What's in a name? On pronouncing difficult country names

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Interesting piece.

The best comparison of this I can think of is 'Cambodia' vs. 'Kampuchea'. The latter is the formal Khmer name for the country, but is nearly never used by foreigners (unless they are speaking Khmer). This, after all, was the name used in English by the Khmer Rouge and then by the communist regime of the 1980s, and so carries rather unsavoury associations if used in an English sentence. The name 'Lao', however, doesn't carry any similarly lnegative connotations, so has become a common sign of backpacker savoir-faire. (You would never see this with 'Kampuchea').

It's also worth noting that many Hmong, an oft-repressed minority in Laos, pronounce the 's' in English, perhaps a rejection of the dominant -- and alien -- Lao-language pronunciation.

Another example of just how historically and culturally contingent place names can be.

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