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What do you call the US in German? | ||
Tags: United States | German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Stefan Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 4325 days ago 22 posts - 29 votes Speaks: Swedish*, EnglishC1 Studies: German | Message 1 of 14 22 January 2013 at 2:35am | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm well aware of the tendency in both English and Swedish to, incorrectly, use the term America when meaning US.
However, this week I've noticed the use of Amerika in the TV show Extr@, Pimsleur and FSI. It makes me wonder... Is Amerika the accepted and preferred term in Germany? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4686 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 2 of 14 22 January 2013 at 2:55am | IP Logged | |||||
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Perhaps you could explain what you mean by "America" being "incorrect?"
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| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5260 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 3 of 14 22 January 2013 at 3:54am | IP Logged | |||||
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In Spanish and Portuguese, the word "America" refers to the continent. Students throughout Latin America are taught that the Americas are really just one big continent from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska. As such, there are many countries besides the USA in America. Brazilians, Mexicans, Guatemalans, Chileans, and Colombians are all Americans because they live on the continent of America. Cuba has often referred to itself as a "territorio libre en América"- "free territory in America". Words in Spanish dictionaries often have the abbreviation "am" to refer to words of American origin- and they are not talking about the US.
As a US citizen, it can be somewhat problematic to express one's nationality in either Spanish or Portuguese. A common term is "estadounidense" or "norteamericano". The first is unwieldy and not often used in informal speech. It can also be confused with the official name for Mexico- "Los Estados Unidos de México". The second term, "North American" can also mean Canadian, Mexican, Honduran etc. What's a poor gringo to do! US Americans would argue that their country is the only one to have the word "America" in it's name. When the country was a British colony, the British referred to the inhabitants as "Americans" in English. The name stuck amongst the colonists and the colonial masters. I'm not going to argue this point. Other nations located in the Americas feel themselves to be Americans too, just not US citizens. These other citizens of the Americas believe they have every bit as much legitimate right to the name "American" as citizens of the US do. So, in this sense, referring to citizens of the US as Americans is excluding the other populations of the other countries located on the American continent from Dawson City to Ushuaia. Somehow, I doubt that the Germans, most other Europeans or other countries outside the Americas (excluding Spain and Portugal) make this distinction when referring to US citizens as Americans and to the other countries' citizens by their respective nationalities. Edited by iguanamon on 22 January 2013 at 4:00am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4686 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 4 of 14 22 January 2013 at 4:04am | IP Logged | |||||
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Yes, I'm aware that Spanish makes that distinction...but that's not the same as saying that it's "incorrect" in
American English. When the President delivers the State of the Union Address to both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court and the Cabinet, it's well-established custom for him to address the public as "My Fellow Americans." It's probably not possible to find a more convincing proof that a usage is accepted as linguistically correct and part of the most formal register than for it to be customary and required in this kind of hyper-formal situation for the highest-status member of the society. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Astrophel Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5730 days ago 157 posts - 345 votes Speaks: English*, Latin, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Cantonese, Polish, Sanskrit, Cherokee | Message 5 of 14 22 January 2013 at 4:12am | IP Logged | |||||
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I was always taught to call myself "estadounidense". In informal speech, what is the best response to
say you're from the United States? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4686 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 6 of 14 22 January 2013 at 4:19am | IP Logged | |||||
I think that depends what language you're speaking, to whom you're speaking, and where you are when you're speaking it, doesn't it? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6059 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 7 of 14 22 January 2013 at 4:56am | IP Logged | |||||
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In Portugal, when you say American, you always mean a citizen of the United States. When you want to refer to the other Americans (from Canada to the "Tierra del Fuego") you normally specify the nationality. You know they also are Americans stricto sensu, though.
Once a friend from Argentina told me "I'm also American, an American from South America". I immediately agreed. Sometimes, the (spoken) media refer to the US as "norte-americanos", which is incorrect, because Canadians and Mexicans are also North Americans. Maybe that's why I've never seen it in writing. Edited by Luso on 22 January 2013 at 4:57am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7154 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 8 of 14 22 January 2013 at 5:35am | IP Logged | |||||
At least for one Dane, this (mis)use of "America" lends itself to Sweden's introductory line and the slight misunderstanding.
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