Polandball I - Polandball can into space

[dragonprobably]

Censored the one I removed:

Also:

EDIT: Just found this one:

 

[WhiteRobber]

Found this laying around.
A good way to clarify thigs for the morons who mock me for really no reason at all

 

[Civ'ed]

Poland Czyensorshyp Buro needs to go through that image
(swear words)

 

[WhiteRobber]

Edited, altough it wasn't made by me.

 

[dragonprobably]

 

[Midnight-Blue766]

 

[carmen510]

 

[bhsup]

 

[JohannaK]

 

[TheMulattoMaker]

I've often wondered what exactly is so difficult about pronouncing countries the way the people that live there pronounce them.

I mean, when you get into languages that have sounds that just don't exist in English (or whathaveyou) I can see it being a problem, but if people from France and Germany and Spain say they're from "Frahntz" or "Doytchlahnd" or "Espanya"*, why can't we?

Oh. Sorry for srs bzns thoughts in humor thread. Needs moar 'Murka getting all irritated with "Estados Unidos" and "Etats-Unis" and all that. But then, I think everything needs moar 'Murka.

*-best I could approximate the sounds without accent marks

 

[sophie]

I've often wondered what exactly is so difficult about pronouncing countries the way the people that live there pronounce them.

I mean, when you get into languages that have sounds that just don't exist in English (or whathaveyou) I can see it being a problem, but if people from France and Germany and Spain say they're from "Frahntz" or "Doytchlahnd" or "Espanya"*, why can't we?

Different countries developed different names for different regions well before modern polities and modern, homogeneous languages emerged.

For example:

Deutsch is the Germanic-derived word for speakers of German-sounding languages (keep in mind it was only one or two centuries ago that anything even vaguely resembling a homogenized "German" language emerged. Our word is "Dutch" which at one point was used to refer to speakers of various German languages (including Dutch, Frisian, Hochdeutsch, Bayrisch, Schwyzerdütsch/Schwitzertitsch, etc.) but we have since modified "Dutch" to refer specifically to speakers of Nederlands and residents of the Netherlands.

"Germany" of course comes from Germania which is a Latin word referring to the regions on the opposite side of the Rhine river from Gaul. The word probably ultimately originates from a Celtic-originating word referring to the same people. That we use it now probably has to do with the resurgence in interest in Latin and Latin-based words in the 18th and 19th centuries, although the word was in use in the English lexicon as early as the 16th century.

"Allemannia" is a term the Romans applied to a Confederation occupying the region of what is now Southern Germany in Swabia and Bavaria. The name is probably a Latinification of the Germanic *Allemanniz (All men; nice English cognate there). This name eventually became the basis for a number of Mediterranean languages' word for what we call "Germany", as is noted in the Polandball (Spanish [Alemania], French [Allemagne], Portuguese [Alemanha], Catalunyan [Alemanya], but also interestingly a couple Brythonic languages such as Welsh [Yr Almaen] and Cornish [Almayn]).

tl;dr languages aren't directed, and speakers develop their own words for things independently of those people occupying the region in question. Same reason we call Wien Vienna, Roma Rome, and Guangzhou Canton.

Oh, and one more thing: you demonstrated a good reason why people develop their own words for things. Your approximation of France was close, but not actually correct. A French speaker doesn't use the alveolar approximant ɹ (the "r" in "shred) when pronouncing "France", but rather the Voiced uvular fricative (&#641 (think "ch" in "loch" or "Bach") which sits in a completely different part of the mouth and is a different sound entirely from the ɹ. Of course the Voiced uvular fricative doesn't actually exist in the regular English inventory so we approximate it with how we as American English speakers would pronounce the word "France" (which is /fɹæns/, as opposed to the french /fʁɑs/). Pretty much the same reason why we rhyme Göte with loiter even though that's not even remotely what the name sounds like in German

 

[uat2d]

I appreciated your post explaining this, Owen Glyndwr

 

[SouthernKing]

I appreciated your post explaining this, Owen Glyndwr

Seconded, it was greatly enlightening.

 

[W|M]

 

[carmen510]

 

[dragonprobably]

 

[W|M]

 

[dragonprobably]

Moderator Action: racial denigration, image deleted.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[hoplitejoe]

I really hate how it is still acceptable to be racist against gypsies.
Moderator Action: report rather than post comment
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[NedimNapoleon]

HJ continues to be a SJW.