The Real Reason Turkey Is Changing Its Name To Türkiye

HELP SUPPORT NAME EXPLAIN ON PATREON: / nameexplain
TIKTOK: / nameexplain
INSTAGRAM: / nameexplainyt
FACEBOOK: / 248812236869988
TWITTER: / nameexplainyt
BOOK: bit.ly/originofnames
MERCH: teespring.com/stores/name-exp...
Thank you to all my Patrons for supporting the channel!
SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Turkey Wants To be Called Türkiye: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-euro...
Turkey Bird & Country: www.dictionary.com/e/turkey/
Turkey On OED: www.oed.com/view/Entry/207632
Names For Turkeys In Other Languages: www.barebones-translations.co...
Swaziland Name Change: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-afri...
The Cost Of Changing A Country’s Name: www.bbc.co.uk/worklife/articl...
Change Petition To Rename Turkeys: www.jpost.com/omg/article-708675
Why hasn’t Czechia Caught On?: www.euronews.com/2020/10/05/t...

[@NameExplain]

What do you think about this name change?

[@pentagonanimates]

i personally think there was a reason for it

[@kylepickus5712]

It reminds me of the Ivory Coast wanting to be called “Côte d’Ivoire.”

[@user-ms7gt2km5f]

You spelt it wrong, the capital I should have a dot

[@kailomonkey]

Good for them. Remember it's the International name changing not the English name. Internationally I think it's best to call a country by what they know themselves by.

[@pierreabbat6157]

I think it's silly. I'd rather see Georgia (Tbilisi) renamed to Kartulia (not Sakartvelo, which is the endonym but makes no morphological sense to non-Kartulis). At least that country is confusable with Georgia (Atlanta), rather than a bird.

[@jasonhatt4295]

I guess they are tired of people saying they are Hungary for Turkey

[@sauceplayz8606]

It was covered in too much Greece 💀

[@lujixcjml]

😭😭😭😭

[@kylepickus5712]

It’s only a matter of time before Hungary demands they are called “Magyarország”

[@jaredf6205]

@@kylepickus5712 I think that’s fine, I think every language should call a country by the name it gives itself. Of course it has to be adapted to the local accent and writing system, but I don’t think we should use completely different words. Finland, Germany, Georgia, Croatia all come to mind, I know there are a lot more.

[@kylepickus5712]

I think we could be a bit more reflective of the actual names for sure. Sure there are some words that are near impossible for foreign speakers to pronounce, but we should get as close to the actual thing as possible IMHO.

[@Rewwgh]

Türkiye in my native language, which is Finnish is called Turkki. The word also means "fur" or hairy animal hide and it has always made me associate the country mentally with certain types of hats.

[@modmaker7617]

In my language; Polish; Turkey/Türkiye = Turcja Turkey-Bird = Indyk Indyk is related to India. Lol

[@wofuldragoon5057]

Olen virolainen

[@88marome]

In Sweden turkeys are called "kalkon" after the Indian city Calicut.

[@wofuldragoon5057]

@@88marome in Estonia turkey meat is called kalkun

[@0deadx21]

In Bulgarian Turkey (country) = Turtsiya Turkey (bird) = Puyka

[@ronmaximilian6953]

Turkey becoming Turkiye is less of reclaiming an endonym and more of asking for an orthographic change to better approximate pronunciation. A real change would be Hungary demanding a name change to Magyarország. To be honest, that would be a fun video

[@BoBo-bq2os]

Magyarland is my recommendation

[@ronmaximilian6953]

@@BoBo-bq2os I think Hungary is more accurate since it refers to the tribal confederation which settled and conquered the region. The Magyars were the leading tribes, but not the only members of the On-Ugur (10 tribe) confederation. And there were pre-existing peoples living there. Then again, I'm not a Hungarian, so I have no say in the matter.

[@BoBo-bq2os]

​@@ronmaximilian6953 If you are not a Maygar, you must be a historian then. :) Thanks for info

[@Zveebo]

Yeah, but using non English characters instantly basically means that most of the world is just going to ignore you and/or mangle the pronounciation.

[@NeroLeMorte]

I'm hungary for more turkiye.

[@JonMI6]

So we can’t be Hungary for Turkey with Greece anymore?

[@Mainyehc]

I think you can just Basque in the glory of all the likes you’re getting for your witty puns :P

[@JonMI6]

@@Mainyehc Basque in Glory? That’s an achievement in Europa Universalis IV

[@mydogsbutler]

No. Germ-many..

[@JonMI6]

@@mydogsbutler that’s sexist. Don’t you know that it’s Ger-people-y now? Watch Trudeau try to push that now…

[@mydogsbutler]

@@JonMI6 Hard to say whom is crazier these days. The woke left or mystic right.

[@deldarel]

As much as I want Erdogan to mistake a train track for a sidewalk, I do support this. I like it when countries change to their endonyms. The reason he gave was an eye roll, but personally I don't think countries don't need a reason other than 'what you've been calling us is not our name'. It's like being called Johan but English people keep calling you John.

[@m_lies]

and then some countries have hundreds of different names, that aren't alike in any way, depending on the country you are in... It's like your name is johannes, but when you go to other counties they say Niklas and in the next county they call you Tomas and so on, so names don't look or even sound the same lol.

[@indecisive.dice.roll.325]

"to mistake a train track for a sidewalk" may I steal that?? That's is a glorious phrase

[@TornaitSuperBird]

Like Qazaqstan.

