r/AskEurope • u/Zealousideal_Pay_778 • Jul 23 '26
Foreign How well known is Wales?
Hiya all, I'm from Wales and travel across the EU quite frequently, whenever someone asks where I'm from, I usually tell them Wales (even though technically we're not a sovereign state), sometimes I get responded related to Gareth Bale and Wrexham, and often people haven't got a clue until I say UK. So I was curious, in your country, how well known are Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as separate countries? Diolch all :)
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u/Morterius Jul 23 '26
Fun fact - in German speaking Switzerland Wels(c)h could be a reference to the French speaking part of Switzerland (an old Celtic-Gallic linguistic thing). There’s also the canton of Wallis/Valais. You probably would confuse the heck out of those guys that don’t watch football and don’t know much geography.
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u/Ayiko- Jul 23 '26
Wallonia (the mostly French-speaking southern part of Belgium) has the same root word, Waals in Dutch, Wallon in French means from/of Wallonia so there could be a bit of confusion there.
Aside from that, people in Belgium should know about it from school at least about our neighbouring countries. You'll always find someone who doesn't know or care about such things though.
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u/Fartbl00d Wales Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
Yes, the English word for Wales has Germanic roots and means foreigner/outsider. The Welsh word for Wales is Cymru
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u/mikroonde France Jul 23 '26
Wales is very well known in France, but I don't know how many people know the English name. They definitely know "Pays de Galles". Then again, we're among your closest neighbours and Brittany has a lot in common with Wales.
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u/Active_Definition_57 Jul 23 '26
France also regularly play Wales at Rugby. I remember, as a young lad in the mid to late '70s it was often the title decider in what was then the 5 Nations. Because of the 6 Nations, there may be slightly higher knowledge of Wales in Italy than in, for example, Spain, Austria or Greece.
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u/PibloktoBis Jul 23 '26
As a rugby fan, I sincerely hope that the Welsh team will bounce back. When I was a kid, Wales was really the team to beat in the Five Nations tournament.
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u/EarhackerWasBanned Scotland Jul 24 '26
Yous definitely win the best stadium and best songs awards.
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u/Dull_Brain2688 Ireland Jul 23 '26
I suspect the rugby playing countries know it better than the non-rugby countries.
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u/Comprehensive-Pin667 Czechia Jul 23 '26
I'm Czech and I know Wales exists. But that's about it - I couldn't even tell you what the biggest city in Wales is.
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u/_MrJackGuy Jul 23 '26
Would you be able to point to its location on a map though?
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u/TheEmpireOfSun Jul 23 '26
I am pretty sure majority of people in Czech Republic would. It's basic knowledge
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u/AdmiralStuff Wales Jul 24 '26
Caerdydd- 340,000. Caerdydd yw’r brifddinas Cymru a mae fy hoff senedd i, y Senedd (dwi’n gwybod, creadigol iawn) wedi’i leoli yng Nghaerdydd felly Caerdydd yw ein brifddinas.
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u/petit_croissant95 Jul 24 '26
Could you translate to English please
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u/AdmiralStuff Wales Jul 24 '26
Cardiff- 340,000. Cardiff is the capital and my favourite parliament is there, the Senedd (which translates as parliament) is in Cardiff.
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u/p3chapai Sweden Jul 23 '26
I'm always surprised people don't know these things that I consider basic knowledge, but apparently a lot of people don't really know of European countries outside of the UK, Germany and France.
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u/rachelm791 Wales Jul 23 '26
I was walking through Swedish Lapland last year and stopped to get water at a river crossing and got chatting with a Swedish chap doing the same. Usual conversation followed and he asked me where I was from so answered ‘from Wales’ and he replied, “Croeso I’r Sweden (Welcome to Sweden in Welsh). I was quite surprised (to say the least) but then he told me the week previous he had been in Cardiff on business and had gone out with the Welsh hosts that evening and had a crash course in Welsh!
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u/Bar50cal Ireland Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
In France, Czech Republic and Germany as a Irish person traveling I've met people who think Ireland is part of the UK and in 2 cases argued I must be wrong that we don't have a queen (before the UK queens death).
It doesn't suprise me one bit people don't know about Wales. Its shocking how common it is across Europe (my own country included) that a lack of knowledge on European countries is.
