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Subject:Fw: the Netherlands vs. The Netherlands From:<die-fledermaus -at- msn -dot- com> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 11 Jul 2006 22:55:24 -0400
Going to the "horse's mouth" (although it may well be the opposite end of the animal's anatomy) it must be noted that the Royal Netherlands Embassy, Washington, D.C. notifies the World of it's "Mission Statement" which states;
Mission statement
Every hour of every day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs promotes the interests of the Kingdom abroad. As a country that looks beyond its borders, the Netherlands is committed to promoting the international legal order and building a safe, stable and prosperous world. We are dedicated to eliminating conflict, poverty and injustice. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs works with the other ministries to help shape the Europe of the future and ensure that the Netherlands speaks with one voice in the European Union.
Our expert staff serve Dutch citizens, businesses and institutions in over 150 cities all over the world and in The Hague. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs – at home all over the world.
We note that 'the Netherlands' is not like 'The Hague'. Ergo! The Ambassade van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden has solved the problem.
Of course, this may not be a valid transliteration or translation in Cyrillic or in Mandarin or Cantonese.
Now if we can only figure out how many Angles can dance on the 'head of a pin', the World will be in excellent shape!
Stay well, do good works, and keep in touch.
die-fledermaus -at- msn -dot- com<mailto:die-fledermaus -at- msn -dot- com>
----- Original Message -----
From: Johan Hiemstra<mailto:webmaster -at- techexams -dot- net>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com<mailto:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 4:36 PM
Subject: RE: the Netherlands vs. The Netherlands
> The reason that the list doesn't help you is that the official
> English (short) name of the country is neither "The Netherlands"
> nor "the Netherlands", but simply "Netherlands". The US Board
> on Geographic Names and ISO agree on this.
>
> I suppose you could ask the Dutch Embassy(202 244-5300), too,
> although I wouldn't necessarily consider them an authoritative
> source.
That partly explains the "the" vs "The". What also does, we call it
Nederland ourselves. So "land" as in singular, hence without "The".
The official name, "Kingdom of the Netherlands" is in Dutch "Koninkrijk der
Nederlanden), also literally translated, as 'Netherlands' and 'Nederlanden'
are both plural. This is because of the colonies, and originally also
Belgium. Just to be complete, Holland (not 'a' province in The Netherlands,
we have Zuid-Holland and Noord-Holland, I assume those don't need
translation) basically means 'hollow land', again as in low, and 'neder'.
(down to below sea level). The French refer to us as Pays-Bas, which doesn't
mean "pay little" referring to the stereotype of not spending a lot of
money, but also means low lands. In turn, 'The Low Lands', and without caps,
refers more to the physical lower areas including parts of Belgium as well.
Hence, there is no 'Netherlands' without 'The', because it's part of the
name. That would be like "The Three Musketeers" without the "The". So the
more correct English version of 'Nederland' would be 'Netherland', but I
don't think I will be able to convince either my teachers or ISO.
I have to add though that I left school 13 years ago. But it was one of
those typical things you could get on an English exam. "Hi, where are you
from?" "I'm from...". I.o.w. it's one of the first things you learn and they
keep repeating it until, well, decades later I will still be afraid of the
read stripe through 'the'. ;)
I've always found foreign names for countries and cities very interesting.
Not just Dutch places in foreign languages, but just the fact that even when
a name can easily be pronounced, it is still changed into something else. An
easy examples is "Roma", which is "Rome" in English, and in Dutch (though we
pronounce it as Ro-muh, two syllables). I always imagine the old discoverers
to come back after months at sea and not being able to pronounce the names
of the places they visit.
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