[@TheElderize]

Makes international relations a lot easier though, imagine if Germany changed its international name to Bundesrepublik Deutschland or China to 中國

[@m_lies]

@@TheElderize do you know that in nearly all chases one does not say the form of government with the name? because e.g. you say France and but the official name is French Republic (République française) so " Bundesrepublik Deutschland" could just be "Deutschland" and its easy to change a few letters so that "Deutsch" can be pronounced right and for it to make sense in English, its the same with Nederland which is the Netherlands. its the same in China, one does not need to be able to write in mandarin or speak it, one can just translate the letters and change them so, that it makes sense in English and can be pronounced, but still sounds near the actual name, like its done with other countries names. And fun fact, even china, and japan say "Deutschland" instead of "Germany", they just use other letters, but the pronunciation is near "Deutschland" = "德意志" or "ドイツ -(独逸) " its something similar to "Deutschland" only in their pronunciation and letters! So it's not hard to translate country names in a way that it's neat to the actual name. and Germany is an out to date name, wich has little to do with today's germany (Deutschland)

[@DJPJ.]

In Norwegen the bird is called "Kalkun", which is derived from a shortning of the Low German "Kalkūnsche höner" (translation: "Hens from the city of Calicut" (in India)).

[@frankharr9466]

Wouldn't it be a Calicut-hen?

[@DJPJ.]

@@frankharr9466 Couldn't what be Calicut-hen?

[@frankharr9466]

@@DJPJ. Sorry, it's just that sometimes, people make painfully-complicated loan translations into English. To my mind, Chicago is best translated as Green Onion Field not The Field of Green Onions, Πίπη η Φακιδομύτη as Pippi, the Freckle-nosed Girl not The Girls with the Freckles on her Nose and Kalkūnsche höner to Calicut-hen not Hen fro Calicut. But I'm butting in where I wasn't asked. You do you. My appologies

[@DJPJ.]

@@frankharr9466 What i wrote was the direct translated. But mening of the translations are the same. So if you would rather say it your way, than ok.

[@frankharr9466]

@@DJPJ. O.K.

[@oleksandrbyelyenko435]

In Ukrainian Turkey is - Turetchina. (Туреччина). And everything is alright. Yes. Of course English name is international name. It is same issue with Ukrainian cities, like Kyiv, Kharkiv and not Kiev and Kharkov. So I understand Turks.

[@phs125]

Yes I hate it when people call my nearest city as Mangalore, instead of mangaluru. mæŋɡɑloːr ❌ mɑŋɡɑɭuːru✅ Which also isn't the original name of the city, because all the local languages have different names for it, like Kudla Kodiyal Kodeyala Maikal Mangaluru Mangalapuram And the govt chose the name used by the people sitting in capital. Not the actual local people...

[@harrypadarri6349]

Well, I don’t think there’s a problem with different names in different languages. As long as it isn’t derogatory. By the way: I would call Lyviv “Lemberg”. Even more different.

[@oakstrong1]

I think there are two reasons why people don't use the proper place names. An obvious one is how to spell a name that is written in a different script, second is how to pronounce it. the name Kyiv became Kiev because that's how the Cyrillic letters were translated into Roman ones all those years ago. If you asked anyone before the war to pronounce Kyiv, I bet at least 70% of the people you asked wouldn't know how to say it just by looking at the written form. And some names are difficult because particular sounds do not exist in the other. For example, my hometown, Jyväskylä is quite difficult to pronounce by English speakers, even if it is modelled for them. Older folks in my village could not learn to say my surname because it started with Kr... Two consonants together at a beginning of a syllable!

[@oleksandrbyelyenko435]

@@oakstrong1 I see your point.

[@triadwarfare]

Did someone say China? I'm curious if you really have to say the "China" part like in the English language

[@nenenindonu]

Not many nations especially English speaking ones can pronounce the letter 'ü' perhaps a change to Turkia or at least Turkiye would've been a better alternative

[@akmalfakhruddin7285]

How to pronounce that letter (ü)?

[@parabolaaaaa4919]

@@akmalfakhruddin7285 like an i but with rounded lips

[@aaronodonoghue1791]

@@parabolaaaaa4919 With "i" being the "ee" sound as in "peel"

[@themanbehindtheslaughter7633]

@@akmalfakhruddin7285 like oo in look but a little softer

[@codygolden7074]

I doubt they care in the slightest what English speakers can or can't do

[@ARCtheCartoonMaster]

Wouldn’t “Turkia” be a better name in English? Like… we don’t call Hungary “Magyarország”, for example, although I wouldn’t mind “Magiaria”.

[@chgeri2232]

Then it should rather be Turkiye, which is probably what it will be spelled anyway most of the time

[@elvincenzo]

@@chgeri2232 it is Turkiye. I think it can be spelled without the dots too. No problem.

[@billberg1264]

I'd go for "Toorkia," "Tewrkia," "Tourkia," Teaurkia," "Teurkia," or some such. At least, I _think_ that's more-or-less how you pronounce that Ü letter.

[@toonpik7]

Personally I like how Turkiye sounds and looks. Too bad is the special 'u' is going to be hard for english speakers to use.

[@LouisSubearth]

Just use the "oo" sound. It's easier.

[@oyoo3323]

It really isn’t hard at all. The real problem will be some being too lazy to look it up, that’s it. Typing diacritics (at least the common ones, which this one is an example of), is by no means difficult.

[@aarengraves9962]

i dont people are gonna start calling it Turkiye. Only in titles maybe

[@TearMeOpenIBelieve]

@@oyoo3323 it's not lazy. That character is not used in English. It's not even on our keyboards. I'm not googling that character for one single word. Rest of the spelling change is fine.

[@oyoo3323]

@@TearMeOpenIBelieve when I spoke of looking it up, I spoke of looking up how to type them. And if you did, you would know that you *do* in fact have access to it on your physical keyboard. And if you meant the virtual keyboard, then it quite shocking you went this long without realising that typing diacritics is as easy as holding a key to see variations.

