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Places in their Native Language #1

Can you guess the English names of these places based on a spelling in one of their native languages?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: September 16, 2022
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First submittedJanuary 20, 2012
Times taken185,123
Average score71.4%
Rating4.77
4:00
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Native
English
Italia
Italy
La Habana
Havana
Lisboa
Lisbon
Москва
Moscow
München
Munich
Al-Qāhira
Cairo
Österreich
Austria
Native
English
Bretagne
Brittany
Bucureşti
Bucharest
Ciudad de México
Mexico City
Venezia
Venice
Corse
Corsica
Den Haag
The Hague
Schweiz
Switzerland
Native
English
Deutschland
Germany
Aotearoa
New Zealand
Torino
Turin
Toscana
Tuscany
Lefkoşa
Nicosia
Warszawa
Warsaw
Krung Thep
Bangkok
+13
Level 71
May 24, 2013
Why isn't Cairo in the Arabic script when Moscow is in cyrillic? :3
+5
Level 70
Nov 4, 2014
cos russia has a similar dialect to english rather than arabic, which has no similar letters to the english language.
+32
Level 72
Oct 11, 2015
Dialect? Really?!
+10
Level 57
Dec 7, 2021
you didn't just call the cyrillic script a dialect to english... did you?
+2
Level 69
Dec 16, 2023
Yeah he did
+14
Level 75
Sep 15, 2022
Pretty obvious stromae was talking about the script, anyone who isn't busy trying to look clever can see their point.
+2
Level 53
Sep 28, 2013
How I got some of these i'm not sure :D
+2
Level 51
Feb 23, 2014
Could you maybe accept a poor spelling for Brittany? I spelled it with an "O." Got confused with a Briton.
+2
Level 82
Jun 25, 2014
Nicosia was the only difficult one for me. Though I wouldn't have been able to get Cairo if it was written in Arabic.
+6
Level 82
Oct 2, 2016
Later that year (2014) I would be in Lefkosa. The entire quiz is quite easy for me now. But it still seems odd that in some cases (well, one case, Moscow) they use the local way of writing, in this case Cyrillic, but in all other cases they use English transliterations written in Roman letters (when they could have used Greek, Arabic, or Thai letters, for example). I personally think the transliterations using Roman letters is preferable but it should be all one or all the other. So... Mockba = Moskva
+1
Level 75
Oct 7, 2016
Just curious, how many countries have you visited? I wonder if anyone has ever visited all the countries.
+3
Level 82
Oct 7, 2016
There are people who have visited every country on Earth. I've read about them. My recent trip through Austria marked my 49th country. When I go to Serbia in a few weeks that will be #50.
+1
Level 19
Jan 12, 2024
50, a great number for the best country you'll ever visit!
+1
Level 84
Dec 31, 2018
ander217, look up Chris Guillebeau. He did exactly that about 10 years ago I think? Really interesting stuff and great stories about how he visited every country.
+1
Level 67
Jun 25, 2014
The only one I missed was Bangkok. Had no idea.
+8
Level 29
Jan 12, 2020
Actually, in the native Thai language, Bangkok is "Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit."
+5
Level 29
Jan 12, 2020
But I don't think these quizzes could fit that. It would also be a pain to type it down.
+1
Level 41
Oct 20, 2022
AFCW1889 +3 Level 32 Mar 2, 2019 posted the same. Sounds unfriendly, so what is the context for such a name?
+5
Level 51
Jun 25, 2014
For Switzerland, it should be Die Schweiz. Some countries in German have 'the' before the name, like Die Turkei (Turkey).
+8
Level 67
Jan 3, 2019
it could also be Suisse, Svizzera ou Svizra as there are 4 national languages
+3
Level 69
Jun 25, 2014
I thought the native name for Switzerland was Helvetia
+2
Level 57
Dec 7, 2021
In what language would that be?
+3
Level 75
Sep 15, 2022
Helvetian
+3
Level 65
Nov 9, 2022
Schweis is in german, one of the official languages. It's Suisse in french and Svizzera in italian.

They use the latin Helvetia in some situations so that they don't put a language above another.

