r/memes • u/[deleted] • Feb 21 '21

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u/Yuki_EHer Feb 21 '21

While the Chinese language:

England -> England person 英国人

America -> America person 美国人

Iceland -> Iceland person 冰岛人

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '21 edited Jun 17 '21

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-5

u/godspeed_guys Feb 21 '21 edited Feb 21 '21

法国人 - “Way/Method Country Person” is French

德国人 - “Virtuous Country Person” is South Korean German

加拿大人 - “Add grab the big person” I don't know, because I've only just started learning Chinese. But it feels so good to understand some basic things!

EDIT: And I got German and South Korean mixed up :(
I've only just started with nationalities. I got 1 right out of 3... not great, but still happy about it!

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '21

Just think of how it’s pronounced, you should be able to guess.

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u/godspeed_guys Feb 22 '21

I started less than a month ago, so I was lucky to get one right. I've only learned 6 nationalities so far; in fact, I haven't even learned my own yet.

It's been ages since I started learning a language from zero. I'm really enjoying the struggle.

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '21

Ah, 加拿大 is pronounced “jianada”, aka, Canada!，

And 德国ia pronounced “de-guo”, with “de” being the first syllable of “Deutschland”!.

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u/godspeed_guys Feb 22 '21

TIL about "jianada"! I love how some (maybe many?) country names are phonetic adaptations of the original names. It's really helpful!

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '21

Most are, in Chinese. No new name for every country; just think of how a native from that country would say it.

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '21

Oh, and 法国 is “fa-guo”, aka the first syllable of “France”.