For those who are not from Sweden (or from Switzerland) this is a real "problem" that happens all the time, that people confuse the countries. And it is something we at least in Sweden take with a big smile :D And according to the comments to the video, those from Switzerland seem to do the same thing :)
Here is an example when Swedish Spotify was listed in the US on the Nasdaq stock exchange and they used the Schweiz flag instead haha. The list goes on :)
Huh, I thought the website was some kind of a joke but I guess not. I still have no idea how anyone can confuse the two. Czechia-Chechnya, Austria-Australia I can somewhat understand those but Sweden-Switzerland? Come on.
It's not so much that they sound the same. It's that they are small Germanic, historically neutral countries in Europe. The names are similar enough to misremember details about the two. It's hard to separate the two countries by just remembering stereotypes.
I have no idea how that can be a thing. I can understand mixing up Slovakia and Slovenia - their flags are quite similar and endonym in Slovak for that country is Slovensko, Slovenská republika. IMO it's as weird as this Sweden-Switzerland
> I can understand mixing up Slovakia and Slovenia
Don't forget the historic regions of Slavonia and Slavinia. While neither of those two is an independent country at the moment, you never know what's going to happen in Eastern Europe.
I couldn't find it but last week I read a twitter thread about a software company in Czechia that had gotten some crazy request for documentation because they had been flagged as being in Chechnya
I'm Danish and I have often had people hearing that and then asking me about The Netherlands. The two countries are very similar so maybe that's why but I have this suspicion that it's simply because Dutch and Danish both begin with a D...
I kinda wish we'd stop try to oversell northern lights with overexposed HDR pictures. They're nowhere near as bright or vibrant as they look in the pictures, even when viewed somewhere properly dark and far north.
Raising expectations too high means visitors come away with disappointment at the faint green-ish sky-snake, which is a shame, as it is pretty spectacular.
Yeah, I'm not saying they aren't spectacular, but they don't look anything like the pictures. It's more about the motion and just the vastness of the experience than the vivid colors.
They also aren’t nearly as spectacular on any picture as they are in real life so overexposing isn’t really overselling that much.
I definitely saw Auroras every but as spectacular as those pictures but it’s really rare (happened once or twice in my entire life). Selling Auroras to tourists is a really tricky concept to begin with.
I kinda wish we’d stop try to oversell the Milky Way with overexposed HDR pictures. They’re nowhere near as bright or vibrant as they look in the picture, even when viewed somewhere properly dark…
Not a country issue but in Canada there are town names that are similar and always getting mixed up.
called Sydney in Cape Breton Nova Scotia but also a town called Sidney with an i in British Columbia. More than once items or people meant for one end up nearly 5,000km in the wrong direction, or worse in Sydney Australia (worse as in it's not in Canada...we love ya Aussies!).
Then here is the Saint John New Brunswick (NB) vs St John's Newfoundland and Labrador vs Saint Johns Quebec issue. In NB it's always Saint not St but NFLD it's always St. in Quebec French doesn't use apostrophe like the English language does for possession.
Even my own town Charlottetown has at least three others in this small region but at least we are a capital and somewhat known being the "Cradle of Confederation" (of Canada). A bit like Philadelphia's fame in US history.
Swiss and Swedes seem quite different culturally, while Danes and Dutch... they're both tiny countries with canals, bicycles and tall people? Former Hansiatic League? The only difference I know is that the Dutch have Amsterdam/drugs/prostitutes.. but that's not exactly a positive distinction
The Dutch had the colonies and naval power and Northern Renaissance.. but that's not exactly modern
Would be curious to hear what stereotypes they have of each other :))
Strangest I've experienced of this is one level deeper: someone I was with had the context that I’d moved to Sweden. They asked me how my French was coming along. Took me awhile to make the connection.
I wouldn’t have thought that someone who would know what languages were spoken in Switzerland would be the kind of person to confuse it with Sweden.
I overheard a conversation just this morning where a young man was explaining to his friend that he was from Chzechnya, not Czechia. This apparently resolved a lot of questions for the friend.
The names are particularly close in Spanish and Portuguese. So much so that in Spain I once impressed a blonde-haired blue-eyed Swiss person who told me to guess their nationality by getting it "right" the first time, although I guessed Sweden.
Spanish is neither mine nor her native tongue.
Also seems the Nordic governments have all hired the same PR/marketing firm :D Similar (good) content coming from most of them. This gives me Iceland Metaverse vibes in particular.
