Why Cote D'Ivoire?

[Gary V]

Not why are they there, but why is it insisted the country's name be in French? We don't say Deutchland or Espana. And, if you switch the fifaworldcup.com site to another language, say German, they don't say Cote D'Ivoire there.

So why don't we just say Ivory Coast?

[Fleck]

That is strange. Even more strange is the idea of translating a country's name in the first place. Ivory Coast is one of the few countries whose name actually describes the country a bit. Most don't even really mean anything. Whats a Canada? I dont understand why we need to translate names like Italia to Italy, Deutschland to Germany, Nippon to Japan, etc. Why don't we just call the countries what they are called by the people who live there? (When in Rome... er Roma)

It's not as if we are making it much easier on ourselves by English-izing the names... other languages do it too... ever watch an international match on the Spanish channel and it takes you a few minutes to figure out who the hell is playing because of the abbreviations of Spanish words for other countries? Is that really necessary? If you went to another country they wouldn't change your name just to make it easier for them (although you might voluntarily)...

[ribery57]

Not why are they there, but why is it insisted the country's name be in French? We don't say Deutchland or Espana. And, if you switch the fifaworldcup.com site to another language, say German, they don't say Cote D'Ivoire there.

So why don't we just say Ivory Coast?

Because people out there call it "Côte d'Ivoire" :)

[Plavi]

Yeah but he means why do we in English speaking countries bother to call it by it's French name, we don't do it for anything else so why should we bother pronouncing it when we could just say Ivory Coast, it makes a lot more sense.

[jambon-beurre]

I believe it was a decision taken recently by the Ivorian government in order to identify more easily the country, cause even if the translation of the original name is close in English (Côte d'Ivoire/Ivory Coast), in Spanish for example it's called "Costa de Marfil" and that is quite "far" from the original name.

[benztown]

I believe it was a decision taken recently by the Ivorian government in order to identify more easily the country, cause even if the translation of the original name is close in English (Côte d'Ivoire/Ivory Coast), in Spanish for example it's called "Costa de Marfil" and that is quite "far" from the original name.

But how can the government decide how the country is called abroad? As has been pointed out, in Germany it's still called "Elfenbeinküste" which is even further away from the original name.

[cmblfc]

It is in their constitution that Cote D'Ivoire is their country's name and that a translation dosent exist if it is to describe their nation. Obviously it means Ivory Coast, but they do not recognize people calling it anything else.

[Alien_Latino]

Names of countries should be left as they are in their native language. For example, "England" should be called exactly that in spanish or french, not "inglaterra". Costa Rica is not called "Rich Coast" as the name means in spanish, it's left the way it is.

English, french and spanish are notorious for changing countries' names into their own language.

[leg_breaker]

Names of countries should be left as they are in their native language.

Bit late for that.

Costa Rica is not called "Rich Coast" as the name means in spanish, it's left the way it is.

It's a new country, and easy to pronounce in English, so the name stays the same.

[CrespoOffside]

leg_breaker good point. In North America at least, if Deutschland were Germany in English many people would think Dutch and Germans were from the same country. Espana carries an n-ieh (which Im too lazy to find on my keyboard) so Spain would be simpler. Plenty of other examples: Russia, China, or basically any country that uses a different alphabet.

[usatowin]

I believe it was a decision taken recently by the Ivorian government in order to identify more easily the country, cause even if the translation of the original name is close in English (Côte d'Ivoire/Ivory Coast), in Spanish for example it's called "Costa de Marfil" and that is quite "far" from the original name.

And on the Spanish station they have it as Costa de Marfil.

[amc654]

So why don't we just say Ivory Coast?

Similarly, the United States in German is "Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika," but the German fans who were cheering for the USA in the Italy match were shouting "U-S-A" (pron., ooo-ehs-ah), not "V-S-A" (pron. fow-ehs-ah), so, who the hell knows ....

Or, while I'm thinking of it, "France" in France is "Frahnce," which is clearly close enough, but in German its Frankreich (which should make Buffalo Bills fans smile)? Any cultural anthropologist-geographer-linguist-cartographers in this discussion group?

