this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2024
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[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 14 points 3 months ago (4 children)

So which country is known by the same name to the most number of other countries?

[–] datelmd5sum@lemmy.world 44 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Japan is Japan everywhere except Japan.

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Everyone uses the name that China used. I guess that's the benefit and downside of only having one neighbor.

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

This caused me to think about upside versus downside and benefit versus some word that isn't anti-benefit, unbenefit, abenefit, ilbenefit, irbenefit, imbenefit, inbenefit, debenefit, disbenefit. There is no etymological related antonym to benefit.

[–] wieson@feddit.org 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

I like the way you think

[–] norimee@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

Yeah but Nippon is reaaally close to the word.

[–] Sauerkraut@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 3 months ago

The only exception I could find is that Japan is 'Japon' in Bambara.

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 months ago (2 children)
[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 months ago

Quit making countries up.

[–] sunbather@beehaw.org 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

suggestions off the top of my head are countries with or near significant colonial influences, eg madagascar and indonesia seem to be pretty similar across the board

although far from comprehensive such is the case of languages listed on wiktionarys translations dropdown on the english entries of the countries at least

the only notable exception i spotted is the navajo name for indonesia apparently being "Kéyah Dah Ndaaʼeełí Łání" which is quite interesting and i dont really have an explanation for that discrepancy (perhaps its pronounced similarly and orthography just isnt idunno) but navajo isnt a national language anywhere anyways so it doesnt really matter for the original question

[–] arken@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (7 children)

Without thinking much about it, my guess would be the United States of America.

Edit: my reasoning was that most countries translate USA verbatim to their language, as most replies here demonstrate.

[–] raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world 10 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Do you mean Amerika Birleşik Devletleri? Los Estados Unidos? Les États-Unis d'Amérique ?

[–] arken@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Translation, in order: The United States of America, The United States of America and The United States of America.

[–] raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

That's how languages work, yes. They have different words for the same thing. How is that different from OP content?

[–] arken@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Remember the meme? Deutschland, Duitsland, Tyskland are all regional variations on the same name. Allemagne and Germany are completely different names for the same country. Of course every language have their own way of saying "The United States of America", but in essence it's the same word, the same idea. Even Japan is Japón in Spanish, Ιαπωνία in greek, and so on. No one can pronounce my name correctly if I go abroad, but most of the time there is a regional variant I can use.

The question was what country is known "by the same name" by the most people around the world. You're not going to find a place name that is pronounced and/or written exactly the same in every language. That's how languages work.

[–] RidderSport@feddit.org 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Actually calling Germany Allemagne would be like calling the US Texas or France Bretagne.

[–] nyctre@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

Or the Netherlands Holland? Yeah, that happens.

[–] whome@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You mean: die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika? VSA VSA

[–] Wogi@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

Out Usono if we're speaking Esperanto.

[–] datelmd5sum@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] arken@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Finnish doesn't count, having completely unrelated names for everything is like a sport to you people

[–] boonhet@lemm.ee 2 points 3 months ago

It's not even unrelated, it's a literal translation of "United States" to Finnish

Similarly in Estonian sometimes we'd just call it Ühendriigid instead of Ameerika Ühendriigid

[–] rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee 4 points 3 months ago

You mean מְאַהֵב זָקֵן?

[–] feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] KuroiKaze@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I'm not sure what we did to earn the name. Beautiful land but we'll take it

[–] feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It's a loose transliteration, same as 英国,法国,德国,etc.

[–] KuroiKaze@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

I never really felt it was a good one as it's really far off compared to the others

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Los Estados Unidos de América

On second thought maybe as, "Those fucking Yankees"?

[–] myplacedk@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

Amerikas Forenede Stater?

But yeah, it's too long, we usually call it USA. Although we pronounce the letters in the local way.