[@gyorokpeter]

I guess in Hungary this will not stick as we have a custom well-established name for the country so the fact that the English name changed doesn't really matter. The same applied to the other countries mentioned as well: Eswatini = Szváziföld Côte d'Ivoire = Elefántcsontpart (lit. elephant bone coast) Czechia / Czech Republic = Csehország Türkiye = Törökország

[@Jan_Koopman]

Magyarul tanulok és gondolom ez furcsa hogy a Magyarok Hollandia ,,Hollandia" hívnak, mert: 1) Az ország neve ez ,,Nederland" (,,Alacsonyország") a Hollandul és ,,Holland(ul)" a Hollandul ez ,,Nederlands" (,,Az Alacsonyotszágtól/-ja"); 2) ,,Holland" ez egy régió Hollandiaban, nem az ország; 3) ,,-land" a ,,Holland"-ban jelent ,,-ország" vagy ,,-föld", és ,,-ia" a ,,Hollandia"-ban jelent ,,-ország/-föld" is, nos ,,Hollandia" jelent ,,Holországország"

[@gyorokpeter]

@@Jan_Koopman Yes, it's funny that we add a suffix meaning "land of" to a name that already contains "land". But I guess we just didn't care about the etymology. Still the region would be called "Holland" and the country "Hollandia". Historically the area roughly corresponding to the Benelux states was called "Németalföld" (German low land) - adding fuel to the fire of German/Dutch confusion.

[@Jan_Koopman]

@@gyorokpeter, Németalföld is actually historically accurate. Germany was "the Highland" and The Netherlands (as the name dictates) are the low lands. The old versions of what would thr become German and Dutch languages used to be called "High German" and "Low German" respectively, so it actually makes sense

[@dgpsf]

@@Jan_Koopman oh wow that’s interesting.

[@generalZee]

I remember when The Czech Republic changed its name because my girlfriend at the time was studying abroad in Prague. Nobody in the country even knew it happened until the it appeared in the papers that day, but according to my ex nobody cared either. Apparently it was done by the Czech President who has more of a ceremonial role than a real one. By changing the country's name he was exercising one of the few powers he actually had, but he was a famous drunken idiot so nobody really took it seriously.

[@pharmesq]

Thats one heck of a drunken power however. Tomorrow morning you could wake up in Paradise. Or Hungoverland.

[@WaterShowsProd]

Yes, I was organising an international festival and thought I was doing the right thing making sure everything said, "Czechia" on it. When I asked The Czech participants about they name change they said, "It was just one stupid guy who wanted it," and said that everybody there still called The Czech Republic.

[@oyoo3323]

The name was never changed. A new shorthand version was added, that’s it. The country’s full name is still Czech Republic. Just as how Slovakia’s is Slovak Republic.

[@elvincenzo]

it wasn't a name change. It's still called Czech Republic, but now it also has an official short name Czechia now, justl like most other countries.

[@jarlRiess]

@@WaterShowsProd Sadly, your co-participants from my country were very poorly informed - and you have took their opinions as a proof and truth. a) the name of the Czech Republic have not been changed at all, it is still the same: the official name of the state b) "Czechia" is just unofficial, short name, which has a much longer history (and even its use in English!) than the presidency of that "stupid guy" (i.e. M. Zeman, 2013-23?) - and the use of this name has been strongly recommended by Czech linguists and businessmen since the breakup of Czechoslovakia, i.e. from 1992/93; that those recommendation only succeeded in 2016 is a different matter (and if you want, you can easily study something about the problem - see Wikipedia, for example) c) in Czech language most of us name our country either "Česko" (= Czechia) or "Čechy" (= Bohemia) or just "republika" (= the Republic, it means the Czech Rep., of course)

[@Edumt91]

I find it funny that turkey (the bird) in Portuguese is called a "peru", so also a country

[@mathimatiki]

now imagine Peru wanting to change it's international name to Perú because of that

[@nullx7]

in Turkish “ Mısır” has two meanings. Mısır: Corn Mısır: Egypt 😅

[@WaterShowsProd]

While organising an international festival a few years ago I was constantly reminding people to use "Czechia" instead of "Czech Republic" for fear of offending the participants from that country. When they arrived I asked them about the name change and they all said how stupid it was, and that everyone there was still calling it The Czech Republic.

[@modmaker7617]

Ask them if they call their country in Czech; Česko or Česká Republika?

[@Zveebo]

Czechia I don't really mind - it uses English characters and The Czech Republic was always pretty cumbersome tbh.

[@gerardvanwilgen9917]

I think that in Dutch, Czechia has almost always been called "Tsjechië" instead of "Tsjechische Republiek".

[@gokhan4461]

Update from 2023: Most Turkish people are still calling Turkiye "Turkey" when speaking English.

[@sionsmedia8249]

The quote you showed from Erdogan is very ironic, when considering he talks about the "Turkish civilization", when a man greatly admired in Turkey and a westernizer, Ataturk said "there is only one civilization, the European one"

[@BoBo-bq2os]

However Ataturk fought against Europeans who tried to divide Turkish lands.

[@k.umquat8604]

@@BoBo-bq2os Ataturk didn't embrace western ideals out of love for the west,he did it because he and his contemporaries saw the benefits of the West and tried to apply them in Turkey

[@BoBo-bq2os]

​@@k.umquat8604 True, but sadly it never worked out. Western ideals only works for rich countries where politicians dont need to abuse their power to benefit themselves.

[@jbshiva865]

@@BoBo-bq2os As an American I need to say that rich nations have politicians that abuse their power to benefit themselves. Corruption is a universal in politics.

[@lapiswolf2780]

On any onscreen keyboard like Microsoft Keyboard,Swiftkey,Google Keyboard and Samsung Keyboard, holding down the letter will give alternatives like accents or the Ñ, but the problem arises with physical keyboards used with laptops and desktops.

[@bradleyilagan3939]

At this point a international keyboard input should probably be a default in computers and laptops. That would give convenient access on the common accents by clicking shift + the key representing the accent, and then the letter.

[@bealu9459]

just put the cuntrol+the number lol

[@deldarel]

@@bradleyilagan3939 you use the shift key? For my default keyboard it automatically buffers the accent. The " is the shift of ' for me so using shift would result in ü, not using shift in ú. I thought I used US International

[@Disguisedguy]

yuh that's the issue with Côte d'Ivoire and prob some other country out there

[@omograbi]

It's is called in Arabic literally "Roman rooster".

