This thread, Names of Countries, but in other languages got me thinking about something. What country’s people commonly use a foreign name for their country, even when not overseas?
The only one I know of right now is Japan which, although it’s officially Nihon (or Nippon), is frequently called Japan by many of the locals, to the extent that it no longer seems like a foreign term. A couple of common examples include The Japan Series (baseball championship), and the J-League (soccer). A lot of local businesses also use ‘Japan’ in their names.
So, do the people of Suomi often use the word Finland? Do they often speak of Germany (or Allemange) in Deutschland?
Only when speaking a foreign language.
There´d be no point, otherwise, would there?
It´s just as with any old word from a foreign language - when speaking your own language, you´ll usually use your word for the country, and when speaking to someone in English, French or whatever, you use their word. Language-mixing feels strange both ways.
Or if you want to go international with your business - but then again, many German (e.g.) companies do not only have “Germany” in their name, it´s in English altogether. Makes things easier.
I have to disagree with this; I still treat it as a foreign term. Perhaps you were misled by the fact that many businesses have English and Japanese versions of their names. Japan Air Lines is officially “Nihon Koku,” and JVC is “Nihon Victor.” And the baseball championship is Nihon Series (or Nihon Shiri-zu, I suppose.) The only company I can think of that uses “Japan” for their Japanese name is Japan Energy (the oil company).
universe: You’re right, ordinarily, there wouldn’t really be any point. I was just curious if there were any places that did it anyway.
scr4: You may be right, but it seems like I see and hear ‘Japan’ used rather frequently, even in documents and broadcasts intended for native speakers.
How about Swiss, the Swiss airline, which replaced SwissAir last year?
There are quite a few cases where the Swiss use English, as it’s considered more ‘neutral’ than using any of the three ‘domestic’ languages. (OK four, but nobody speaks Romansch.)
I think the ‘Finland’ example is flawed, as the country is indeed called ‘Finland’ in one of its official languages - Swedish.
Sweden is called Sverige and everyone calls it that in conversation when speakign Swedish, but you do see the words “Sweden” and “Swedish” all over the place. I found it really quite strange when I got here - it’d be like seeing “Storbritannien” (Great Britain in Swedish) everywhere back home.
Well, the official name (according to the CIA foctbook) is Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft (in German), Confederation Suisse (in French), and Confederazione Svizzera (in Italian); all of which mean ‘Swiss confederation’.
However, on local coins it says Confoederatio Helvetica, which would be the same thing in latin, if I’m not misstaken.
I was going to say that I live in the Cosmic Dominion of Nedjiflugistan, but that everybody else uses its mundane name, “Canada”… but I’ll shut up now.
I would guess that “J-pop” is an example of this. I was discussing this very point with a native Japanese speaker in March. I was listening to the radio while doing my laundry one weekend, and the DJ used the word “Japan” several times (speaking about a tour of Japan by an American band).
That’s standard. As far as I can remember, I have never seen “Hergestellt in Deutschland” (literal translation) or any similar label on any German product.