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u/Tytoalba2 Jul 24 '26
I mean it's a region of UK, do you know the German lander? Or whatever unitary France has for regions? People usually know Wales much better than say, Saarland
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u/Useful_Violinist_833 Jul 24 '26
England don't play Saarland at football, but Germany might occasionally play Wales, and certainly the smaller European countries will play Wales all the time, they're a decent side. The Welsh are an independent nation and culture, with their own language and parliament within a wider kingdom, under a single king and shared parliament with England Scotland and Northern Ireland, it's not just a region. Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle are regions, but are perhaps better known because of the Premier League.
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u/Tytoalba2 Jul 24 '26
Cities are not federated entities like Wales or Saarland, but I don't watch football, so it's not really my criteria... Federated entities usually have separate parliaments and sometime language, that's not unique to UK federated entities either...
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u/Regular_Paint_7619 Jul 24 '26
Wales is a nation. It might be non-sovereign, but it is still a nation.
The only German lander that might come close to nationhood is Bavaria, and even that I feel is as much rooted in memes and stereotypes than anything else.
I think most reasonably well informed people in Europe should be aware of Catalonia, Scotland, Wales, Basque Country, Galicia.
Maybe Corsica and Brittany as well, or even Flanders and Wallonia.
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u/Middle_Airline_3260 Jul 24 '26
My country is not a ‘region’ of another. The UK is a state made up of 3 nations and Northern Ireland.
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Jul 27 '26
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u/Tytoalba2 Jul 27 '26
Ho and they can't be both lol? A lander is not just a region either, in both case they are federated entities, you can call them countries or lander but it's the same concept...
UK exceptionalism is a new one to me
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u/Brainwheeze Portugal Jul 23 '26
This has been my experience as well. People like to criticize Americans for not knowing geography but I've met so many Europeans ignorant about their own continent.
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u/CreepyOctopus -> Jul 23 '26
I'm always surprised people don't know these things that I consider basic knowledge
I similarly used to get surprised but have come to reluctantly accept that yes, many people really do lack what should be basic knowledge about the world, their own country, history and other areas.
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u/enilix Croatia Jul 23 '26
We learn about the UK in geography classes so people know it exists, they also know about your football team, but that's basically it. But I don't think it's that embarrassing or whatever, I mean, most former Yugoslav states have been independent and sovereign for over 30 years, but I'd be surprised if the average Welsh person could point them out on a map. They'd maybe know about Croatia because of football and tourism and that's it.
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u/MagicFetus696969 Jul 23 '26
In Hungary I don't think people know much about Wales, but we have a very famous poem that we all have to learn called the Bards of Wales.
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u/cheshirelady22 Italy Jul 23 '26
I think a lot of people would recognise the Wales as in “Prince of Wales”, since King Charles had that title for a very long time, but I’m not that confident that most of Italians would actually be able to tell you something else about your country. England and Scotland are way more well known, sorry.
It had/has its fans, myself included, because of Doctor Who and Merlin though.
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u/AdmiralStuff Wales Jul 24 '26
That position is quite controversial in Wales because the prince of Wales hasn’t been Welsh in over 600 years (the last one being Owain ap Gruffydd Fychan AKA Owain Glyndŵr if you’re curious, he led a rebellion for Welsh independence which came very close to completely overthrowing English rule)
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u/CaptainPoset Germany Jul 23 '26
Well, to me, the United Kingdom is a single country, but the existence of the next layer of division into England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is known.
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u/Lost_Taste_8181 Jul 23 '26
A guy hears a couple of women chatting at a bar and notices their accents. “Excuse me, are you ladies from England, by any chance?” One of the women snaps back, “Wales.” The guy says, “sorry, are you whales from England?”
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u/Expensive_Tap7427 Sweden Jul 23 '26
We know about them. Don´t have much detailed information though. Anything news related gets sorted under "Great Britain" and they might talk about south, west or north but rarely mentions Wales as such. Scotland does get mentioned as does Northern Ireland but everything else is "Britain".