[@tonymouannes]

It's roomi, it might relate to the "room" christians who are from the region around turkey actually. I don't the name have anything to do with Rome. Also in arabic you can call it "habshi" which refers to the habash who are people who live in modern days ethiopia.

[@pierreabbat6157]

I've seen labels saying "HECHO EN PAVO" (on Superholly, I think). It means "Made in turkey (the bird)".

[@eewag1]

Your content is awesome! By the way, my opinion on the whole thing is that it’s pointless. If anything, the BIRD is the one whose name needs to change, considering the bird is named after the country. I’m gonna end up never using the new name, just like I still call North Macedonia “Macedonia” and Eswatini “Swaziland” (but at least I call the Czech Republic “Czechia”, in fact, I even called it Czechia BEFORE the name change in 2016).

[@mustafahikmetozcan]

Did you use to call Swaziland at all? Didn't know its existence before

[@michaelmiller7465]

I'll counter that. When it was named, it was for (some of) the PEOPLE of the area, as the country was the Ottoman empire. They probably WANTED to call it an Ottoman, but well, you know...

[@triadwarfare]

@@michaelmiller7465 i guess we'll just call the bird Ottoman and let Turkey keep its namesake

[@mydogsbutler]

" just like I still call North Macedonia “Macedonia” ' Ah. Antihellenic bigot calls the former Yugoslavia region of Vardar "Macedonia..,, when Macedonia is in Greece. Pure genius. Perhaps England is in western France"? kzbin.info/www/bejne/mmiypXuJq5tphcU,,

[@MasonGreenWeed]

@@triadwarfare ottoman is name for foot stool

[@victorcabanelas]

As someone probably mentioned, in Spanish we call it "Turquía", which sounds the same, but with the accent switched. Also, if it helps to separate them from the bird, I aprove. As always, keep up the great work and cheers from Argentina!

[@perceivedvelocity9914]

Hahaha. In America we call Deutschland Germany, we call Nippon-koku Japan and we call the Hellenic Republic Greece. I'm sorry, there is no way that American's are going to use the name Türkiye.

[@BoBo-bq2os]

You just did.

[@EnigmaticLucas]

If you want people to take your claims regarding English seriously, learn the difference between pluralization and possession

[@csmlyly5736]

I'll call it Turkia at least but you can't just mandate that an entire language change the way they speak to respect a letter that doesn't eveb exist in their alphabet. I thought u with an umlaut made a long O sound anyway? We already don't use or pronounced German words as they are in German and that is very nearly the closest sister tongue to our language. I will call it Turkia, fine. I have been saying Czechia for a long time already. But Türkiye uses letters that do not normally exist in my language and which cause confusion among most English speakers.

[@csmlyly5736]

Yes there are several countries that speak English. I never mentioned it being a US thing? Actual people in actual places speak English as their native language, diplomats are a very small part of the equation. They can speak another language instead if it helps. The fact is that English literally does not contain the letters.

[@trien30]

It's Nippon/Nihon(日本) in Japanese, not Nippon-koku. Hellenic Republic is in English not Greek as far as I know.

[@traindude80]

I'm a Turkish-American and for me this change is pointless. While speaking English I say "Turkey" and while speaking Turkish I say "Türkiye". A few days ago my non-Turkish cousin asked me whats with the name change and how to even pronounce it. I explained how to say the "ü" but concluded by saying just say Turkey. If a name change must happen, then "Turkiye" (without the "ü") would the way to go, to make it fit into the English alphabet. Including the "ü" just seems like a round hole, square peg type of situation and can come across as pretentious. Not to mention that in Turkey's current state, is their international name REALLY one of the country's most pressing issues??

[@cayel9277]

I'm normally all for changing the name to better reflect it's native pronunciation, but leaving the umlaut in was a mistake. Take it out and it can just be one of the many, many exceptions to English pronunciation rules. Also easier to type

[@t0pip0p]

words like façade, naïve, détente, coup d’état and café also exist in english too so i personally dont see a problem

[@urseliusurgel4365]

@@t0pip0p But in general native English people learn the pronunciation of foreign diacritic-laden words the same way they learn how to pronounce all other words, they do not learn how diacritics work. So people know that café is pronounced 'cafay' and not 'cayf', just like they know cough is pronounced 'coff' and not 'cow' (like bough). Give the average native English speaker the new, rather unnecessary, Turkish spelling and they will have no clue how to pronounce it. Plus it is rank arrogance to inflict diacritics on a linguistic group who do not use them. The Toorks would have been better advised to spell it 'Toorkiyeh' for English speakers, if they really wished them to pronounce the name that way.

[@PakBallandSami]

“Why after my years of education, after studying the secular civilization and the socialization process, should i decent to the level of common people, i will make them rise to my level, let me not resemble them, they should resemble me!” ― Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

[@Coleo20]

Me: **Finally buys globe with unified Germany and no Soviet Union** Turkey: **Changes name** Me: Are you !#@&ing kidding me with this?!

[@JeremyWS]

How many here still remember the country of Yugoslavia?

[@trien30]

And Czechoslovakia?

[@csmlyly5736]

And Burma

[@PuzzledMonkey]

Another New World domestic fowl with an interesting name is the Muscovy Duck. Also called the Barbary Duck. It is from neither Muscovy nor the Barbary Coast, and in fact is bred from a Central American species that is more like a wood duck (which lives in trees) than a pond dwelling mallard. Muscovies also have a big red caruncle on their face, like turkeys, but without the wattle or snood.

[@teacherjoe7019]

Please come take those nasty ducks and the people who feed them out of my neighborhood.

[@mirabeaux851]

The only country that really needed to change its name in English was Georgia they should just go with Kartvelia. I am not totally against Endonyms, but I think it would make more sense to not import them completely unadapted. Like “eSwatini” just means “Swa[t]iland” in English. However I don’t thinking fighting every example of this is worth it, namely old/established names.

