# What do Germans call Germany? Germany vs Deutschland **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 8, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659 "2011-02-08T16:21:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/61 "2011-02-10T16:24:23Z")
You don’t see this often any more, but in the Eighties, it seemed as if many left-wingers were determined to pronounce Latin American countries’ names the way locals would. Hence, I kept hearing people strain to talk about “NEE-cah-RRRRAHG-hwah.” Of course, nobody in Nicaragua made the slightest effort to call our country “The United States of America” in a bland Midwestern accent, and nobody in the USA cared. Does it matter to me what people in other countries call the USA? What they call Texas (my current home) or New York (my birthplace)? Not really. They can try to pronounce American cities and states as we woud, or they can use their own names. What difference could it possibly make to me? ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/62 "2011-02-10T16:25:46Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > “Proper” map? There is no recognized authority on what is a “proper” map. Huh? There are laymens maps, put out by the tourist office for walkers, and proper maps, that are put into atlas books and used by geo-scientists. And most modern countries have one authority that spends money, time and effort on making good maps. In Germany its the Landesvermessungsamt, and in the US I think it’s the Geographic society or the bureau of… And for the Atlas books, the companies/ societies that make them have a certain reputation in the scientific world, from where they derive their authority. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/63 "2011-02-10T16:49:47Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > Huh? There are laymens maps, put out by the tourist office for walkers, and proper maps, that are put into atlas books and used by geo-scientists. You’re creating a false dichotomy here. There are different maps produced by different sources for different purposes. None of them are “proper” or “improper.” ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/64 "2011-02-10T16:54:53Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > Do you mean this is the convention among the lay people, or the general convention? Because I always learned that a proper map will have the cities and mountains labelled with the name the natives of the country in question use; if necessary, the older, common name is added in lighter script and brackets underneath. > > That’s why there’s the push to Mumbai and Beijing, after all: the people want to change it, and we comply. (Though our news anchors still pronounce London and Paris the German way, and call it Frankreich instead of France). I think you’re right about Beijing and Mumbai, but then again Americans don’t use Zhongguo and Bharat for the names of the countries. I guess we’re not really very consistent about this sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/65 "2011-02-10T16:56:44Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > Huh? There are laymens maps, put out by the tourist office for walkers, and proper maps, that are put into atlas books and used by geo-scientists. > > And most modern countries have one authority that spends money, time and effort on making good maps. In Germany its the Landesvermessungsamt, and in the US I think it’s the Geographic society or the bureau of… But the Landesvermessungsämter will not create and publish maps of countries other than Germany, and I guess most countries’ official cartographic authorities will not create and publish maps of other countries. The closest thing to an “official” nomenclature of foreign place names you’ll find is the usage adopted by a country’s diplomatic service; the German Foreign Office, for instance, publishes lists of how to refer to other countries, and there is a tendency to defer to renamings decided upon by the respective countries’ governments - for instance, Myanmar is now the version preferred over Burma (or Birma, as the old German name for it was). But France is and has always been “Frankreich” for the German Foreign Office, and the German version of the [web site of the consulate general in Milan](http://www.mailand.diplo.de/Vertretung/mailand/de/Startseite.html), for instance, simply refers to itself as being in “Mailand”, not in “Milano”. Which is perfectly fine; Milan is one of those European cities (it doesn’t go for every city in Europe, let alone extra-European cities) that have a commonly accepted (in German) German name, so why not use it? Regarding your point that there are publishers with a reputation for quality and that these set the standards for “proper” maps: Usage there is far from uniform. I’ve seen atlases published by reputable German houses that routinely use German names for foreign place names. I’m not saying it would be wrong to use the “indigenous” name of a place (which may, incidentally, not be unambiguous - what do you do in multilingual countries, for instance?), just that the use of another language in a map targeted towards the market in that language is not wrong either. Things might be different for maps intended to be sold internationally. ---
**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:** [February 10, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/66 "2011-02-10T16:59:38Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > And most modern countries have one authority that spends money, time and effort on making good maps. In Germany its the Landesvermessungsamt, and in the US I think it’s the Geographic society or the bureau of… In the U.S. it’s the [U.S. Board on Geographic Names](http://geonames.usgs.gov/) – and they deal with names in all countries, not just in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/67 "2011-02-10T17:13:11Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > You don’t see this often any more, but in the Eighties, it seemed as if many left-wingers were determined to pronounce Latin American countries’ names the way locals would. Hence, I kept hearing people strain to talk about “NEE-cah-RRRRAHG-hwah.” > > Of course, nobody in Nicaragua made the slightest effort to call our country “The United States of America” in a bland Midwestern accent, and nobody in the USA cared. > > Does it matter to me what people in other countries call the USA? What they call Texas (my current home) or New York (my birthplace)? Not really. They can try to pronounce American cities and states as we woud, or they can use their own names. What difference could it possibly make to me? You mean like Obama saying EEE-rrrrahn, EEE-rrrrahk, and PAHki-stahn? I wish he’d also say Frahnce or Mehico, but he never does. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/68 "2011-02-10T17:24:01Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > Huh? There are laymens maps, put out by the tourist office for walkers, and proper maps, that are put into atlas books and used by geo-scientists. > > And most modern countries have one authority that spends money, time and effort on making good maps. In Germany its the Landesvermessungsamt, and in the US I think it’s the Geographic society or the bureau of… > > And for the Atlas books, the companies/ societies that make them have a certain reputation in the scientific world, from where they derive their authority. Different atlas publishers will sometimes use different names. Hammond as compared to the National Geographic Society in the U.S., for example. