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why does it sound "artificial"? It was always like that in the Czech language, as well as many other languages (without this republic thing). It is only the English language that fails to create a word for it.
It is artificial only because you speak English. I am sure people from other countries don't find it "artificially created". South Africa/Korea, Saudi Arabia don't have "republic" in them.
It wasn't always like that in Czech. The name Čechy is very old but it means Bohemia. Now the term Česko is the Czech equivalent of Czechia but it was introduced by the media and politicians during the late 1990's, for the same reasons as Czechia today - Česká republika was judged too long and formal. There was no consensus about it though. A lot of people hated it, including Václav Havel, but it's true that it's gotten more and more accepted and used. Maybe it will be the same with Czechia.
I just think that changes of this sort should be gradual and there should be a popular consensus about them. Which is not the case at all with Czechia. Anyway, it's intended as a casual alternative to the formal name Czech Republic, not sure why Google is using it. It was meant mainly for the use in advertising materials and not in the official geography.
I think this is an official website of the country, and they are using both interchangeably at this point, but I assume they will be switching over as updates get made.
I was doing some search online and notice it is Czechia now. Seems to have started a month ago.
Wondering if the new name will stick. I do prefer it to the old name. It is like you don't always say "French republic" to refer to the country of France, way too formal. I can't think of any other country which always carries a "Republic" in its name in daily use -- I checked there are central Africa republic, Dominican Republic, Republic of the Congo.
Don't overlook the power of names because it could make a big difference in terms of perception and even foreign investment. For example, the country of Kazakhstan is proposing to drop the "Stan" from its name because it makes the nation sound "boring", affecting both tourism and investment. And it is true! For example, I myself always thought Kazakhstan is just one of those "Stans", only to realize that the old rich country has a per capital GDP of over 10,000$ similar to Croatia, than with Uzbekistan (2100), Pakistan (1110), Kyrgyzstan (1110) and Tajikistan (900).
And i believe in many other langues, it is translated to something as simple as Czechia (in Chinese, it is always called "Czech"), instead of something republic all the time.
Do you think rebranding will do any good for Czechia? (so far, my computer still think this spelling is wrong). I thought naming it back to "Bohemia" would be way cooler.
Kazakhstan has completely surprised me after looking at this thread.
I seeked for the economy of Kazakhstan and they have a GDP per capita of 12.950$, plus a GDP (PPP) of 25.670$. LOL?! That's more than Chile, Uruguay, Argentina or the EU countries of Croatia and Romania!
btw for the original meaning on this thread, I've heard some elder Spanish people to say Czechoslovakia instead of Czech Republic hahaha and yes, for me also sounds better Czech Republic
why does it sound "artificial"? It was always like that in the Czech language, as well as many other languages (without this republic thing). It is only the English language that fails to create a word for it.
It is artificial only because you speak English. I am sure people from other countries don't find it "artificially created". South Africa/Korea, Saudi Arabia don't have "republic" in them.
I was doing some search online and notice it is Czechia now. Seems to have started a month ago.
Wondering if the new name will stick. I do prefer it to the old name. It is like you don't always say "French republic" to refer to the country of France, way too formal. I can't think of any other country which always carries a "Republic" in its name in daily use -- I checked there are central Africa republic, Dominican Republic, Republic of the Congo.
Don't overlook the power of names because it could make a big difference in terms of perception and even foreign investment. For example, the country of Kazakhstan is proposing to drop the "Stan" from its name because it makes the nation sound "boring", affecting both tourism and investment. And it is true! For example, I myself always thought Kazakhstan is just one of those "Stans", only to realize that the old rich country has a per capital GDP of over 10,000$ similar to Croatia, than with Uzbekistan (2100), Pakistan (1110), Kyrgyzstan (1110) and Tajikistan (900).
And i believe in many other langues, it is translated to something as simple as Czechia (in Chinese, it is always called "Czech"), instead of something republic all the time.
Do you think rebranding will do any good for Czechia? (so far, my computer still think this spelling is wrong). I thought naming it back to "Bohemia" would be way cooler.
It is just the short form of the name, it still retains the original as the official name. Not everyone called it "Czech Republic", Russians for example called is "Czechia," which caught on with me and I started calling it that all the time because it is shorter and rolls off the tongue easy.
Kyrgyzstan is actually Kyrgyz Republic.
I have not seen any actual evidence the name impacts anything.
I think Czech Republic sounded just fine. People in the US already get the Czech Republic and Chechnya confused, and there were many references to "Czechs" in the US right after the Boston Marathon bombing. The Czech ambassador had to clarify the difference.
Now Czechia sounds even more like Chechnya which will get even more people confused. Some people were saying they didn't know that Czech people were Muslims. Now its only one less "n" sound than Chechnya which is a place nobody would want to be mistaken for.
The Pilsner Urquell beer at my local liquor store still says "Czech Republic" on it.
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Kazakhstan has completely surprised me after looking at this thread.