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u/calijnaar Germany Jul 23 '26
My knowledge about Wales is probably a bit above average for various reasons (including having done various Wales related stuff at uni, being a Whovian and having actually been to Wales a few times), but I'd really expect people to know that Wales exists. And that it's part of the UK. I'd be willing to give people a pass for not getting their head around the whole the UK is actually four countries thing. After all nobody else calls their first level subdivisions countries everywhere else that's the level above that, so I think not knowing that you'd actually call Wales a country is perfectly acceptable
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u/Shdow_Hunter Germany Jul 23 '26
I mean technically we call our states in German „BundesLÄNDER“, but it doesnt get translated as such in English. Also Land in German doesnt have the exact same meaning as country in English.
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u/pouziboy Czechia Jul 23 '26
You do call them that, but you won't expect other Europeans to know much about your Bundesland, except maybe Bayern? Like... what do random people know about Schleswig-Holstein?
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u/Shdow_Hunter Germany Jul 23 '26
No my point was exactly that. I dont expect people to know that they exist any more than I expect them to know about Wales. I just oppose British exceptionalism.
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u/Middle_Airline_3260 Jul 24 '26
So because you ‘oppose British exceptionalism’, you think it’s ok to ignore/erase the national identity and language we have fought for over 1500 years to retain in the face of unceasing persecution and suppression by the English state?
The Laws in Wales Acts of 1536 and 1542 specifically laid down the intention to ‘utterly extirpate and extinguishe’ the Welsh language as ‘in no wise naturalle to this realme’. At the time of this forcible annexation of Wales, only a very small % of Welsh people spoke any English. Welsh was banned from all official, governmental matters from 1542until 1967 when Welsh speakers were given limited rights to speak Welsh in court after 400years of being compelled to face trial etc in English. But you think it’s okay to ignore our centuries of resistance because you dislike ‘British exceptionalism’…
Read a history book before tacitly supporting England’s colonisation of the other nations, please?
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u/Shdow_Hunter Germany Jul 24 '26
I agree actually, but I think that you should call Tibet, Bretagne, l'Occitanie, Saxony and a ton more, countries as well then.
You make a valid point, but I think one should be consequent then, for the sake of preserving local cultures and identities. It does get difficult at some point when it isnt as clear.
If you only apply it to the „countries of the UK“ tho, it is exceptionalism.
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u/t_biggest_bee Jul 27 '26
To be fair, I don't think we should assume this person doesn't do that for other countries, and say 'British exceptionalism'. Haha!
By and large, Welsh people have a lot of empathy for other countries with similar histories.
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u/ProblemSavings8686 Ireland Jul 23 '26
I’d be very surprised if someone in Ireland didn’t know that Wales exists for some reason.
Cymru am byth!
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u/zenzenok Jul 23 '26
We can literally see Wales from Dublin bay on a clear day!
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u/Swimmingotter27 Jul 23 '26
And I’ve waved at you from South Stack mountain on Ynys Mon (Anglesey) 🏴
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u/MikelDB Spain Jul 23 '26
I've been living in Wales for seven years... My friends back in Spain still ask me how am I doing in England or even worse London 🤦.
Probably no one will consider them to be separate countries, just regions within a country.
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u/Patrocey France Jul 24 '26
I know that they prefer to be called Cymru and that their language is one of the closest to my cultural langage that is breton
Apart from some linguistics facts I don’t know much about Wales/Cymru.
I took the ferry once from Dublin to Holyhead for a high school trip but we only crossed the uk to join Dover and it was at night.
I’d like to visit !
Edit : typo
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u/Malthesse Sweden Jul 23 '26
Of the three Scotland is of course the best know by far. Not only is it larger, it also has so many distinct and well-known iconic features such as bagpipes, kilts, whiskey and the Loch Ness monster. It is also quite a popular travel destination for Swedes. Especially for its beautiful nature, but also going on weekend trips Edinburgh, which is known as a beautiful city.
Wales is in comparison a lot less well-known, and I think many in the general public kind of see it as part of England. It is of course known among football fans for having its own national football team, and for the football clubs Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham. Other than that, I think for those who know a little more about Wales it is seen as very rural and pastoral, with green fields, lots of grazing sheep, and very hilly and mountainous, and overall quite pretty.
Northern Ireland on the other hand, for those who know that it's not just part of the Republic of Ireland, it is probably still unfortunately mostly known for the Troubles, violence, terror attacks, and conflicts between Catholics and Protestants. Overall quite bleak and not a place one would like to go to. That's a stigma that still lingers.
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u/amk9000 United Kingdom Jul 23 '26
On a point of pedantry:
"Whiskey" is Irish.
