nori-chan 0 Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 I am confused about meaning of UK (United Kingdom). It's different from England and Great Britain, right? Can someone explain it to me simply. Many Japanese don't understand it. Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 UK = England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland Great Britain = England, Scotland, Wales. England = England I know this for a fact, I have been teaching this a lot recently from official embassy resources. Link to post Share on other sites
nori-chan 0 Posted October 12, 2003 Author Share Posted October 12, 2003 So, like, how come so many thing like this? Which is イギリス? Thanks! Link to post Share on other sites
nzlegend 1 Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 Hello Nori chan. 1. England is one country on an Island (called Britain), that has 2 other countries, Scotland and Wales. Those 3 countries form a union called "Great Britain". England and Wales joined in 1294 and Scotland in 1707. This was called "Great Britain" Now here is the tricky part. Ireland is an Island beside "Great Britain". Ireland joined the other 3 in 1801, and they called the new group the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland" Some Irish didnt want to be with "Great Britain" and in 1921 they split Ireland; six northern Irish counties remained part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland and the new name is "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", The United Kingdom" is the short name, but many used the original name of "Britain" or "Great Britain" The UK also includes a few small places around the world that used to be colonies , territories of the UK which used to be the most powerful union on Earth and controlled a lot of the world. these are Anguilla, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands. These are dependencies of the UK. Hong Kong used to be part of the UK but the UK gave it back to China in 1997. So itsa long story witha lot of History! Link to post Share on other sites
slow 0 Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 I didn't care about it before living in the UK. I think when Japanese people say Igirisu, it means UK. It's just like Amerika = US. Link to post Share on other sites
slow 0 Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 Anyone help me, too? Why Prince or Princess of Wales? Why Scotland Yard? Link to post Share on other sites
nzlegend 1 Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 Quote: Originally posted by nori-chan: So, like, how come so many thing like this? Which is イギリス? Thanks! England = イギリズ Wales = ウィールズ Scotland = スコットランド Link to post Share on other sites
nori-chan 0 Posted October 12, 2003 Author Share Posted October 12, 2003 But I thought that UK = イギリス Still a little confused. Link to post Share on other sites
nzlegend 1 Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 Quote: Originally posted by slow: Anyone help me, too? Why Prince or Princess of Wales? Why Scotland Yard? Scotland Yard is just a name, the original name of the piece of land the the Police HQ was built on. Nothing to do with Scotland. The Prince of Wales is nothing really, justa name one of many titles given to royal family members. Charles is the 21st person to have this title, he has no formal role or duties tied especially to this title. Its up to him to do what he wants! Link to post Share on other sites
nzlegend 1 Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 Quote: Originally posted by nori-chan: But I thought that UK = イギリス Still a little confused. I looked in a Japanese dictionary and it said Britain = イギリズ 英吉利 = England = Great Britain = United Kingdom. To Japanese its all the same it seems Link to post Share on other sites
Stefan 0 Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 Kamo I like the way you've used "joined" as if we had any choice in the matter!!!! (we meaning Scotland, Wales and Ireland) The English were a bunch of blood thirsty, arrogant imperialists, who cared for little else apart from the acquisition of other peoples land and titles. They killed, imprisoned the Kings and Queens of Ireland, Wales and Scotland and gave titles such as "Prince of Wales" to there sons and daughters to rule over. The Irish used what would now be called terrorism to split from UK at a time when the UK was weakened from World War I. But the Province of Ulster, where many protestants from Scottish heritage lived, didn't. However, this is all water under the bridge as they say. Nori-chan, Wales and Scotland still have their own languages, called Welsh and Gaelic. Scotland, Nothern Ireland and Wales each have their own governments with varying degrees of power and autonomy. Link to post Share on other sites
nzlegend 1 Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 Hehe it seems I have been in Japan too long and I have a developed a `rose tinted glass` perspective of history I did make it rather non chalant sounding didnt I? I am going to start writing Japanese history textbooks! Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 > The Prince of Wales is nothing really, justa name one of many titles given to royal family members. kamoshika, just when you were doing so well with the explanations! Having been 'joined' to Great Britain, the Welsh were not very happy. So one of the Kings (I forget which) sought to pacify the peevish Welsh by 'giving' Wales his firstborn son. This was just a symbolic act, and the boy didn't actually have to live in Wales or anything. Since then, first born sons of English royalty have been 'the Prince of Wales'. And the Welsh still complain. nori-chan, there's no point in asking English people to explain what Japanese people mean by what they say! We can't be held responsible for katakana English... By the way, kamoshika didn't make this clear in his otherwise excellent overview, but did you know that the USA is the 87th county of Great Britain? Link to post Share on other sites
dale#1 1 Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 England = イギリズ Isn't the above incorrect. ??? Link to post Share on other sites
nzlegend 1 Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 Quote: Originally posted by dale#1: England = イギリズ Isn't the above incorrect. ??? To the Japanese Britain, UK and England apparently is all the same thing Link to post Share on other sites
slow 0 Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 I'm saying, Igirisu = UK !! Japanese people don't care England, Wales... like this. If you say 'I'm Welsh'. Japanese people say 'Ah, you are Igirisu-jin'. nori-chan, you can't ask about Katakana English here like Ocean said. Now I understand Scotland Yard and Prince of... Thanks Link to post Share on other sites
Siren 0 Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 Kamoshika and Ocean - well done! By the by, the formal title of the Queen is 'Our Gracious Sovereign Lady Elizabeth the Second by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain Northern Ireland and Her other Realms Territories Queen Head of Commonwealth Defender of the Faith' Link to post Share on other sites
dale#1 1 Posted October 12, 2003 Share Posted October 12, 2003 Really? (_had to omany beers!) Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 > I'm saying, Igirisu = UK !! Japanese people don't care England, Wales... like this. If you say 'I'm Welsh'. Japanese people say 'Ah, you are Igirisu-jin'. slow, that's actually very close to the attitude of many English people too. And boy does it annoy the Scots and the Welsh... For an entertaining look at some of the issues between the Welsh and the English, I recommend watching the film called "Wales Yama" in Japanese, with Hugh Grant. Link to post Share on other sites
nori-chan 0 Posted October 13, 2003 Author Share Posted October 13, 2003 It's a difficult thing to understand ね Thank you Link to post Share on other sites
sachiko 0 Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 I know what you mean nori-chan, it is complicated and sometimes it seem UK people also don't know it! Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 I wonder what % of the UK population would know about this? Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Geeze, and all this time I had it wrong. I always thought that U.K. = US?? No? Isnt Blair a puppet of the US anyways? Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Ha ahaha ahaha. Link to post Share on other sites
rach 1 Posted October 17, 2003 Share Posted October 17, 2003 Not many. Many of my friends would call the Scottish "English" and the Welsh "English". When they mean British. Or UKean. Or something. Link to post Share on other sites
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