news opened the North West Atlantic fishery, which helped feed the world for centuries to come. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/28 "2010-04-12T19:36:29Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > “Newfoundland” is “Land of the Fish” ? How bizarre. Well it was settled by fishermen. ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/29 "2010-04-12T19:47:19Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > 😕 I’m afraid it’s not obvious to me. Please explain. It should be “obvious” to forum poster **even sven** , I don’t imagine it would be terribly interesting to anyone else. People living along the south eastern coastline of China are generally the first people to have contact with words like “California”, so the Chinese phonetic transcriptions of the word will usually follow the pronunciation in a Southern dialect. To use his example, The first character, “Jia” of “Jia Li Fu Ni Ya” does not sound like the first syllable “ka” in “California” when pronounced in Mandarin. The actual Mandarin pronouciation uses a voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate [t̠͡ɕ] that has no English equivalent, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. However when pronounced in Cantonese, the sound is more akin to “ga”, so when pronounced in Cantonese, the English speaker can easily recognize it as “California”. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/30 "2010-04-12T19:48:06Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Do the French everywhere use this? Or is it a French Canadian translation. In other words would French speaker all over the world use these? It’s not a “translation”. Canada is bilingual. Those are the names in French for the provinces we Anglophones call Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, etc. One is as official and fully the name as the other – granted that primary Anglophones greatly outnumber primary Francophones. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/31 "2010-04-12T19:52:32Z")
> [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](#): > > To use his example… her ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/32 "2010-04-12T20:01:57Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > It’s not a “translation”. Canada is bilingual. Those are the names in French for the provinces we Anglophones call Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, etc. One is as official and fully the name as the other – granted that primary Anglophones greatly outnumber primary Francophones. Uh…unless you’re claiming that the British and French happened to name the same area “Nova Scotia” and “Nouvelle-Ecosse” completely by coincidence, I think it’s clear that one was a translation of the other. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/33 "2010-04-12T20:10:46Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > **Вайоминг** (vie-oh-ming) = **Wyoming** I don’t know Russian, but it looks like their version of “Wisconsin” ([Висконсин](http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BD)) would also start with a /V/ sound. Is that the case? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/34 "2010-04-12T20:12:15Z")
Japanese has two words for America itself: one is written phonetically in [katakana](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana) as アメリカ _Amerika_, and one is 米国 _Beikoku_, which literally means “rice country.” Like with all [kanji](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji)-based country names, the first kanji was chosen for its pronunciation more than its meaning. (Further example: France is “Buddha country.”) For states, however, AFAIK there are only names written phonetically with katakana. For instance, Wisconsin is ウイスコンシン _Uisukonshin_ and Illinois is イリノイ _Irinoi_. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/35 "2010-04-12T20:22:17Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > I don’t know Russian, but it looks like their version of “Wisconsin” ([Висконсин](http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BD)) would also start with a /V/ sound. Is that the case? No – in Russian В has a V sound; if you want a B sound, you use Б. (And in Modern Greek beta (Β) has a V sound too: if you want transliterate a B sound, you write ΜΠ – mu and pi) ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/36 "2010-04-12T20:25:59Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > No – in Russian В has a V sound; if you want a B sound, you use Б. I’m afraid you misread my question — but fortunately you gave me the information I wanted anyway. 😉 So, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/37 "2010-04-12T21:12:01Z")
Here are the ones I am aware of in Quebec (can’t say about France or other French speaking lands): L’etat de New-York (as opposed to (La Ville de) New York Pennsylvanie Caroline du Sud/Nord Don’t know if they say Georgie Floride Californie Virginie (and Virginie de l’Ouest) Illinois and Vermont are already French names Louisane Presumably they say Dakota du Sud/Nord, but not very often Presumably they say l’Etat de Washington for the same reason we always say Washington State A few cities have French names too. For example, my home town of Philadelphie. Also Nouvelle Orleans. ---
**Author:** ![unclelem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ac91a4/32.png) [@unclelem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclelem)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/38 "2010-04-12T22:00:40Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > I don’t know Russian, but it looks like their version of “Wisconsin” ([Висконсин](http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BD)) would also start with a /V/ sound. Is that the case? Viskonsin (where i = ee) ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/39 "2010-04-12T23:09:22Z")
but again, as with the /h/, Russian _has_ no /w/, so it’s no change in any real sense - what else are they supposed to short of not transliterating non-Cyrillic words? ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/40 "2010-04-12T23:16:05Z")
BTW for a more complete answer, it is helpful to go to wikipedia’s [list of american states](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:States_of_the_United_States) and click on the different languages that that list is offered in (left hand column when you scroll down), from [Afrikaans](http://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategorie:State_in_die_Verenigde_State_van_Amerika) to [Vietnamese](http://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%E1%BB%83_lo%E1%BA%A1i:Ti%E1%BB%83u_bang_Hoa_K%E1%BB%B3). Doesn’t look like there’s much variation though; some of the words that mean something in English get translated (but never ‘Island’, in Rhode Island, apparently), some endings get changed around or the spelling gets changed to deal with non-existing letters/sounds, but by and large that seems to be it [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847.md?page=3)