+1
Level 71
Dec 12, 2023
That's the official name: "Confederatio Helvetica", from which the "CH" abbreviation (e.g. on car licence plates, or internet domain).

However, such name is in Latin, which is not a native language for anyone in Switzerland (or anywhere else, at the moment).

+4
Level 75
Aug 8, 2015
This is Nicosia in Turkish. Perhaps it would be fair to put it in greek as well (Lefkosia - Λευκωσία) since the city belongs to both Cyprus and Turkey.
+6
Level 31
Mar 2, 2019
it doesn't *belong* to turkey, they're just... stubborn
+2
Level 51
Oct 22, 2015
Den Haag is an abbreviation for 's Gravenhage.
+2
Level 70
Dec 31, 2018
True, and it's the official name, but even the city government uses Den Haag (except on identity papers etc.).
+3
Level 69
Jan 30, 2016
Noo! Corsican, you must not perish! Hold onto your Italic roots!
+1
Level 70
May 1, 2016
Missed Switzerland, Austria, Corsica and Brittany.
+10
Level 82
Sep 15, 2016
Pretty sure in Corsica's *native* language it is called Corsica. In French it is called Corse. And yes, I am aware that these days most Corsicans speak French, not Corsican. Just quibbling on a technicality - this is JetPunk after all, and what would the site be coming to if we didn't nitpick.
+2
Level 67
Oct 7, 2016
A riddle i learned 55 years ago: "Can you tell me what was Napoleon's nationality?" "Of course I can."
+2
Level 56
Oct 7, 2016
Italian?
+3
Level 65
Oct 7, 2016
Corsican
+1
Level 59
Nov 16, 2017
St Helenan...? ;-)
+7
Level 49
Feb 6, 2021
So use Breizh for Bretagne then !
+3
Level 57
Aug 17, 2022
It does seem odd that the two French places on the quiz are ones with their own native language.
+2
Level 69
Dec 11, 2023
Not a nit-pick. Corsica is on the list solely because it's distinctly un-French. But, since the native name is Corsica, it should be off the list.
+1
Level 44
Oct 7, 2016
Very easy
+1
Level 71
Oct 7, 2016
breezed through it with 3.11 left.
+6
Level 35
Oct 7, 2016
Wouldn't it be more fair to put the Greek name of Nicosia (Lefkosia) in since it's in the Greek side of Cyprus?
+6
Level 82
Oct 7, 2016
I think Cyprus tourism only ramps up in the summer. I stayed with a Russian girl in a town by the sea in January and it was unbelievably dead. Only one restaurant open in the entire town.

The demarkation between Nicosia/Lefkosa is incredibly stark. I imagine similar to West and East Germany. The Greek side of the city is vibrant, crowded, lively, with great food. The Turkish side... dark, with empty streets, casinos everywhere and brothels full of girls trafficked in from central Asia and Moldova.

+1
Level 68
Dec 11, 2023
Nicosia is actually split between the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish occupation zone, but, yes, I don't understand why Jetpunk would chose to use the Turkish name, especially when the Greek name (Λευκωσία) is more interesting and challenging. Jetpunk really has a problem with Cyprus. Maybe Quizmaster once dated a Greek-Cypriot girl and is working through some issues since then.
+2
Level 56
Oct 7, 2016
WOW!! Got them all with 1 second left
+2
Level 54
Oct 7, 2016
really everyone should call it krung thep...bangkok is just wrong, and morbidly outdated
+2
Level 77
May 11, 2018
You are right, of course. In fact doing this quiz makes me wonder why we ever bother to create an English name for a non-English place. I found it slightly embarrassing to turn up in what I though was called Nicosia one day, only to find that everyone there called it something else. What is the point of inventing our own names for other peoples' towns and countries?
+2
Level 56
Nov 9, 2022
We didn't create the name Bangkok - it seems it's an older name than Kr'ng Thep. After all, it's very obviously a Thai name, not an English one.

