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These ones might be puzzling to an English-speaker, especially if they didn't realize they were all names of countries:
Duitsland (unless the person knows German, "Deutschland," "Frankreich", "Oesterreich" etc)
Frankrijk
Oostenrijk
Griekenland
Jemen
Kaapverdië
Koeweit
Letland
Maleisië
Servië
Tsjaad
Tsjechië -- all spelled fairly differently from English, but one can work them out with a little effort
Verenigd Koninkrijk (but once you realize that Verenigde Staten is United States, it's easy)
142. Republika Południowej Afryki
143. Republika Środkowoafrykańska
144. Republika Zielonego Przylądka
157. Seszele
165. Stany Zjednoczone
166. Suazi
171. Szwajcaria
34. = ?, no, wait, 'Hrvat', of course
65. = ok, Równikowa means Equatorial
92. 93. = which is which? Ok, I found it out later
104. 106. = which is which?
123. = Uhm. Ah. Transnistria
142. = Ok, now I know the Koreas
143. = ?
144. = WTF?
157. = dunno
165. = dunno
166. = is this Swaziland?
171. = nope
I wouldn't had known it, but apparently you forgot Wegry.
In Italian (I used a lot google because a lot were really different)
Albania
Algeria
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Azerbaigian
Bahamas
Bahrein or Bahrain (according to wikipedia)
Belgio
Birmania
Bosnia
Brasile
Bulgaria
Cambogia
Repubblica CentrAfricana
Cile
Comore
Danimarca
Repubblica Dominicana
Germania
Egitto
Guinea Equatoriale
Estonia
Etiopia
Filippine
Francia
Finlandia
Georgia
Grecia
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Ungheria
Hong Kong
Irlanda
Islanda
Indonesia
Iraq
Israele
Italia
Costa d'Avorio
Yemen
Giordania
Capo Verde
Camerun
Kazakistan
Kenya
Kirghizistan
Kuwait
Croazia
Lettonia
Libano
Libia
Lituania
Lussemburgo
Macedonia
Madagascar
Maldive
Maleisia
Marocco
Mauritania
Moldavia
Mongolia
Namibia
Paesi Bassi = Netherlands, Olanda = Holland
Nuova Zelanda
Corea del Nord
Norvegia
Uganda
Ucraina
Uzbekistan
Austria
Timor Est
Papua Nuova Guinea
Polonia
Romania
Russia
Isole Salomone
Serbia
Seychelles
Slovenia
Slovacchia
Sudan
Somalia
Spagna
Siria
Tagikistan
Ciad
Repubblica Ceca
Tunisia
Turchia
Regno Unito = UK (Inghilterra = England, Scozia = Scotland, Galles = Walles, Irlanda del Nord = Northern Ireland)
Emirati Arabi Uniti
Stati Uniti d'America
Bielorussia
Sudafrica
Corea del Sud
Sudan del Sud
Svezia
Svizzera
(I translated the ones in the first post, so I'm not sure how many countries are missing)
Last edited by Urania93; 09-15-2016 at 10:30 AM..
Reason: Ariete noticed I forgot Finland, unforgivable!
Finnish and Polish are harder but Dutch is really easy. The ones (basically just Germany and Austria) not similar to English are all similar to German.
Obviously in Chinese they are all completely different, for example
美國 = US, means "beautiful country" literally, I think it just comes from the ME of America
日本 = Japan, means the land where the sun rises
德國 = Germany, comes from Deutschland
法國 = France, comes from the F of France
英國 = UK, comes from England
瑞士 = Switzerland, comes from Suisse and it sounds more similar if spoken in Cantonese (not sure) and Taiwanese
荷蘭 = NL, comes from Holland
希臘 = Greece, comes from Hellas
俄羅斯 = Russia, comes from ... I have no idea. I guess 羅斯 sounds like Russia
韓國 = Korea, comes from ... does anyone know? I remember that it's just what they call themselves but I am not sure.
澳洲 = Australia, comes from the AU of Australia. 洲 means continent.
Etc.
There might be some differences between the names used in China and in Taiwan though, like Australia, Laos, Yemen, the Stans etc. Idk if the names are different in Hong Kong.
Last edited by Greysholic; 09-15-2016 at 10:36 AM..
Wonder if Finnish and Estonian are the only languages where the name of some countries comes from a region or ancient tribe and totally different from the mainstream names?
elnina, Finnish and Hungarian are not that close. It's absolutely impossible for a Finn to pronounce Hungarian properly, but interestingly surprisingly easy for a Hungarian to pronounce Finnish!
34. = ?, no, wait, 'Hrvat', of course
65. = ok, Równikowa means Equatorial
92. 93. = which is which? Ok, I found it out later
104. 106. = which is which?
123. = Uhm. Ah. Transnistria
142. = Ok, now I know the Koreas
143. = ?
144. = WTF?
157. = dunno
165. = dunno
166. = is this Swaziland?
171. = nope
I wouldn't had known it, but apparently you forgot Wegry.
34. Horvatia. Hrvatska = Croatia.
38. Czarno = black, gora = mountain = Montenegro
50. come on
60. Grusia = Georgia
123. Transnistria, this was just a guess
127. Niemiec = German. Germany is known as some form of 'nemsy' in almost all Slavic languages except Russia, where it's 'Germania'. The root for nemsy comes from the proto-Slavic term 'not our people'.
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