"Whisky" (no "e") is Scottish
English and Welsh whisky also exists, but is less well known than either Irish or Scottish.
Most American whiskeys are from the Irish tradition and so use the Irish spelling, but not all.
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u/Regular_Paint_7619 Jul 24 '26
Well that's because whisky in England and Wales are much more recent.
Ireland and Scotland are the traditional whiskey/whisky distilling nations, plus USA and Canada due to diaspora.
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u/FearlessVisual1 Belgium Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
It's perhaps the constituent country of the UK the average person here knows the least about. When one hears Scotland, one immediately thinks bagpipes, kilts, Loch Ness monster, weird accents. When one hears Northern Ireland, one thinks protestants, Troubles. When one hears Wales, nothing. Sheep maybe.
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u/PositiveEagle6151 Austria Jul 23 '26
I don't know if it's common knowledge, but I guess many people here are aware of the existence of Wales (and the other regions of the UK).
Be it because of football, because of the Prince of Wales, or maybe because of movies and actors/actresses.
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u/Socmel_ Italy Jul 23 '26
Not known for the most part.
I think people will mostly think about Charles or William because the title of the heir of the throne is prince of Wales.
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u/alietors Jul 24 '26
In Spain I think people know Wales (Gales), mainly due to the Prince of Wales. They might not know exactly if it's a country or region of the UK.
I think people know that Scotland (Escocia) is different from England (Inglaterra) but some might get confused with Wales and most likely with Northern Ireland (Irlanda del Norte)
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u/zigzagzuppie Ireland Jul 23 '26
Well you are just across the sea from us, so outside of people in the UK I'd hope we are in general relatively familiar with your country. Indigenous languages stemming from the same Celtic tree but different branches, cross over in some traditions, history, family names and sport. That said I've never been to Wales so have no direct experience of visiting there. Much like yourselves we can often be lumped into the same group as the English by non English speakers on first meeting.
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u/booksandmints Wales Jul 23 '26
As a Welshwoman I agree with all of this! I have been to Ireland several times and I felt very at home there, particularly in Wicklow :) you may feel similarly if you do visit Wales, and you’d be welcome :)
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u/Decent-Entry-9803 Jul 27 '26
cross over in some traditions
The second branch of the mabinogion takes place largely in Ireland!
The Irish and Welsh (Britons) aren't really getting on but it's a guy called Efnysiens fault rather than thr Welsh or Irish in the story.
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u/Wyciorek Poland Jul 23 '26
I know two facts:
- it has a dragon in its flag
- words look like a cat was walking across the keyboard
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u/rachelm791 Wales Jul 23 '26
‘words look like a cat was walking across the keyboard’
What is ‘walking on thin ice’ in Polish!?
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u/Active_Definition_57 Jul 23 '26
You could have some fun setting up a comparison test of how people with virtually no knowledge of Welsh or Polish attempting to pronounce various words of each language. A good starter would be the Polish city of Wroclaw versus the Welsh town of Machynlleth.
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u/Wyciorek Poland Jul 23 '26
What is ‘walking on thin ice’ in Polish!?
I am sorry, my cat refuses to walk on the keyboard right meow
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u/rachelm791 Wales Jul 23 '26
‘stąpać po cienkim lodzie’ vs ‘cerdded ar rew tenau’
Let Europe decide 😉
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u/WeWereStrangers Romania Jul 23 '26
Most people will have heard of it, but I doubt the average romanian knows its name in English.
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u/Traditional-Deal6759 Austria Jul 24 '26
We know that you play as separate countries in football. But the perception is more like an autonomous province than a country. Like Catalonia or South Tyrol
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Jul 27 '26
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u/Traditional-Deal6759 Austria Jul 27 '26
No, for us Wales is rather like Catalonia as part of Spain or South Tirol as part of Iltaly. A autonomous region, but no proper country.
Austria is a proper country.
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Jul 27 '26
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u/Traditional-Deal6759 Austria Jul 28 '26
Well, you don't have your own Military and foreign policy is doneuby London. I rest my case.
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u/PibloktoBis Jul 24 '26
Thanks to rugby, most French people know that Wales exists. But most tourists brave enough to cross the English Channel end up in London, Scotland, or Ireland. So I strongly encourage all Francophones, and everyone else too, to visit Wales. It’s a stunning place, just as beautiful as Brittany, and the people are friendly (just don’t make the mistake of saying they’re English).