In my view, the English language belongs to English speakers, so we can call things whatever we like. I wouldn't dream of telling a Frenchman he must stop talking about Londres or Angleterre and start saying London and England, and likewise I don't know why anyone would think we must do that for other countries. If we as a linguistic group choose to start calling things by their native name that's fine, but as far as I'm concerned it's an arbitrary choice, there's no logical reason to choose one or the other, except perhaps ease of pronunciation.

+1
Level 36
Apr 15, 2023
I totally agree - it just leads to confusion. I reckon everywhere should be called by the name the natives of that place use.
+1
Level 36
Oct 7, 2016
I have a similar one: http://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/205131/country-names-in-their-own-language
+4
Level 37
Oct 11, 2016
Couldn't work out Bangkok, and then somebody said Krung Thep on a documentary about Bangkok on the tv and I was done!
+1
Level 73
Oct 11, 2016
Love the quiz, would be more sadistic if you did 's-Gravenhage instead of Den Haag. Incredibly, both are acceptable. Gotta love those archaic yet actual place names in Dutch... 's-Hertogenbosh, 's-Gravenzande... Lovely.
+1
Level 30
Feb 19, 2017
Didn't know how to spell Den Haag in English. I thougt it is the Hauge.
+13
Level 68
Jun 2, 2017
Shouldn't Brittany be in Breton rather than French?
+9
Level 78
Jul 5, 2018
Yeah, it should be Breizh.
+4
Level 68
Sep 21, 2020
I would love to see it in Breton. Breizh atao !
+3
Level 37
Jul 17, 2017
Can't we have even one quiz w/o the terminal braggart's two cents' worth?
+1
Level 82
Mar 14, 2018
Can't we have even one comment from you that isn't part of your creepy obsession with me? Or better yet, no comments from you. Do you honestly believe that what you've said here adds more to the discussion or is more interesting for people to read than what I posted?
+5
Level 64
Jan 7, 2019
I don't know what your problem is, but I like kal's commentary. Even if I don't agree with it, it's always an entertaining read.
+1
Level 34
May 13, 2018
Oh.......Now I know why Lefkosa sounded familiar.......
+1
Level 66
Dec 16, 2018
cairo was a lucky guess, didnt get bangkok or niciosa. Doesnt even ring a bell now ( and nicosia is entrely new for me)
+1
Level 17
Dec 28, 2018
where's turin?
+1
Level 74
Dec 31, 2018
+1
Level 70
Dec 31, 2018
21/21 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎊🎊🎊🎊!!!!
+1
Level 64
Jan 7, 2019
I got Nicosia on such a dumb lucky guess. I thought, hmm, the "kosa" part sounds like "cosia", let's try that.
+4
Level 31
Mar 2, 2019
surely you meant to say Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit
+1
Level 55
Mar 7, 2019
2:39 remaining ♥♥♥♠♣♦○☻♥☺•◘`
+1
Level 71
May 2, 2019
Nicosia stumped me :(
+2
Level 55
Jun 6, 2019
It's really frustrating when you know the place but keep misspelling it because English isn't your first language. Kept spelling Tuscany with an o and bucharest without the h. Got it before the time ran out though.
+2
Level 71
Aug 19, 2019
Nice quiz!

But I would write "one of the native languages", as "Switzerland" has 4 different ones, "Corsica" has 2, etc.

