# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/121 "2010-04-15T15:49:08Z")
In Japanese, the phonetic katakana pronunciation is used, followed by the character 州 (SHOO) roughly meaning “state.” Examples: カリフォルニア州 (KAH-REE-FO-RU-NEE-AH-SHOO) = California State ニューヨーク州 (NYOO-YOH-KU-SHOO) = New York State as opposed to: ニューヨーク市 (NYOO-YOH-KU-SHEE) “SHEE” meaning “city” = New York City ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/122 "2010-04-15T15:50:22Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > I actually think this is … quite silly. German can be quite a pretty language when spoken/written by the right people (as can all languages - I fundamentally disagree that some languages are more euphonious per se than others. They may not sound right if you don’t know them but that is not an absolute thing, but instead really says something about your own linguistic biases. Venedig and Venezia, Vienna and Wien sound just as nice to me. Unfortunately, English speakers grow up mostly hearing German screamed from the top of fortifications by unpleasant soldiers in war movies, rather than sung in Mozart operas, so we learn to think of it as an “ugly” language. ☹ ---
**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 15, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/123 "2010-04-15T15:50:51Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > Swedish is not a native language in Canada. > > [http://www.nordicway.com/search/Quebec.htm](http://www.nordicway.com/search/Quebec.htm) Yawn. "The name “Quebec”, which comes from the Algonquin word kébec meaning “where the river narrows”, originally referred to the area around Quebec City where the Saint Lawrence River narrows to a cliff-lined gap. " > **[Quebec](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec#Etymology_and_boundary_changes)** > > Quebec\[a\] (French: Québec)\[b\] is Canada's largest province by area.\[c\] Located in Central Canada, it is the only Francophone-majority province in the country, being home to Québécois French. It shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border with the territory of Nunavut. In the south, it shares a border with the United States.\[d\] Quebec has a population of around 8 million, making it Ca... ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/124 "2010-04-15T15:52:28Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > Swedish is not a native language in Canada. > > [http://www.nordicway.com/search/Quebec.htm](http://www.nordicway.com/search/Quebec.htm) That’s a … very entertaining theory. The _Canadian Oxford Dictionary_, like most other authorities I’ve seen on the subject, derives the name Quebec from the word _quebecq_ or _gepèèg_, common to Algonquian languages such as Algonquin and Abenaki, meaning river narrows. ETA: **hogarth** got there before I did. As long as we’re talking about fanciful ‘derivations’ for _Quebec_, another one I heard as a child had it coming from the French _quel bec!_, “What a point!”, referring to Cap Diamant. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/125 "2010-04-15T15:57:33Z")
https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Qu%C3%A9bec,%2BHonfleur,%2BFrance&sll=49.340336,0.22419&sspn=0.110059,0.220757&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Qu%C3%A9bec,%2BHonfleur,%2BCalvados,%2BLower-Normandy,%2BFrance&ll=49.404607,0.247364&spn=0.054958,0.110378&z=13 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/126 "2010-04-15T16:02:52Z")
The [Commission de toponymie du Québec](http://www.toponymie.gouv.qc.ca/ct/toposweb/fiche.aspx?no_seq=51718) goes into a little more detail: [QUOTE=my translation] In the large Algonquian language family, the word _kebec_ means ‘where it is blocked,’ the root _kebh_ meaning ‘blocked’ and the locative _ek_ meaning ‘where.’ The Abenakis still call the city Kephek. In the Mi’kmaq language, Kepe:k, or Gepeg in modern orthography, means where it is closed, blocked, obstructed. This Mi’kmaq word is also used to refer to the narrowing of a watercourse. In other words, ‘Québec’ refers to the straits on the Saint Lawrence River beside the city. [/quote] ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/127 "2010-04-15T16:05:49Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > [Google Maps](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Qu%C3%A9bec,+Honfleur,+France&sll=49.340336,0.22419&sspn=0.110059,0.220757&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Qu%C3%A9bec,+Honfleur,+Calvados,+Lower-Normandy,+France&ll=49.404607,0.247364&spn=0.054958,0.110378&z=13) Look, a modern suburb named after Quebec, and with streets named for people who explored Quebec, in the town from which many immigrants to Quebec left France. I’m astonished! Clearly, this demonstrates that the word Quebec comes from Swedish, not from First Nations languages as the Commission de toponymie du Québec and the writers of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary so foolishly believe. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/128 "2010-04-15T17:11:55Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > [hijack]Wait, literally? Like, they’d say, “It snew last night”?[/hijack] Kind of, but in Spanish. “Nieva” vs “neva” (paging **Nava** ), for example. It also extends into a bit of a trick question since you don’t conjugate “nevar” the way you do other verbs since it doesn’t make any sense to say I snow You snow S/He snows We snow. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/129 "2010-04-15T17:18:59Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Unfortunately, English speakers grow up mostly hearing German screamed from the top of fortifications by unpleasant soldiers in war movies, rather than sung in Mozart operas, so we learn to think of it as an “ugly” language. ☹ [another hijack] That was one of my signature jokes while learning French in Montreal. We had people from all over and we made fun of Germans for how rough their language was. I always came to the part where I asked a girl would you rather have someone tell you “que bonitos ojos tienes…” (crooned to the tune of a popular romantic song) or “du hast schone augen” (yelled at the top of my lungs red-faced and spitting all over the place). It was stupid but it brought roaring laughter every time. [/another hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Kamrusepas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@Kamrusepas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamrusepas)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/130 "2010-04-15T17:22:05Z")
Didn’t anyone cover Finnish yet? Well not much change in our language really, only words like ‘south’ are translated, but **not** the ‘new’ in New York etc. California is Kalifornia and Texas used to be Teksas in older texts. The biggest difference I can think of atm is Hawaii = Havaiji. ---
**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 15, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/131 "2010-04-15T17:30:05Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > German can be quite a pretty language when spoken/written by the right people In high school, I decided that a foreign speaker of German has exactly two options: angry or flamboyantly gay. 😃 Note that this does not apply to native speakers. ---
**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 15, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847/132 "2010-04-15T18:07:02Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > Swedish is not a native language in Canada. I beg your pardon. My great-grandmother and many of her relatives were both Canadians and native speakers of Swedish. I’m afraid I don’t know how they referred to Quebec, if it ever came up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-foreign-languages-have-their-own-names-for-american-states/535847.md?page=6)