Austrians are just as able as BRD Germans to pronounce something like Milano, though.
Comment on I felt so betrayed when I found out Germany isn't called Germany in Germany
FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 3 days agoBut Germans are not much better, it’s absurd that Italian city names that aren’t at all hard to pronounce for Germans have different names in German, e.g. Torino, Milano, Roma (Turin, Mailand, Rom), …
Nobody is better. All languages do this to an extent. The Germanized city names especially in Northern Italy also stem from the fact that they used to be under Austrian control and they claim to speak German too.
rumschlumpel@feddit.org 3 days ago
FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 3 days ago
You are assuming that the name as it is in Italian today has always been the same and it isn’t. Both Milano and Mailand are linguistic descendants of the name whichever people who first set up shop there spoke and decided to call the place. And that wasn’t anywhere close to modern Italian. They are both valid.
English ditches the o and has Florence on the books as well. Geographical names follow no logical rule. Most are just historical accidents, some historical crimes. This is more in the former category if you ask me.
Cologne, Munich, Brussels, Naples, The Hague … It’s everywhere.
rumschlumpel@feddit.org 3 days ago
I say we should go the Belarus route.
FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 3 days ago
I look forward to renaming virtually everything in the Americas.
NachBarcelona@piefed.social 3 days ago
You’re entitled to your incredibly ridiculous opinion.
Katrisia@lemmy.today 2 days ago
Exactly. In Spanish, we have some ‘curious’ names for Germany and its states and cities. «Alemania» is the name of the country. «Renania-Palatinado» is Rheinland-Pfalz, Bayern got turned into «Baviera». «Colonia» is Köln, «Friburgo de Brisgovia» is Freiburg im Brisgau…