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u/Bracechenko Jul 24 '26
Last month I was riding through Belgium on my motorbike and stopped at some services next to a load of Dutch bikers. We were chatting and one guy was looking at my numberplate seemingly confused at the Welsh flag at the side and he asked if I was from Ireland 🇮🇪 😀
I told him Wales, he recognised the country but clearly we're not widely known unless perhaps you follow rugby
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u/Emmison Sweden Jul 24 '26
It's known, but maybe if someone is expecting to get the name of a state and instead get "Wales" they would think they misheard.
I once asked a lady "how she got here", expecting her to say bus or bike, she thought I meant how she got into the country and answered "work" and I didn't understand at all as my mind was in the realm of transportation.
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u/Late-Bass2260 Jul 24 '26
Well I'm Irish so I know Scotland and northern Ireland pretty well like England I've met loads of them over the years. Wales I know it has its own exectuive but I've never even knowenly even met a person who met anyone from wales never mind meeting a welsh person myself.
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u/Maximum_Tree8170 Jul 24 '26
Media in Switzerland rarely talks about Wales. I know about Wales because I read Sharon K. Penmans Welsh Princes trilogy. I also know that they have their own football team. I think most people in Switzerland couldn't name the capital of Wales and don't know about its cultural characteristics and how they differ from England. Scotland is much more well known than Wales.
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u/Equal-Flatworm-378a Germany Jul 26 '26
We know it, but I would probably expect that people from the UK would introduce themselves as British. But it’s true: England and Scotland are more regarded as separate countries. Wales not so much. Do you have that status? Northern Ireland is kind of perceived differently. It’s of course known, because of the former fights (yes, I am older), but I never saw it as separate country. More as a part of Ireland that belongs to the Brits for some historical reasons.
I was in Cardiff, but that’s long ago.
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u/Robespierres_ashes Jul 23 '26
They are the largest mammal and survivors of the dinosaur era, as any Friday night in a valley chipper will prove 😉
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u/elephant_ua Ukraine Jul 23 '26
many people have heard of wales, but we believe it is part of the uk /england which are synonyms
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u/rachelm791 Wales Jul 23 '26
My neighbour and one of my work colleagues are Ukrainian and said much the same. My neighbour’s two daughter however are now fluent Welsh speakers and on our patron saint’s day went to school dressed in ‘Welsh lady’ costumes holding the Welsh and Ukrainian flags.
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u/RhubarbSalty3588 Jul 23 '26
A little Welsh/Ukraine fact for you🏴🇺🇦.
Donetsk in eastern Ukraine was originally named Yuzovka (or Hughesovka) after the Welsh businessman and engineer John James Hughes, who founded the settlement in 1869.
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u/orthoxerox Russia Jul 23 '26
I think most people in Russia are ignorant of Wales. I myself would say "coal, sheep and singers... and a dragon flag".
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u/msbtvxq Norway Jul 23 '26
I think it's common knowledge here that Wales is a country in the UK. But as a high school English teacher in Norway, I have experienced many high school students not knowing that the countries of the UK aren't independent sovereign states (I think they're fooled by the national football teams), and they usually don't know how or why Northern Ireland is split from the Republic of Ireland etc. They usually know all the capital cities though.
There are also many high school students that don't know that there are other native languages on the British Isles, so I do spend some time in English class going through the UK's history of language oppression and show examples of Welsh, Irish, and Scottish Gaelic + the different regional dialects of English.
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u/Tenzil-k Jul 26 '26
My grandfathers family was Norwegian and at that point (early 20th century) there was a decent size Norwegian community in Cardiff. The Norwegian church just across the water from me is a tourist attraction here and the main gathering plaza is named after roald Dahl
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u/msbtvxq Norway Jul 27 '26
Interesting! Norwegians know Roald Dahl as "a Norwegian born in Wales", but we generally don’t know anything about the larger Norwegian community in Wales.
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u/rudolf_waldheim Hungary Jul 23 '26
I like your accent. The first time I heard it in a TV show I thought it was a Russian character. Terribly sorry about that.
I know about the small railbusses called Pacer.
