Austria to be renamed

Austria has a problem. While beeing called "Österreich" in their own language, they are called "Austria" abroad. This name however is quite close to Australia not only in English, but also in many other languages.

Japanese for example pronounce Austria "oosutoria" (long "o") and Austrialia "oosutoraria". Spoken quickly, they are hard to distinguish for some Japanese. In a push for uniqueness and identity the Austrian Ambassador to Japan, Dr. Peter Moser (image), togther with the Austrian Trade Assoc (Announcement Website), announced on 9th of November 2006 that he would like to change the Japanese language.

To find a new name, they dug up an old book from 1873 where Austria was referred to as "osutori", a name that was used until the end of the war in 1945. After the war, many country names in Japan started to be pronounced similar to the English name, probably due to the strong influence of the USA in public administration. In addition ot the new name, Moser wants the "i" to be stretched, making it "osutorii" - for even better differentiation. (See this PDF of the announcement in German and Japanese).

In order to re-educate the Japanese population of 128 million people, the Austrian consulate changed their name cards and door signs already. Their Website did not change the wording yet, the Trade Assoc. did so already however. I am not sure if a country has the right how to change some other country's language, even if its the name of that country. Nevertheless, they do not discourage the old usage. They simply hope that the new name is accepted and used, which might not be helpful in fulfilling their hopes.

However, I myself sent a parcel once from France to Austria which arrived very much delayed there, however with a stamp from Sydney where it had a small stopover. Obviously, the problem persists also outside of Japan. We hope they will find enough Austrian ambassadors all over the world to join in on the movement who change their door signs and name cards, and of course, find a way to rename Austria in all the languages. Chances are however, that until the change takes effect, more parcels will be sent to Australia. Whereas maybe a few people used to confuse Austria and Australia, surely no one knows in Japan today what "osutorii" is. So Austria risks to vanish from the map in Japan completely. The same problem will of course arise abroad, whatever name they come up with. Watch Arnold Schwarzenegger become homeless.

Good luck, and see you again in Austria, as soon as we all know how to call it!

Oh... don't we have to rename some more countries then? How about India and Indonesia, Slovakia and Slovenia?