[jambon-beurre]

Or, while I'm thinking of it, "France" in France is "Frahnce," which is clearly close enough, but in German its Frankreich (which should make Buffalo Bills fans smile)? Any cultural anthropologist-geographer-linguist-cartographers in this discussion group?

err, not at all, it's France (bad spelling?)

[nutbar]

Names of countries should be left as they are in their native language. For example, "England" should be called exactly that in spanish or french, not "inglaterra". Costa Rica is not called "Rich Coast" as the name means in spanish, it's left the way it is.

English, french and spanish are notorious for changing countries' names into their own language.

I don't believe the area of what is now Costa Rica was ever known in English as the 'Rich Coast'.

However parts of Africa were known long ago as the Gold Coast, Slave Coast, Ivory Coast, etc.

[Sgt. Keel]

Or, while I'm thinking of it, "France" in France is "Frahnce," which is clearly close enough, but in German its Frankreich
"France" (no "h" there, even in french) and "Frank" both refer to the tribe of the Francs (german: "Franken") and "Reich" is simply german for realm.
And I think therein lies the reason for these inconsistencies: Some countries, i.e. with a descriptive name (like Frankreich/France) used to be described as such by their neighbors for ages in their respective languages, thus the question of how to translate the actual original name never arose.

I guess there's no formal rule to this anyway, each individual name for a foreign country somehow developed over time, influenced by history, tradition, linguistics, convenience, political corectness, etc.

Markus

[lamrof]

Why in Gods's name will an African country colonized and oppressed by these European Mofos give their country a European name. Where is the African name? Someone please explain. I cannot believe ppl got together and decided to give that name after all what is done to them by the French. Need to change. Need to change. Call it "Akuna Matata"

[AFCA]

Why in Gods's name will an African country colonized and oppressed by these European Mofos give their country a European name. Where is the African name? Someone please explain. I cannot believe ppl got together and decided to give that name after all what is done to them by the French. Need to change. Need to change. Call it "Akuna Matata"

Yeah... did you see Akuna Matata play Akuna Matata in the Akuna Matata cup of Akunas Matatas?

But on a more serious note... I agree we should call countries by their own, orgininal name.

Should be fun when we get to Arab countries.

And in what Indian tongue should we pronounce USA? ;)

[Dominican Lou]

Only a few years ago did I realize that Greeks call their country "Hellas"

Where the hell do we get "Greece" or "Grecia" from?

[Arwel]

"France" (no "h" there, even in french) and "Frank" both refer to the tribe of the Francs (german: "Franken") and "Reich" is simply german for realm.
And I think therein lies the reason for these inconsistencies: Some countries, i.e. with a descriptive name (like Frankreich/France) used to be described as such by their neighbors for ages in their respective languages, thus the question of how to translate the actual original name never arose.


Or neighbouring peoples will name a country after a particular sub-group of the people in that country. In Germany's case, the only languages other than English which I can think of which use a derivative of the Latin "Germania" are Irish and Scots Gaelic which are something like "An Ghermhain", Italian and Romanian "Germania" and Albanian "Gjermania"; the Alemanni were the nearest Germanic tribe, so the country is "Allemagne" in French, "Alemania" in Spanish, "yr Almaen" in Welsh; the Saxons were the closest tribe to the Finns, so the country is "Saksa" in Finnish. Other neighbours based their name on an approximation of "Deutschland" -- "Duitsland" in Dutch, "Tyskland" in the Scandinavian languages. Most of the Slavic countries all call it something based on "Nemets", dumb or mute, because the people don't speak a Slavic language.

[Swab the poopdeck]

Why in Gods's name will an African country colonized and oppressed by these European Mofos give their country a European name. Where is the African name? Someone please explain. I cannot believe ppl got together and decided to give that name after all what is done to them by the French. Need to change. Need to change. Call it "Akuna Matata"

Out of interest, where are you from?