[@mohameddiaby835]

Poultry farmers are coming together at the poultry famers international convention to rename the bird "Türkyiye".

[@zaco-km3su]

I don't think the name will change in other languages. It will change at the meetings but in normal talk in countries that speak other languages it will remain the same. In fact the name will remain the same even in the English speaking world....in day to day usage. As for Czechia, that name will catch on.

[@Nima-ec4tr]

we the ones who speak Persian farsi dari called them in there real name already btw and many other places

[@zaco-km3su]

@@Nima-ec4tr Most didn't. NOt in English anyway. That won't change. Most languages have a name for Turkey and they won't change it.

[@oleksandrbyelyenko435]

There are so many languages that call Czech Republic Czechia for god knows how long. Like in Ukrainian and Russian no-one calls it Czech Republic, everyone calls it Czechia. And 2018 was a fine change for me, because this name is standard in my native language. I assumed same goes for Czech people as they are using Slavic language too. Apparently even their Prime minister didn't know about the change....

[@lmaocetung]

And then there's the whole thing when Czechia and Bohemia are a different words In the Czech language but Czech and Bohemian are the same word in the Czech language. This whole thing is very complicated and stupid

[@m_lies]

nearly no country is called with the form of government... you also won't say "Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland = Federal Republic of Germany" instead people say Germany/Deutschland or for "République française = French Republic" most would say France... That's normal and as you see Czechia is at last very close to Czech, while there are countries like Deutschland that have hundreds of names depending the country you are in, and most of the names do not nearly sound or look the same to one another in any aspect...

[@mynameisnotmars8499]

We call it Czechia in Norway to

[@samuelsegundo5953]

I like calling them Czechia because rhymes with Slovakia, at least in Spanish.

[@Zveebo]

@@m_lies The UK has entered the chat ;)

[@moritamikamikara3879]

I'm not gonna call it by a name that has sounds that don't exist in my Language. Sorry Erdogan, Turkey is staying.

[@nisa000]

TÜRKİYE;)

[@k.umquat8604]

And I'm not going to call it Türkiye in English because this is obviously for propaganda

[@turan2815]

fashist

[@tobiasboston7795]

​​@@turan2815 By your logic, you are also a fascist if you don't call Inglitere in your native language England. Sorry dude but there is no ü in english, nor is it that easy to pronounce it accurately.

[@VoiceOfTheEmperor]

4:48 it's great on a sandwich. Also, I always pour thanksgiving gravy all over my turkey meat. Adds salt and moisture to the poultry.

[@dorderre]

Germany has two! completely different names for the turkey bird: Truthahn/Truthenne and Puter/Pute (male/female form). Those two terms can be used interchangeably. Wonder if we need to call the Türkei now Türkiye, too, since there is no risk of confusing it with the bird's name at all.

[@TheGogeta222]

Ich erinnere mich an alte Kochbücher wo der Truthahn als Türkenhenne angegeben war

[@turan2815]

nö

[@uncipaws7643]

The narrator ending every sentence on a bass note is so calming. Isn't "Erdogan wants it" the best argument against changing the name? Also this reminds me of Côte d'Ivoire which at some point didn't want to be translated to Ivory Coast, Elfenbeinküste any more. The problem is that countries, even if they want, typically don't have success if they want to meddle in foreign language. It's as if Germany suddenly expected everybody in every language to say Deutschland instead of the curious multitude of names the country has in various languages. Talking about Czechia, there is a debate in German whether Tschechei is derogatory. The official form is Tschechien. I don't know whether the Czech care at all.

[@Mainyehc]

No offense to the people of Ivory Coast, but demanding that a name that’s inherently translatable *not* be translated is monumentally stupid, IMHO. In Portuguese it’s Costa do Marfim, which means… yep, you’ve guessed it, Ivory Coast/Côte d’Ivoire, and saying the name in French actually sounds pedantic in context. If you don’t like the name of your country because of its meaning and political connotations (Rhodesia being replaced by Zimbabwe is a great example, by the way), on the other hand… now that’s a good reason to change it and, even then, there’s no guarantee all countries and languages will pick up on it or not translate/adapt it further down the line.

[@damlasu4901]

Thing is, many Turks do in fact dislike having the same name with the bird, it's not just "erdogan wants it" although yes he does, very much. I hate when anything happens here and every foreigner is like "Ah, must be Erdoğan. Yes, him only."

[@tirex3673]

I‘ve never heard anybody use „Tschechei“ for „Tschechien“, outside of history books.

[@uncipaws7643]

@@tirex3673 Elderly Austrian people often say Tschechei.

[@effusivefugitive]

@@damlasu4901 And this, presumably, is why Erdogan is still in power. Instead of worrying about the authoritarian regime in Ankara, or the actions it undertakes without your consent, you choose to get upset about the fact that we think your dictator acts like a dictator.

[@FluffyEmmy1116]

6:36 that reminds me about the Chinese name for penguin translating to "business goose"

[@trien30]

Which is totally incorrect, 企鵝/企鹅 was derived from Cantonese where 企 means "to stand." Therefore, 企鵝/企鹅 literally means "a goose which can stand(on it's feet/legs like a human being.") These people from China don't know crap. Thinking all Chinese words are from Mandarin but even 企業/企业 was also derived from Cantonese. 企業 is where there (hopefully) is only one monopolistic company/business "standing." (In other words, 企業 can be thought of as a monopoly where you beat down your competitors.) In today's China, everything's "lying flat" whatever that means. A lot of words were appropriated or taken from non-Mandarin dialects or Japanese and used as is or remade into nonsense during Mao's lifetime.

[@FluffyEmmy1116]

@@trien30 All I know is that Google Translate says 企 mean "Enterprise"

[@ghqebvful]

Most symboled letters can be reached with alt codes. Hold the alt key and input the code of the symbol you want.

