why are names of countries 'translated'?

[talentdeficit]

ivory coast // cote d'ivoire
mexico // mehico
germany // deutschland
czech // ceska
russia // rossiya
ect

(although ivory coast is offically cote d'ivoire in english too now)

we can obviously spell deutschland and ceska and mehico as we share alphabets with these countries. we didn't change the spelling for pronunciation reasons (as no one in germany pronounces deutschland so that it sounds like germany, and yes, russians pronounce it more like rossiya than russia).

so why? i thought it was perhaps just a holdover from when the english were being all culturally insensitive trying to impose their names on foreigners, but the british empire pretty much always had a policy of respecting local names and using them as much as possible.

[Yoplait, BIMO]

Mehico, lol.

[DemonDeac]

mehico???

are you f*ckin serious???

edit that out immediately so you dont look like a complete [censored]

[Empty_House]

Mehico...

Mexicans call it mexico! They just pronounce the "x" different.

[talentdeficit]

i already look like an idiot so whatever. my girlfriend (who is from mexico) spells it with an h, so i assumed all mexicans did.

[bobman0330]

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so why?

[/ QUOTE ]

Because foreign words are foreign, and English words are not. Using foreign words requires different consonants, different emphasis patterns, unfamiliar combinations, etc. When it's a frequently used word like a geographical place, anglicization is inevitable. That explains places like Russia or Mexico. Places like Germany have historical reasons for being known by other than their official names.

[ QUOTE ]
i thought it was perhaps just a holdover from when the english were being all culturally insensitive trying to impose their names on foreigners, but the british empire pretty much always had a policy of respecting local names and using them as much as possible.

[/ QUOTE ]

It seems like your confusion stems from your desire to make this out to be some kind of PC issue. Everyone does it because it's easier.

[Empty_House]

[ QUOTE ]
i already look like an idiot so whatever. my girlfriend (who is from mexico) spells it with an h, so i assumed all mexicans did.

[/ QUOTE ]

There's your problem right there.

[Gunny Highway]

[ QUOTE ]
i already look like an idiot so whatever. my girlfriend (who is from mexico) spells it with an h, so i assumed all mexicans did.

[/ QUOTE ]

What Jai Skul did she go to?

[DoubleTwentyOne]

[ QUOTE ]
i already look like an idiot so whatever. my girlfriend (who is from mexico) spells it with an h, so i assumed all mexicans did.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your gf is illiterate then. Mexicans spell Mexico "M-E-X-I-C-O", your gf just never bothered to learn Spanish.

Quick Spanish lesson:

In Spanish, "X" is pronouced similar to English's "H" phonetically, which is probably why it may appear to sound like "Me-hi-co" to you, even though in actuality it's still spelled "Mexico".

"H" phonetically speaking, is pronouced almost silently, much like the "H" in English words like "Herb", so spelling out the country's name M-E-H-I-C-O would make even less sense as it will then be pronounced "Me-EE-ko"

[amplify]

The French call Germany Allemagne. The name we call a country does not necessarily have anything to do with what they call themselves.