+1
Level 59
Apr 5, 2020
The capitol of Ukraine changed to the way it's actually spelled in there, maybe you could change it to something else?
+8
Level 50
May 20, 2020
when I saw Al-Qāhira I though of al-qeada
+1
Level 53
Feb 6, 2021
LOL SAME
+1
Level 49
Mar 6, 2024
Same. Al-Qaeda, though. I tried it, it didn’t work.
+5
Level 57
Oct 11, 2020
Nicosia in its native language is spelled Λευκωσία. It is only spelled Lefkoşa by an occupying force, the Turkish puppet government of Northern Cyprus, a pseudo-state that is not recognized by any UN member except Turkey. Jetpunk has a very consistent policy of not acknowledging occupied territories as sovereign entities, so I'm quite surprised to see that this policy has failed to apply to this quiz. This has to be corrected; either have Λευκωσία be the hint for Nicosia, or don't have Nicosia in the quiz at all.
+1
Level 45
Nov 15, 2020
Bangkok in its native language is กรุงเทพ (มหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยามหาดิลก ภพนพรัตน์ราชธานีบุรีรมย์ อุดมราชนิเวศน์ มหาสถานอมรพิมาน อวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยะ วิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์) tho (Krung Thep (Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit)). Like, I get that the whole name is a pain in the ass to type, but just กรุงเทพ would've been better for a quiz about native languages ig
+2
Level 37
Feb 6, 2021
It should be Breizh
+1
Level 53
Feb 6, 2021
I got everything except Nicosia, Cairo and Bangkok. Dang it.
+1
Level 28
Feb 6, 2021
Nicosia isn't lefkosa, it's lefkosia. Nice quiz btw
+1
Level 46
Feb 6, 2021
I wrote Havanna with two 'n's :(
+3
Level 61
Feb 6, 2021
you should probably change Moscow into the latin alphabet transliteration for consistency purposes lmao
+4
Level 47
Feb 6, 2021
By Krung Thep do you mean Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit?
+3
Level 30
May 16, 2021
I think they mean กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยา มหาดิลกภพ นพรัตนราชธานีบูรีรมย์ อุดมราชนิเวศน์มหาสถาน อมรพิมานอวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยวิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์
+2
Level 38
Feb 8, 2021
haha ezzy dub noobs get good please ;)
+1
Level 46
Feb 10, 2021
You should add kemet as egypt
+1
Level 39
Apr 3, 2021
“Lefkoşa” is Turkish word. As a Turkish finding Nicosia was not difficult at all for me 😂
+1
Level 67
Aug 4, 2021
16
+3
Level 64
Sep 7, 2021
Agree with previous comments that Bretagne would have been better as Breizh. That's what Bretons call it; to me this is like saying that native speakers in Wales don't call it Cymru
+1
Level 38
Dec 11, 2021
Actually... I'm part Ukrainian and the capital of Ukraine is київ in Ukrainian (not куїv)
+2
Level 75
Jan 31, 2022
Add Piruw (Peru in Quechua)!
+2
Level 43
Apr 29, 2022
The native language of Corsica is the Corsican language which is closely related to Italian.

In Corsican, Corsica is likewise called "Corsica".

"Corse" is the french name of the island and French is widely regarded as an introduced tongue of the french occupant. It's like claiming "Ireland" or "Grønland" to be native designations

Therefore, please consider either changing this particular answer or the quiz title since "Corse" is not a native name for Corsica. Or at least write in the description that you go by official language, not by native language.

+1
Level 16
Jun 13, 2022
100% 1:52
+1
Level 26
Nov 1, 2022
The native language of NZ is Te Reo Maori just to let you know you should change it as Aoeteroa is the Maori name for New Zealand
+2
Level 67
Nov 9, 2022
I didn’t expect so many people to get Aotearoa.
+2
Level 50
Nov 9, 2022
Never heard of the name but guessed it based on how it sounded.
+1
Level 36
Dec 29, 2022
why are brittany and corsica in french instead of breton and corsican, and venice in italian instead of venetian?
+1
Level 44
Feb 28, 2023
finished in 1 minute, and am 12!
+2
Level 35
Jun 1, 2023
if you wanna get technical, brittany would be "breizh", in the regional dialect known as Breton. Although it's in France so of course most people just call it Bretagne.

The Breizh identity is still pretty rooted in the traditions though. Think about it ! ;)

+2
Level 68
Dec 11, 2023
Since we're being technical: Breton is not a dialect (or, at least, not a French dialect). It's a celtic language that is largely unrelated to French and other romance languages.
+1
Level 67
Sep 6, 2023
Just missed New Zealand even though I usually get that one
+1
Level 68
Dec 11, 2023
Easy, 100%.
+2
Level 68
Dec 11, 2023
4 TIMES A GERMAN TRANSLATION RAAAAAAAH 🗣️🔥🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪
+1
Level 21
Feb 11, 2024
Why Brittany isn't Breizh? it was supposed to be "places in their Native Languages", not "places in languages of their occupiers"