[@seanchadwick9036]

Patrick, The turkey is a large bird in the genus Meleagris, native to North America. There are two extant turkey species: the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) of eastern and central North America and the ocellated turkey (Meleagris ocellata) of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Thus, turkey’s aren’t native to South America.

[@mirabeaux851]

3:36 I take issue with this framing that implies that all different names for a country are colonial. So I’m just happened to be different, often for reasons of language flowing like it does normally And some of the examples right after this are qualitatively different from ones like “Rhodesia”l

[@WaterShowsProd]

Anyone who has encountered a wild turkey wouldn't see them that way. I used to see them wandering about, espcially in the evenings. They are big, impressive, and tough animals. Though, they are a bit dim; my sister-in-law saw one attacking its own reflection in a hubcap once, and was scratching the Hell out of it. I once saw one fly across the highway in front of me. They are big, and to see them flying is quite awesome.

[@capncake8837]

Agreed.

[@WaterShowsProd]

Considering how often I still hear people call Myanmar "Burma", and Ho Chi Minh City "Saigon", it will be intereting to see if this name change catches on.

[@trien30]

It's S-A-I-g-o-n, not S-I-A-g-on. The "correct" name is actually spelled in Vietnamese as "Sài Gòn" by the way.

[@WaterShowsProd]

@@trien30 Sorry about that. That was merely a typo on my part. I do know the correct spelling, but my fingers often like to race each other when I'm typing. :) I'll fix that.

[@Voxdalian]

I have chosen to spell the name of country as Tørquey from now on, I think that fits their culture of being ridiculous even better, and than they can deal with a letter they don't have in their alphabet. And the same with Rêcæp Tãyyìp Érdõgån, that's a much better spelling of his name.

[@servantofaeie1569]

I call him "Reject Erdogay"

[@heronimousbrapson863]

Not to be confused with Torquay, which is in England.

[@Jan_Koopman]

In Dutch: Türkiye/Turkey (country) = Turkije or since the name change Türkiye, though I don't know how many people other than me use it. Turkey (bird) = Kalkoen The Czech Republic / Czechia = Tsjechië I don't know about Eswatini/Zwazilamd

[@catchme4079]

As a native Turk, I can confirm that this was a silly idea. I'll keep saying "I'm from Turkey". Except for the sheer impossibility that the spoken language can actually be changed on request, I could only find this attempt sincere if they also changed the name of India in Turkish to something else because we call it "Hindistan" which literally means turkey-land in Turkish. (Pretty confusing huh?)

[@michaelturner2806]

Re the meat of the bird: it's ok I suppose. As a whole cooked animal at US Thanksgiving I've always hated it, because it's so easy to cook wrong by my family. I don't think I've gone through any Thanksgiving where I'm not drinking five glasses of water or more to choke down incredibly dry tasteless meat. (For the winter holiday, my family traditionally serves salty country ham without honey.) Turkey as a food appears more often to me as processed lunchmeat, where it seems to be more plentiful than chicken. Apart from sandwiches and special occasions, I never see it.

[@PakBallandSami]

i remember when czechia did the same thing or some thing similar ever body use to just call it czech republic and the czech government requested ever one to call it czechia because it was easier to say

[@modmaker7617]

Well English-speakers have a difficulty to say Czechia. Instead of the correct "check-ee-ah", English-speakers mispronouced as "chechnya".

[@BLAngel1]

I am a Thailand-ese Twin. The other day I made Chicken Kyiv but my twin was more in the mood for Türkiye so we made both and gave the scraps to my dog who is a Zimbabwean ridgeback.

[@modmaker7617]

People of Thailand are called the Thais in English not "Thailand-ese" lol.

[@MartinLeong25]

@@modmaker7617 you missed the joke

[@modmaker7617]

@@MartinLeong25 Okay Japanese Chinese Taiwanese Cantonese (it's just a language not a nationality but still) Vietnamese Thai

[@miatx6818]

About Czechia The dutch name for it is Tjechië and always has been. I think its really complicated to name its Czech republic cuz in most parts of the world its pronounced with ia

[@Illumisepoolist]

The name Turkey is still being used By google. Heck, Turkiye is labeled with a red line as it has not yet caught with the internet dictionary.

[@fibergut613]

In Norway we call it Tyrkia which is pretty much the same pronounciacion except with an a at the end

[@modmaker7617]

Türkiye is replacing Turkey in English. While Czechia & Czech Republic are both correct as the short informal name and the full formal name. Czechia didn't replace Czech Republic.

[@IcedFire89]

I'm glad I watched this and didn't stop at just reading it. I thought it was a spelling change and would've pronounced it the same.

[@AtarahDerek]

Speaking of cooked geese, you ought to tell the story of Jan Huss, who coined the term (sort of).

There's a whole mess here mixing writing with pronunciation and what language are we talking about. If we're talking about the name of this country in English we can still say that the way Türkiye is pronounced is still the same as Turkey for example. Whole mess. Is it also changing in French? In Arabic? in Japanese? Just English? Should it be spelled this way in Japanese? in Hebrew? Obviously some of these languages use whole other writing systems. What a mess

[@csmlyly5736]

Agreed. You can't expect English speakers to know how to pronounce your language's sounds based on your languages spellings. We already have that problem in English as it is. English is not well equiped to convey to English speakers how something is supposed to be pronounced if they don't already know. "The knave kneaded a knotted knish on the knap", for example would already trip up most English speakers based on entirely native spelling.

[@maggpiprime954]

For anyone bilingual with English and Portuguese, it'll be fairly easy getting a reasonably acceptable pronunciation of Türkiye's "new" name.

[@Zveebo]

Well great, that's about 20 people then…

[@maggpiprime954]

@@Zveebo It'd be a lot more if everyone in Toronto were subscribed 😄 Lots of Brazilians and Portuguese here!

