"Pappa är i Nederländerna nu."
Translation:Dad is in the Netherlands now.
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For some reason, this sounds similar to the idea of "he's in a better place now" for me!
Thank you. I thought I might be the only one... "The great Netherlands in the sky."
In Norwegian it's 'Nederland'. I hope the Swedes will follow one day. I think much of the confusion also arises from the fact it's officially called in dutch 'Koninkrijk der Nederlanden', which is suddenly plural and has nothing to do with the current three other constituent countries in the Caribbean. It's a matter of taste I guess.
We call our country 'Nederland' ourselves as well, so it makes sense that you do to if it's pronouncable. I find it very interesting in this course how languages translate country and city names even if they're perfectly pronouncabe. Like København (Köpenhamn in Swedish). In Dutch the word for havn/hamn/harbour is 'haven' so it would make sense to call it Kobenhaven, but we call it Kopenhagen instead (with the nice hard Dutch 'g'). I guess all these names have historical reasons. Very few countries pronounce 'Paris' to rhyme with 'sea' even though that's what the french do and it's easily pronouncable.
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The hell unleashes when the names in question become politically loaded - none of your "historical reasons" will be taken into account any more LOL
As discussed above, over the last 20 years in the UK, people have been transitioning from the incorrect use of Holland, to the Netherlands. In the last five years, we've also been correcting ourselves further and dropping the 'the' from the start of countries such as Ukraine, Netherlands, Gambia, etc. I wondered if this has started happening in Swedish too? ie Is Nederländer rather than Nederländerna the truly correct form now?
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Some countries have taken formal positions on their English names. Ukraine prefers “Ukraine”, not “the Ukraine”. As you mention. The Gambia, however, prefers “The Gambia”, not “Gambia”.
This has not happened in the Netherlands. The Dutch government and Dutch law are silent on this issue, which is one of style. It is correct English usage to use "the Netherlands".
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Well it's plural so by law of English grammar it requires a definite article (since it's definitely not indefinite). Both Ukraine and Gambia are singular.
What's the most direct translation might well vary depending on whom you ask. In the course, we generally go for dad, daddy or father.
What would be the difference (in Swedish) between Dad is in the Netherlands now and Dad is in the Netherlands right now?
It's Ολλανδία in Greek, or Κάτω Χώρες if you want to be more poetic about it.
Why can't I say here 'my father' where usually talking about 'mormor' or similiar does imply that it is my Grandmother?
That should be accepted, since it's inferred in the sentence that it's your own father (and English uses possessives more than Swedish, so it's reasonable to add them when translating from Swedish into English, but not when translating from English into Swedish). I'm adding that translation now.
Although I knew it was a province within, I though it was also an accepted translation for the whole country in English, but apparently it's only an informal one. In portuguese we call the country 'Holanda'. I thought this would be common elsewhere. Not sure what other latin language countries call it.
Saying Holland is incorrect in English, but it is very very widely used. I think it is good to teach what is correct not vernacular, enjoy speaking English better than some natives! I personally cringe when I see "Holland".
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Seriously, poor non-Hollanders in the Netherlands. They must have an identity crisis often
As a non-Hollander in the Netherlands I strongly dislike the use of the word Holland for Netherlands
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Masja7 I feel your pain. Sadly I'm even more politically correct than my Hollander friend
I am Dutch and honestly, I really don't mind when people refer to my country as 'Holland', and I don't know anyone who does. We even call our own country Holland from time to time, for example when cheering for the national football team ("hup Holland hup!", meaning something like "let's go Holland let's go"). On the internet there seem to be quite of Dutchies disliking the term 'Holland', but for some reason I never get to meet them in real life.
That’s possibly because you seem to be ‘fromamsterdam’ ;-) . If you’re from Brabant or Limburg (beneath the big rivers) it can be another matter ! (But it shouldn’t be taken too seriously)
It's not uncommon for the country to be referred to as Holland in Swedish too. It is accepted as an answer here. Even the Dutch tourist agency themselves use Holland.
I can relate to the holland netherland pain... i say i live in wales and people think its a part of england... wales and england are like sweden and denmark
Yes, but only because when people think of the country, they type "Holland" into Google...
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Where i am from in Sweden no one refers to The netherlands as "Holland" if we say that we mean actual holland The two provinces
Where are you from? I've lived all over Sweden and that's definitely not common.
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I am from Scania (more specifically Lund) and I've actually Never heard anyone refer to the Netherlands with Holland
The Dutch tourist agency has changed their policy and now uses The Netherlands exclusively.
In Romanian it is Olanda. You could also say 'Tarile de Jos' - the equivalent of Netherlands, but few people would understand what you are talking about...
In hungarian it is the same. The name of the country is 'Hollandia'. You can also say 'Németalföld' which literally means 'German lowlands', but it is mainly a historical and geografical name, which also involves most of Belgium as well.
Interesting. In Flanders and the Netherlands we sometimes use De Lage Landen, the exact translation of Lowlands. From 1815-1830 Belgium and the Netherlands were one united kingdom.
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According to Google Translate the translation for the Netherlands is "Os Países Baixos" in Portuguese and in French it's "les Pays-Bas". Both are literal translations for "de Lage Landen" (the Low Countries), an old name for the lowland area in northwestern Europe that forms the catchment area of the Lower Rhine, the Lower Meuse and the Scheldt. The present-day Netherlands comprises most of this area.
I find it fascinating that in Swedish, it's also a plural country. Sounds like an interesting history I want to look into.
Unfortunately, it's not a very fascinating etymology. There used to be a bunch of countries in the lowlands, they were called "the netherlands" because of their geography. Ultimately, and as they came to merge administratively, the name essentially lost its geographical meaning and turned into the name of the kingdom instead.
Depends a bit on how you count. It's the same in many other languages, for instance the Netherlands in English.