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/69 "2011-02-10T18:02:19Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > You mean like Obama saying EEE-rrrrahn, EEE-rrrrahk, and PAHki-stahn? I wish he’d also say Frahnce or Mehico, but he never does. Isn’t that the common pronunciation in American English? Or should it be eye-RAN and eye-RACK? ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/70 "2011-02-10T18:23:38Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > Isn’t that the common pronunciation in American English? Or should it be eye-RAN and eye-RACK? It should, but only if you say “Nucular”. In my experience, people usually say the “I” as more of a schwa, not a hard “ee”, and the “ran” and “rack” the same way they pronounce the English words with those spellings. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/3PmNmCtLLps/hqdefault.jpg "Obama, Afghanistan, and Pockeeston") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PmNmCtLLps) ---
**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:** [February 11, 2011, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/71 "2011-02-11T06:07:23Z")
Incidentally, there are numerous cases of geographical names being _officially_ translatable. All of the Canadian provinces and territories have official forms in both English and French, which can be the same (Saskatchewan/la Saskatchewan) or different (Nova Scotia/la Nouvelle-Écosse). They are part of a federal list of [geographical locations of pan-Canadian significance](http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/info/pan_can_e.php) which are officially provided with both English and French names. One notable case is that the highest point in Newfoundland and Labrador, Mount Caubvick, and the highest point in Quebec, Mont D’Iberville, are actually the official French and English names for the same mountain (which lies on the border). Here’s further discussion of the federal government’s [official rules for translating place names between English and French.](http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/info/tra_e.php) Sometimes things get even more byzantine: nearly every street name in Brussels is supplied with both a French and a Flemish name, e.g. Chaussée de Gand/Gentsesteenweg; Rue du Marché aux Herbes/Grasmarkt; Rue de Namur/Naamsestraat. ---
**Author:** ![Apollon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@Apollon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollon)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/72 "2011-02-11T11:07:03Z")
To answer the OP: “SCHLAAAAAND” is what Germans call their country. I’m not making this up. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/73 "2011-02-11T11:39:45Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Sometimes things get even more byzantine: nearly every street name in Brussels is supplied with both a French and a Flemish name, e.g. Chaussée de Gand/Gentsesteenweg; Rue du Marché aux Herbes/Grasmarkt; Rue de Namur/Naamsestraat. How do you know someone is visiting Euskadi or the northern part of Navarra on business for the first time? A: When someone asks where did they park their car, they answer “oh, over there in Kalea!” (Kalea = Basque for ‘street’; Etorbidea = ‘avenue’). Double labeling of streets, the two languages are different enough that equivalent words aren’t readily recognizable as pairs, and the Spanish “street [streetname]” structure meets the Basque “[streetname] street” to produce “Calle [Streetname] Kalea” signs. People from the rest of Spain look at the last word in the sign thinking it’s the streetname, but in this case it’s not. There’s double labeling in the other bilingual areas as well, but it’s nowhere near as confusing due to the languages being more similar. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/74 "2011-02-11T13:21:04Z")
A few years ago the government of Turkey tried to get the country’s name in English changed to Türkiye. English speakers took one look at that scary umlaut, said “That’s nobody’s business but the Turks’,” and totally ignored the request. I guess the idea has been dropped by now. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/75 "2011-02-11T16:25:12Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Double labeling of streets, the two languages are different enough that equivalent words aren’t readily recognizable as pairs, and the Spanish “street [streetname]” structure meets the Basque “[streetname] street” to produce “Calle [Streetname] Kalea” signs. Still, “kalea” looks like “calle” to me. Do you know if the Basque word is a loanword from Latin, directly or through Spanish? ---
**Author:** ![Rusalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Rusalka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rusalka)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/76 "2011-02-11T16:53:24Z")
> [@Apollon](#): > > To answer the OP: “SCHLAAAAAND” is what Germans call their country. > I’m not making this up. 😛 Sure you are. Germans may drop sounds in colloquial speech, but that’s not even close, so your joke isn’t very effective.:dubious:😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/77 "2011-02-11T17:32:14Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > A few years ago the government of Turkey tried to get the country’s name in English changed to Türkiye. English speakers took one look at that scary umlaut, said “That’s nobody’s business but the Turks’,” and totally ignored the request. I guess the idea has been dropped by now. They’ll be lucky to get the dot in “Istanbul” (excuse me - “İstanbul”). I assumed the _ **SCHLAAAAAND** _ thing was a football crowd reference. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/78 "2011-02-11T17:33:04Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > … nearly every street name in Brussels is supplied with both a French and a Flemish name… This is also true for Helsinki. The area where the town is situated was from the beginning a Swedish speaking part of Finland that nowadays has turned more or less Finnish. For some reason the translation into Finnish is sometimes a bit awkward, e.g. _“Högbergsgatan”_ is most probably named for a person called “Högberg” (_hög_ = high, _berg_ = mountain, Swedish names can be formed that way), which should have been _“Högberginkatu”_, but the Finnish name is a word by word translation, _“Korkeavuorenkatu”_. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/79 "2011-02-11T17:48:12Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I assumed the _ **SCHLAAAAAND** _ thing was a football crowd reference. [Bingo.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bz0rLo_fhU) (ETA: I apologize, it’s a silly song) ---
**Author:** ![Rusalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Rusalka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rusalka)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/80 "2011-02-11T18:14:27Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > [Bingo.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bz0rLo_fhU) > > (ETA: I apologize, it’s a silly song) :eek: Oh. My. I am speechless. That is absolutely the most horrible video I’ve ever seen or heard. It’s not even horrible in a truly evil way, it’s horrible in its mediocrity. What an embarassment for the birthplace of Beethoven. Anyway…this word, “Schland” was manufactured and trademarked, and spawned quite recently by one individual. Did you guys get permission to use it? 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659.md?page=5)