[@Fuckthis0341]

I have been fascinated with this since I was a kid so this video is clutch.

[@richdobbs6595]

Talks about a farm-yard bird, and then shows pictures of wild turkeys! Winning.

[@CatherineKimport]

To the question of "why NOW," obviously it's because Geography Now is already in the middle of the T's and they want to get their name changed before it's preserved in the episode permanently.

[@cfgp]

speaking of czech republic/czechia, yesterday was the Portugal-Czech Republic/Czechia football game, for the UEFA Nations League, and the commentators struggled a lot to say Chéquia (Czechia) and many times stopped themselves mid-República Checa (Czech Republic) to immediately say Chéquia also, here in Portugal, the media has been changing exonyms to other exonyms that the countries prefer: Chéquia instead of República Checa, Países Baixos (Netherlands) instead of Holanda (Holland), Moldova instead of Moldávia, and one that has been going on throughout the world, Kyiv instead of Kiev

[@csmlyly5736]

Kiev and Kyiv should be switched, at least in English. In English IE makes the EE sound while YI makes the EEYEH sound. So Kiev is pronounced like Kyiv is spelled and Kyiv is pronounced like Kiev is spelled.

[@HalfEye79]

In Germany there is the description of somthing: it is "getürkt". The meaning is, that it is faked. But this applies even to the new name of Turkey.

[@maxglendale7614]

I personally like the name change. However the problem with Turkiye is the spelling. The new name should be pronounced "Turkia". But because of the spelling, people will likely pronounce it, "Turk-i-yay"

[@damlasu4901]

The correct spelling (at least in Turkish) is not "Turkia". That sounds like you're saying Türkiye with a heavy Arabic accent. Correct way to say it is "Tür-ki-yea".

[@lordkenten4136]

@@damlasu4901 but this is for English speakers not Turks. Turks speak Turkish. English speaker speak English. Why not spell the name in a way that English speakers can pronounce it?

[@damlasu4901]

@@lordkenten4136 I'm not defending the change. many people assume "turkia" is how we pronounce it, so im just correcting an error.

[@jonathannadeau6218]

In French we call that bird dinde. It comes from d’inde as in coq d’inde, meaning Rooster from India.

[@gamezytoo1433]

I'm Turkish and currently the word "Türkiye" is as an English word for me as "X" is "Twitter". :D I still use "Turkey" in English and I probably will not stop doing so.

[@Lampey22]

As a Turk, i can’t stand such a “non-Anatolian-or-Central-Asian-looking-animal” could be mistaken as it’s coming from my country, and be named my country. Animals show diversity by countries, which makes them show diversity by climate and lands shapes. But us Turks were wrong too. We thought that animal came from India since it looked a lot like Mousson climate birds, so we named it Hindi, and India is called “Hindistan” in Turkish; at least we didn’t call an animal by a country’s name. It is so disrespectful. But changing the counry’s non-Turkish name into Türkiye is not a good idea. The only problem we have is with the English version. So changing only the English version would be a much smarter move. And since the letter “ü” is commonly found in Turkic languages, making the new name “Turkiye” would be a way better idea

[@MaelPlaguecrow6942]

Wow, that is a cool new name Turkey has got.

[@misterno-ice-guy8082]

I took Spanish in high school. My teacher renamed all of us to represent our names in Spanish. This led to an existential crisis which culminated in my deciding that "Spain" doesn't exist, because one shouldn't translate proper nouns. The country in question, therefore, is España. Ofc, I learned the spanish language spoken in Mexico, which differs from España-spanish, bc I live in The USA ..also, I tried to pronounce this country "Tour-key" to differentiate (I thought that was good enough, but I was and am still ignorant, albeit less so thanks to your lovely channel:)

[@HUNdAntae]

I believe European Spanish is called Castellano while in Latin America they just call it Español

[@misterno-ice-guy8082]

@@HUNdAntae oh, noice! I'm still learning, ty. I meant to say Español.

[@HaliPuppeh]

I lost it at "Shichimencho"... Now I can't turn my "WTH" face off and I have to go to work.

[@enochlee3601]

I honestly support this name change as even I am tired of the mixing up with then Thanksgiving bird and I can imagine how annoying it is for anyone doing a country project for school, college or university and most of what they get is info on the bird

[@muhammadabdullahy9281]

nice video. please also make about Indonesia

[@RikudoMadaraUchiha]

Still calling it Constantinople

[@Xx-sneezyanusXDMLGPUZZYSLAYER-]

funniest guy on earth here, folks.

[@themanbehindtheslaughter7633]

Cope

[@sdspivey]

That would be Istanbul, not Turkey.

[@pierreabbat6157]

Variablinople

[@Markcrazeer]

In Norway I have always known the Czech republic as Czechia.

[@FluffyEmmy1116]

I think "Turkia" is a good English spelling of the name. IMO it's respectful of the change, homophonic, same "Land of the Turks" vibe, and much more likely to catch on than literally anything with diacritics.

[@Canaris4]

Didn't know Czechia and the Czech Republic were the same country. Like, I'd heard of the name "Czechia" before, but I just assumed it was part of Russia.

[@Divine_Evil]

Czechia is not the same as Chechnya...

[@czechistan_zindabad]

you think about Chechnya

[@tobiasboston7795]

It's similar to Greece and the Hellenic republic, only that Greece is referred more often.

[@clabood]

New Zealand has been exploring the idea of changing it's name to the native language. If it happens and hopefully it will Aotearoa will be the name.

[@clabood]

@Sanctus Paulus 1962 As half pākehā (European Kiwi) I have started using Aotearoa in my everyday life. It is pretty easy to make a change. Takes time and practice but in the end you get there.

[@clabood]

@@soundscape26 yes it would be via a referendum however it has reached that far. The Māori party have made a petition which has gotten good support. Also did you see the flag options. Some of them were horrible.

[@soifon7000]

That won't be necessary.

