Chinlingo Podcast│Is it really funny to say the names of European countries in Chinese?2

‍‍Last week Marcus have presented you the Chinese names of some European countries shortly before. However, some of them are not typical transliterations.

So I’d like to offer you the typical transliteration of some other coutnries. Get you ears ready.

1、西班牙 Xī bān yá

Kingdom of Spain

The name is closer to the pronunciation of “Espan” in Spanish. As Spain was a strong marine power, the southern Chinese who made the earliest contact with Spain gave her the Chinese name.

2、葡萄牙 Pú táo yá

Portuguese Republic

Portugal had contact with China’s southern coastal cities in the 16th century, so its Chinese name has been featured with the southern accent.

3、波兰 Bō lán

Republic of Poland

The same as “意大利”, the Chinese name resembles its English equivalence very much.

Follow me to read it again: 波兰

4、荷兰 Hé lán

Kingdom of the Netherlands

It is the transliteration of Holland, “荷兰”. “Holland” used to be a region in the Netherlands. However, as several important cities are located here, so “Holland” has been used widely to refer to the whole country.

5、奥地利 ào dì lì

The Republic of Austria

The name is a transliteration of “Austria”. However, the Chinese pronunciation seems to be quite different from its English equivalence.

Which of the Chinese names above do you think is most interesting?

If you’d like to hear Chinese names of other countries, please leave a message to us.

Key words：

西班牙-Kingdom of Spain

葡萄牙-Portuguese Republic

波兰-Republic of Poland

荷兰-Kingdom of the Netherlands

奥地利-The Republic of Austria

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