And the capital of Andorra is actually Andorra la Vella, but it's still on here. Along with Kuwait, Mexico, and Guatemala which all have City in their name. I think Sao Tome should be on here.
Andorra la Vella means "Old Andorra" in Catalan. Andorra City would be "Ciutat d'Andorra", as in "Ciutat de Mallorca", the Catalan name of Palma de Mallorca.
You're right! I checked the catalan Viquipèdia as well. It seems "vella" is a local form of (standard) "vila", town or city. So the French and Spanish names are indeed mistranslations.
English Wikipedia states something else now, but Catalan version stays and links to Catalan encyclopedia, so it seems to be correct. The issue is that Vella means old in modern Catalan, but not originally.
The problem is that Vella is not the foreign language equivalent of city (whatever meaning is placed on the word), so the instructions should be altered or Andorra should be removed. Maybe is should say foreign language/old forms of the foreign language. But even then, Vella more closely translates to village rather than city, even if it is understood that village in this case means city.
Currently Wikipedia states that it literally means "Andorra the Old"
The Catalan version of Viquipedia states:
"The nickname Old , ie the town , was later added to distinguish the town's namesake whole territory and perhaps also to underline their capital."
However you slice it, Vella is not the foreign language equivalent in modern Catalan. Understood that this may be a local nick name which people consider to mean city, however modern Catalan has an equivalent word for city, ciutat. You should change the instructions, or remove Andorra. Alternatively you could fill in Andorra.
I enjoy your quizzes, thanks for making them. However, this is still wrong. Vella = the old city = city, is not acceptable according to the instructions. You should gray out Andorra at the very least.
I hear you Walacama! Truly, Wikipedia was changed since this quiz was written, so heaven knows what the true truth is on this one. There are varying opinions even on this feedback page. What's your own knowledge of Catalan? (I'm assuming that's the source language for this place name).
I have a basic understanding of the language. Friends of mine are professors in Barcelona that have a mastery of the language. I should have them comment on here. Someone else pointed out that the quiz says "add city to the name." Technically la Vella would also be adding the article "the." So it again does not qualify. You should gray it out and give that answer, IMO. Thanks again for the quizzes.
Wikipedia is not in any way an accurate source of information. If you would like, you could check to see if the swarms of common internet buffoons who write and overwrite each other on every article have footnoted a legitimate source. If so, THAT is the source, not the Wikipedia article that was written by literally anyone (more like multitudes of anyone) on Earth with an internet connection.
LOL. Anyway, I finally got the chance to visit there last month and it's a very cute place indeed. Unfortunately it was a Sunday and city hall was closed so I never got the chance to ask the locals which meaning applies. Sorry. Great free lunchtime concert in the city square, though. Should have asked any random audience members but to be honest I never thought to ask.
So, I was in Munich for a conference and met with a colleague who is a native Catalan speaker, lives in Barcelona, has family in Andorra, and visits Andorra at least once a year. I proposed our dilemma about the name Andorra la Vella. He said it is Andorra the Old, to distinguish it from the surrounding newer area. He claimed that only the city was originally considered Andorra, thus Andorra the Old refers to the old Andorra. There was a further history lesson, but I had too many beers to remember as we were in Munich. I should have recorded him. Wikipedia has changed a few times now and it now says it is Andorra the Town rather than City. I don't claim that my friend or Wiki are the absolute authority. I asked about the mistake Vila vs. Vella, he said Vella was added post 16th century when modern Catalan was already in use. There is conflicting information all over the interwebs on this subject.
The Savior, and St Savior (or Holy Savior). That pairing is one of many near-misses that don't qualify here. Maybe we should also do a quiz of Country Name Fairly Similar To Capital Name, which would also capture El Salvador/San Salvador, Algeria/Algiers, São Tomé and Príncipe/São Tomé, Guinea-Bissau/Bissau, Brazil/Brasilia and Tunisia/Tunis!
Guinea-Bissau isn't really a near miss. They just appended the name of the capital onto the name of the country, to distinguish it from all the other countries named Guinea. If you included it, you'd have to also consider including, for example, Congo-Brazzaville.
For completionists sake, other a little bit further misses could be Belize/Belmopan (city is a merge of the name of the country and a river) and Maldives/Male (the country name means "isles of Male").
Give me a BREAK! How could it be racist? - There is NO country in South America which has the same name for its capital and the country. That ends in Central America with Guatemala, Mexico and Panama!
If you were a contemporary intersectional feminist or social justice warrior then you certainly would think it was racist. In addition to literally everything else.
The caveat says "including foreign language equivalents of 'city'". "la Vella" means "the city". "and Principe" means "and Prince", so it's not included.
In Arabic, the capitals of Algeria and Tunisia are the same as the countries' names. Tunisia is just Tunis in Arabic, with its capital being the same. Algeria is Al Jazzaer, capital is the same.
Thanks for the quiz Jerry. Sorry about all the ‘abuse’ you’ve gotten over the years for including Andorra and not including answers that shouldn’t be there. I think everything is correct and it’s a shame Wikipedia is openly editable.
Hey Jerry928, no offence mate but I have the same quiz, and it would be better if you would give 'em a little hint like their continent of something, BTW the quiz is great
This quiz was originally made over 4 years ago, so this is by far the original quiz. Not saying you directly copied of course, since this kind of thing happens often as people come up with the same great idea.
Read the caveats. The capital's name can include "city". "la Vella" translates to "the city" so it is allowed. São Tomé is not included because it does not include the whole name of the country.
In my opinion, Mexico, Kuwait, Guatemala, Panama, and Andorra shouldn't be there. The capitals of these are officially: Mexico: Mexico City, Kuwait: Kuwait City, Guatemala: Guatemala City, Panama: Panama City, Andorra: Andorra la Vella ('la Vella' translates to 'City').
The Catalan version of Viquipedia states:
"The nickname Old , ie the town , was later added to distinguish the town's namesake whole territory and perhaps also to underline their capital."
However you slice it, Vella is not the foreign language equivalent in modern Catalan. Understood that this may be a local nick name which people consider to mean city, however modern Catalan has an equivalent word for city, ciutat. You should change the instructions, or remove Andorra. Alternatively you could fill in Andorra.
http://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/110568/countries-with-their-capitol-name-in-it
Please, show us that language. I would really love to see the sh*tshow it would cause. :-D
If Andorra is on here despite being called Andorra La Vella, São Tomé should be on here despite being called São Tomé and Príncipe.
Algiers, Brasilia, San Salvador, Santo Domingo, Taipei, and Tunis.