Having had the pleasure of visiting Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway I have to say I definitely underrated them for a long time. I had a great time exploring the cities with their public transportation and since all the capital cities are ports you can take ferries to nearby islands without paying extra. Their museums were also topnotch and the nearby landscapes are absolute beautiful with some world class hiking in the outer regions. My biggest complaints would be the food, yes the best restaurants were good but I was constantly spending $20+ just to sit down and eat some pasta, even kebabs were minimum $15. That said I highly recommend people to visit them in the summer or fall if you get the chance.
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[ 5.0 ms ] story [ 171 ms ] threadHere is an example when Swedish Spotify was listed in the US on the Nasdaq stock exchange and they used the Schweiz flag instead haha. The list goes on :)
https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/a47E046_460s.jpg
I have no idea how that can be a thing. I can understand mixing up Slovakia and Slovenia - their flags are quite similar and endonym in Slovak for that country is Slovensko, Slovenská republika. IMO it's as weird as this Sweden-Switzerland
Like, if you really don't know about the world, or the regions of aforementioned countries, which could very well be, then I see the possibility.
When I revisit the words I kept confusing when I first started learning German, I'm like, did I have mental problems or what!? :)
Yeah even that is a stretch. But at least you can pronounce them incorrectly to sound similar. You cannot do that with Sweden and Switzerland.
Don't forget the historic regions of Slavonia and Slavinia. While neither of those two is an independent country at the moment, you never know what's going to happen in Eastern Europe.
I couldn't find it but last week I read a twitter thread about a software company in Czechia that had gotten some crazy request for documentation because they had been flagged as being in Chechnya
But as a Swede I can attest that people do mix up us and the Swiss for real.
It's a real "problem" AND it's a joke. A joke website about a real "problem".
I know that it went wrong when a follow-up question to "Where are you from" is "Is it really very cold there?"
Shvetsiya vs Shveytsariya
Raising expectations too high means visitors come away with disappointment at the faint green-ish sky-snake, which is a shame, as it is pretty spectacular.
It's not that they are bright, they just change form so fast that you actually see it, and this is enough to realize how alien they are.
Granted, that was beyond the polar circle.
I definitely saw Auroras every but as spectacular as those pictures but it’s really rare (happened once or twice in my entire life). Selling Auroras to tourists is a really tricky concept to begin with.
If you visit Iceland at the right time away from city lights, it is indeed better than what the pictures claim.
It’s spectacular and magnificent.
As an aside, Sweden’s business record is impressive - IKEA, Volvo, Spotify, H&M - is impressive. I loved my time there.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_Swedish_compan...
called Sydney in Cape Breton Nova Scotia but also a town called Sidney with an i in British Columbia. More than once items or people meant for one end up nearly 5,000km in the wrong direction, or worse in Sydney Australia (worse as in it's not in Canada...we love ya Aussies!).
Then here is the Saint John New Brunswick (NB) vs St John's Newfoundland and Labrador vs Saint Johns Quebec issue. In NB it's always Saint not St but NFLD it's always St. in Quebec French doesn't use apostrophe like the English language does for possession.
Even my own town Charlottetown has at least three others in this small region but at least we are a capital and somewhat known being the "Cradle of Confederation" (of Canada). A bit like Philadelphia's fame in US history.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_(disambiguation)
Salzburg Airport does not have a help desk for passengers who mistakenly fly to Austria instead of Australia
https://fullfact.org/online/special-desk-Salzburg-Airport-Au...
The Dutch had the colonies and naval power and Northern Renaissance.. but that's not exactly modern
Would be curious to hear what stereotypes they have of each other :))
I wouldn’t have thought that someone who would know what languages were spoken in Switzerland would be the kind of person to confuse it with Sweden.
Update: *was
In Slavic languages its arguably somewhat close: - Russian: Швеция, Швейцария (translit: Shvetsiya, Shveytsariya). - Ukrainian: Швеція, Швейцарія (Shvetsiya, Shveytsariya) - Polish: Szwecja i Szwajcaria etc.
Romance languages, as well: - French: Suède, Suisse. - Italian: Svezia, Svizzera. - Spanish: Suecia, Suiza. - Catalan: Suècia, Suïssa. etc.
Spanish is neither mine nor her native tongue.
Also seems the Nordic governments have all hired the same PR/marketing firm :D Similar (good) content coming from most of them. This gives me Iceland Metaverse vibes in particular.