1

Die Regierung der Volksrepublik China jedoch betrachtet Taiwan als eine „abtrünnige Provinz“ PROC(normally called as China) think Taiwan is a "split province(similar to 16 Ländern in Deutschland)". Once ROC(normally called as Taiwan) did exist a Taiwan province, but now the concept of the province is gradually eliminated, and most of the time Taiwan refers to the ROC. Due to the strength of China, almost all companies in English-speaking countries use country/region.

When the choice menu is the country, it means that Taiwan has become a country. Is there a word in German that is equal to the region in country/region?

Improve this question
5
  • 1
    Maybe Bundesland or more probably Landkreis. I am not familiar with the hierarchical organization of Taiwan though. Also that would only apply for Germany, Swiss wich is also partially a German speaking country, has a completely different hierarchy of "regions". In Austria it's more or less the same organizational region hierarchy as Germany IIRC.
    – πάντα ῥεῖ
    May 24, 2019 at 16:15
  • 1
    @πάνταῥεῖ I modified the question to explain the current situation in Taiwan and China. In addition, I found that the translation of "Ländern" in Chinese is the same as country.
    – maP1E bluE
    May 24, 2019 at 17:12
  • 2
    Region and Provinz are also usual german words. The problem is they probably won't fit for the concrete organizational structure. It depends on the context where you want to use these. Is it a software form select combobox, or a translation of natural speech?
    – πάντα ῥεῖ
    May 24, 2019 at 17:15
  • @πάνταῥεῖ It's a software form select combo box. i.e On the Apple webpage:Choose your country or(/) region.
    – maP1E bluE
    May 24, 2019 at 17:26
  • 1
    Well that was what I am afraid of: These kind forms are usually inherently bad to distinguish countries (nations), counties (federal states) and regions (provinces). From international agreement (except China) Taiwan should count as its own country, and not as a region or province.
    – πάντα ῥεῖ
    May 24, 2019 at 17:32

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4

In German, it should be "Region" as well, so you would have "Land/Region".

Improve this answer
0

That's not a problem at all in German as we have the wonderful ambiguous term Land, which covers all sorts of political and/or geographical entities.

For example, in everyday German

Das Braunschweiger Land ist eine Region.

Das Land Hadeln ist eine historische Landschaft.

Deutschland ist ein Land.

Berlin ist innerhalb Deutschlands ein Land.

Schottland ist ein Land innerhalb Großbritanniens.

Die U.S.A. sind ein Land.

Australien ist ein Land und ein Kontinent.

Taiwan ist ein Land.

We really don't care.

Improve this answer
15
  • 1
    Unfortunately none of these terms would fit well for a selection combo-box in a UI form of a software :-(.
    – πάντα ῥεῖ
    May 24, 2019 at 18:39
  • 1
    Some regtions are called Land, but regtions like the Kraichgau or the Eifel are rarely called Land.
    – RHa
    May 25, 2019 at 8:35
  • 1
    @Janka: I don't think that's a good solution. Yes, the term "Land" can be interpreted in quite different ways in German, but without any further qualification, an input field labeled "Land" implies the political entity of a souvereign national country - not of any smaller administrative subdivision that also happens to be called "Land", with or without some prefix, nor of a random region that happens to be called "Land", nor of anything else with "Land" in its name, such as "Legoland" or "Kaufland". Least of all, I would expect such an input field/dropdown list to offer an arbitrary ...
    – O. R. Mapper
    May 25, 2019 at 12:24
  • 1
    @Janka: My point is that there is no such ambiguity. By writing "Land: Taiwan", you are making a clear statement that you consider Taiwan a souvereign country, not a province of the PRC. That's precisely what the questioner wants to avoid, and what can be avoided by writing "Land/Region" or something like that.
    – O. R. Mapper
    May 25, 2019 at 12:27
  • 1
    @Janka: I disagree. When a German native speaker asks me "Aus welchem Land kommst du?", I would not even remotely think of the possibility that they are inquiring about my Bundesland or even just a random place that happens to be called "Land" rather than asking whether I'm from Germany. I concede that you may see this differently, but the fact that this solution would be misleading even for some native speakers indicates it should be treated with caution.
    – O. R. Mapper
    May 25, 2019 at 12:33

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.