België - Belgique - Belgium - Belgien

Did you know that the United States of America isn't pronounced "United States of America" everywhere?

Have you ever thought about how other countries say the name of their own country as well as how they say the names of other countries including the "USA"? Okay, maybe you have, but I hadn't. After all, I still speak only one language!

I guess I just thought Germany was pronounced Germany no matter where you are.

Well, it's definitely not. Here are just a few right near us (and some not so near).

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This first list will be obvious because it's what WE say, but the rest may not be:

Belgium

France

Germany

Spain

Greece

Italy

USA

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These same countries are pronounced like this in Belgium:

België

Frankrijk

Duitsland

Spanje

Greikenland

Italië

&

Verenigde Staten van Amerika

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Now if you're in Germany, these SAME countries are pronounced like this:

Belgien

Frankreich

Deutschland (yep, that's how Germans say the name of their own country)

Spanien

Griechenland

Italien

&

Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika

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The French say them like this:

Belgique

France

Allemagne (and that's really how the French say what we call Germany)

Espagne

Grèce

Italie

&

États-Unis d'Amèrique

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And this list probably looks as familiar as the first one :)

Okay, it's Chinese, but it's the SAME list.

比利時

法國

德國

西班牙

希臘

意大利 (it takes more letters to write Italy than United States of America?)

&

美國

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And finally, the term "it's Greek to me" takes on a whole new meaning :)

Βέλγιο

Γαλλία

Γερμανία

Ισπανία

Ελλάδα

Ιταλία

&

Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες της Αμερικής

Hope you found that interesting. I do.