• scutiger@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 year ago

    If you look at the characters the Japanese use for the name of their country, 日本 is pronounced Nihon in Japanese. The same characters in Chinese spell Riben (in Pinyin) which is pronounced closer to “Erben” but almost with a J sound, especially in the northern part of the country. If you heard the Chinese pronunciation, you could easily understand how a foreigner would translate it to “Japan.”