[@marksawyer1522]

Hi the picture of the kebab shop is my local one and I know the person in the photo. I’m a subscriber and like the channel but do I know you ? Is that really your local kebab? I won’t say where for privacy.

[@afd1040]

9:43 the thing is most countries already call it something similar in their own their languages exceptions like English exists of course. And honestly it doesn't matter if the English speakers can't use it.

[@gentuxable]

Don't you have dead keys on your keyboard that do this ¨ ? You just type ¨ followed by u, that makes a ü. There is also the ^ that could make a û and a ` that makes ù.

[@FrankLeeMadeere]

If you say the "oo" in pool you're 90% of the way to ü. The really tough one for English speakers is ö. There is nothing close that I can think of. btw, Recep is approximated by "rejep" in English not "resep"

[@csmlyly5736]

Oooooh so the Ü IS pronounced as oo, not as he probounces it in the video? Well then I support the spelling changer after all. I thought he was pronouncing it correctly in the video and that the Ü simply made no sense. But it does make sense the guy in the video just doesn't respect it.

[@FrankLeeMadeere]

@Sanctus Paulus 1962 don't forget the "r", but very close

[@k.umquat8604]

@@csmlyly5736 it's not,but it's close. It's a cross between an oo and an ee.

[@huseyin_rahmi]

the sound *ɜː* in "girl" is pretty similar to ö, i think

[@k.umquat8604]

@@huseyin_rahmi it's not exactly the same thing,but it has a slight difference in vowel quality to short /ə/ so it fits

[@jrlanglois]

I feel this. I mean, everybody keeps calling my city awattO when it is, in fact, Ottawa. *sigh*

[@tonymouannes]

It's important to note that turkey was never colonized and it didn't change from its colonized name by simply requesting everyone using the turkish work for it and spell it using the turkish alphabet. I don't think people in turkey care much about the bird, which only applies to english. It's just a populist stunt to revive the glory of the ottoman empire and hoping to introduce the turkish language to the word. That said turkish was never a wide spread language in the ottoman empire were arabic was the dominant language. It wasn't even a popular second language. I don't believe the new name will catch on because it's hard to say for most people who don't speak turkish and the names in all language are basically the same, just adapted to each language. That said, the name change seems a bit disrespectful the the world's diversity and language choices. It's like forcing everyone to use the English name for the usa or the uk. Changing a countries name is one thing, but changing the translation of the same name is a totally different thing.

[@mateiradu5109]

a video on the name of the Mediterranean sea would be interesting

[@maikotter9945]

Europäisches Mittelmeer

[@sobertowelie3267]

The letter Ü wouldn't be the only problem for English speakers. The letter K, when preceding I, Ë, Ö or Ü, becomes a different sound as well, similar to the Albanian Q. I can tell it's gonna be a promising time from now on, listening to other people trying to pronounce this name adequately. :D

[@Geckotr]

just write it with u instead dude, that's fine

[@upsidedown3656]

Oh cool your doing Turkey. Can you do one on Turkey, Turks & Caicos, & Turkmenistan.

[@straightupanarg6226]

We have literal wild turkeys where I live, mostly in parks. As someone from Cali, it's weird having such huge birds just wandering around free. My only context is seeing a peacock walking around outside the San Diego zoo. A propos of nothing.

[@tahasahin8408]

It should've been Turchia or Turkia to be honest

[@servantofaeie1569]

I'd rather call it Anatolia

[@csmlyly5736]

Turkia, yes. Because unlike Türkīye, it actually conveys how it is supposed to be pronounced.

[@dolatmed]

as an Iranian familiar with the region türkiye is what we were calling this country all our lives.

[@Wholspowerful]

It was always Türkiye in Turkish, only its English name was rejected in the International Arena

[@oakstrong1]

Turkey in Finnish is Turkki. A dog has a turkki (fur), some people think a turkki (pelt) of a tiger makes a stylish rug, and some want to wear a turkki (fur coat) in winter.

[@Colinop]

8:39 "Formally Swaziland" should be "Formerly Swaziland"

[@mathimatiki]

I already find the Portuguese name of the country, Turquia, to be similar enough to Türkiye. So I don't think this will catch up at all. Probably just an English thing.

[@brunorramliey7775]

In malay, we call it 'ayam belanda' means dutch chicken. Ayam is chicken, Belanda is Dutch/Netherlands.

[@froppy-chan]

I am from turkey and in turkey everyone says türkiye. And i am happy because when ever i search up turkey i see the animal and people make fun of it cause the anime

[@froppy-chan]

I meant animal

[@overtonpendulum2071]

Türkiye is the same as Turkey. Idiotic change. People will still call it Turkey.

[@wh1st]

In Polish turkey(the bird) is called 'indyk' because it came to Europe from West Indies i.e. Americas. Turkey(the country) is called Turcja, so there is no confusion between the two in Polish.

[@RAMAFASTENAMONATO]

In English, the word "TURKEY" means a country in Asia/Europe and a big bird. The word "Türkiye" is used when we communicate in English. In Standard Indonesian, we still call that country "Turki". We do not need to change it into "Türkiye" in Indonesia, our country, because the big bird is called "ayam kalkun" or "ayam belanda" (Dutch chicken) in our national language.

[@tenpotkan7051]

2:47 there you realise you're watching Name Explain, not Name Pronounce.

[@lewatoaofair2522]

For the record, in Turkish, it’s something like “teer-jee-yay”. And the president is “reh-jehp tai-yeep air-doh-ahn”.

[@k.umquat8604]

it's nothing like teer-je-yay btw

[@czechistan_zindabad]

it's not "teer-jee-yay" it's "tue-rk-iye"

[@AccidentalNinja]

Is it possible to get a turkey kebab, or a Türkiye kebab? Also, might we hear about Greece wanting its official name to be Hellas?

[@jurgisvalancauskas4006]

That's like Germany demanding the world to call them Deutschland. It's just weird and not gonna stick when you have a name that worked anyway.