Why don't we just keep calling it "Burma"?

[jberryhill]

There seemed to be some different takes in news organizations of "Myanmar" and "Burma", which was interesting... to me, at least.

It's a little too simplistic to say "Because that's what they call their country!"

I don't know a single German who calls their country "Germany". It's "Deutschland" - which doesn't resemble "Germany" in any way.

I don't know a single Spaniard who calls their country "Spain".

We don't refer to "Italy" as "Italia".

The number of countries to which we do not refer, in American English usage, by "what they call themselves" are legion.

So, it is clear that there is no "we have to call the country whatever they call it" rule, and that is trivially obvious. Why then, do we only apply this rule to some countries, and not to other countries?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. It's fine to use either. Technically, the difference has to do with pronunciation

but of course there are political ramifications. Here's one explanation:

The country's official full name is the Republic of the Union of Myanmar Listeni/ˌmjɑːnˈmɑr/ (Burmese: ပြည်ထောင်စု သမ္မတ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်, Pyidaunzu Thanmăda Myăma Nainngandaw, pronounced: [pjìdàʊɴzṵ ?àɴməda̰ mjəmà nàɪɴŋàɴdɔ̀]). However some countries have not recognized the name change and use the long form Union of Burma instead.

In English the country is popularly known by its short names, either Burma or Myanmar. Both of its short names are derived from the name of the majority Burmese Bamar ethnic group. 'Myanmar' is considered to be the literary form of the name of the ethnic group, while 'Burma' is derived from Bamar, the colloquial form of the name of the group. Depending on the register used the pronunciation would be 'Bama' (pronounced: [bəmà]), or 'Myamah' (pronounced: [mjəmà]). The name 'Burma' has been in use in English since the time of British colonial rule.

In 1989 the military government officially changed the English translations of many colonial-era names; among these changes was the alteration of the name of the country to "Myanmar". The renaming remains a contested issue. Many political and ethnic opposition groups, and countries continue to use "Burma" because they do not recognise the legitimacy of the ruling military government or its authority to rename the country.

'Burma' continues to be used in English by the governments of many countries, including the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The United Nations uses 'Myanmar', as do the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Russia, Germany, Norway, China, India, Australia and Japan. There are variations of "Myanmar" when translated to local languages. In Spain "Myanmar" is commonly known as "Birmania". The Government of Brazil uses "Mianmar", for example. On November 19, 2012 during the first visit by a sitting President of the United States, Barack Obama referred to the nation as both Myanmar and Burma.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma

[datasuspect]

2. Because 'Murkan freed the slaves from the nazis and won three world wars buddy.

USA ! !Q!!! USA USA!!!1111

[Recursion]

3. We are; the actual recognition of the country's name is by accreditation of Ambassadors

Than Swe is currently accredited as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Union of Burma ("Burma" and "Myanmar" are different ways of transcribing the same word, incidentally).

Obama's saying "Myanmar" in a speech is just one of those crowd-pleasing things Presidents do. It's roughly along the level of seriousness of getting a Republican to say "Democratic Party".

[jberryhill]

6. Yes, but we don't use "United States of Mexico"

And that is their official name, too!

[Recursion]

9. I'm willing to bet the accreditation papers for Arturo Sarukhan say that (nt)

[ret5hd]

4. I think they should rename their country "Myanmarotherwiseknownasburma".

Thats what everybody calls it.

[longship]

5. Like Finland and Suomi.

My mother was a Suomilainen.

SISU, DUers.

[pinboy3niner]

7. I blame all those Burma Shave signs

Too many Americans kept getting the country mixed up with the shaving cream.

[eShirl]

8. Because we don't want to look ignorant.