Foreign Language Oddities - Nobody Calls Anybody What They Call Themselves

Originally written and posted elsewhere: 1/1/2007

I am currently studying Swedish, or "svenska" as it is called in Sverige.
And as I am trying to learn this language and its patterns, on my own, with no guidance other than a couple of grammar books, some travel audio CD's, a dictionary/phrasebook on my PDA, and Radio Sweden broadcasts, (among other hard-to-find tools!) many things occur to me about languages in general.

---> Language is weird and hilariously funny...no matter what country it comes from.
---> Grammar does not follow any logical patterns...it is consistently inconsistent.
---> Word order among different languages is like trying to put scrambled eggs back together.
---> Spoken vs. written forms can make you wonder if it really is the SAME language or not.
---> Nobody calls anybody what they call themselves...and this one really baffles me!

Note that in my very first sentence, I did not say "Sweden". That is the English word, not the Swedish word.
A Swede (or rather, a svensk) calls it Sverige.
Why do English speakers insist on calling it "Sweden"?
And why do we call the people who live there "Swedes" when their own language uses different words for themselves and for their country?

This appears to be a common theme throughout most languages...a country is never called by its own sovereign name, but by one that someone else made up for their own language. Granted, the pronunciations are *sometimes* similar to the original country's name, but only *sometimes*.

Examples:
We call Deutschland "Germany", the svensk call it "tysk", the français call it "allemagne" and in español it is "alemania".
We call España "Spain", the svensk and the deutsch call it "spanien" (at least they agree!) and the français call it "espagne".
We call Sverige "Sweden", the français call it "suède", the deutsch call it "schweden", and in español it is "suecia".
We call Norge "Norway", the svensk call it "norsk", the français call it "norvég", in español it is "noruega"...and lord only knows what the deutsch call it...

Americans get a little closer to being polite to France though, by using a name that is at least CLOSE to the name its people give themselves which when spoken is "L'France", but the svensk call it "frankrika", the deutsch call it "frankreich", and in español it is "francia".

Now, in MY head, (which tends to think along strange tangents sometimes), this is like saying that nobody really cares at all about any other country but their own, so we will all just selfishly call them any darn thing we choose. It's like finding out that Mary is determined to call David "George" because she doesn't like the name "David" and thinks "George" fits him better and doesn't give a darn how David feels about having his name changed. Then Helen comes along and calls him "Rodriquez" among her friends and family. And poor David has no say in the matter when Joanne decides he should be called "Abdul" in her household.

All of this implies a lack of respect for other countries, other people, other cultures, and other languages.

But what I want to know is...why can't we ALL, throughout the world's languages, call all countries and their inhabitants by their "correct" names...the names they call themselves? These names can often be found on any postage stamp from the country in question, from Shqipërisë (Albania) to Helvetia (Switzerland) to Italia (Italy) to Magyar (Hungary) and beyond. Granted, some may be hard to pronounce in our respective languages, but we can TRY, and in this way show our respect for their lands, their cultures and their people.

Perhaps this would help unite the world in harmony just a tad bit better?

Sverige och Norge alltid!
:)