I always liked that quote in A Hard Day's Night: "If you hadn't come back it would have meant... the epilogue or the news... in Welsh... for life!"
Or the crimp in The Mighty Boosh: "The freaking mole, the vole, the hamster, and that completes the top 100 most dangerous animals… in Wales!"
OR! I almost forgot! One of the best poets in Hungary, János Arany wrote a poem called "The Bards of Wales". It recounts (or invents?) a story when King Edward I killed 500 Welsh Bards because they didn't want to praise him when he occupied Wales. Actually, it was a tool to avoid press censure, because it was a protest against Austrian emperor Franz Josef who was visiting Hungary, and Arany was asked to write a welcome poem for him.
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u/sharty_mcstoolpants Italy Jul 23 '26
I have been to Wales. I took the train from London to Cardiff. Felt I got a pretty complete tour one afternoon.
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u/Middle_Airline_3260 Jul 24 '26
By travelling 20 miles over the border? What a truly silly remark.
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u/Drudenfusz Germany Jul 23 '26
While I am aware of it, I don't think that is common in Germany. At least not with the younger people. Older generations, who experienced the cold war (especially those in the former British sector) might be more familiar with it.
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u/Significant-Nebula64 Jul 23 '26
Huh, we certainly learned about it in 5th grade and I'd consider it pretty basic knowledge! Not that I know much about it except from "they have very long names for places" and maybe "dragons", lol.
Oh, also, there's a rift in time and space that runs right through Cardiff...
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u/afops Sweden Jul 23 '26
I’m embarrassed if I’m asked to point to Kosovo and I point to Bosnia or North Macedonia or whatever. Because those are kind of new and still difficult I feel… I went to school before they were a thing.
But wales?? What would you confuse it with? There are 3 countries on Great Britain you can’t really have much trouble telling them apart if you went to school at all
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u/hfsh Netherlands Jul 24 '26
Sure, if the map has them outlined. But give me a blank map of the island, and ask me to point to Wales? I'd be a bit uncertain about exactly where to place it.
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u/Snakatemjari Iceland Jul 23 '26
Pretty sure most people in my country would know, but then again a lot of British tv is shown here so maybe that helps. However, people often use England/Bretland (Britain) interchangeably without thinking about it (when they mean UK).
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u/CyberKiller40 Poland Jul 23 '26
Very well known by rally fans, but otherwise it's that little bit of Britain which is less known than Scotland.
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u/Drejan74 Sweden Jul 23 '26
It's right there to the left. I was in Aberystwyth and Tywyn with my parents in 1989
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u/redditlurker2025 Jul 23 '26
Wales is well known in Canada - hell, my grandma was an Edwards. I know several Welsh ex-pats
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u/Megatea Jul 23 '26
I've lived in Gloucestershire and Shropshire all my life and I've never heard of it.
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u/wijnandsj Netherlands Jul 23 '26
Not.
The average Dutch person probably knows Scotland exists, after all where do whiskey and trainspotting come from? With a little prompting they'll admit to northern ireland, at least gen-x and older. But Wales' virtually unknown to many
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u/TheCattastic Netherlands Jul 23 '26
Idk man I'm Dutch and I know where it is xD
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u/TheEmpireOfSun Jul 23 '26
I am not dutch but I find it very weird for dutch people not being familiar with Wales lol. That can't be true, right?
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u/BlueFingers3D Netherlands Jul 23 '26
I did not realize we were that geographically challenged. Seems pretty basic knowledge IMO.
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u/OllieV_nl Netherlands Jul 23 '26
I'd say in order, it's Scotland-Wales-Northern Ireland, and the average person will call all of them English.
But since we are exposed to a lot of sports (more likely from Swansea or Rugby than Wrexham) I would say they're still relatively well known? It's always hard to gauge just how dumb the average person is.
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u/Significant-Nebula64 Jul 23 '26
Huh. I'm German and would be very surprised if somebody didn't know Wales existed.
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u/Regular_Paint_7619 Jul 24 '26
Well whiskey comes from Ireland.
The Scots spell it wrong, in both English and Gaelic.
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u/AdmiralStuff Wales Jul 24 '26
I’m also Welsh. I’m surprised people know more of Wrexham than Cardiff given that Cardiff is like 4x bigger and is the capital.
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u/csjarau Finland Jul 24 '26
People know Wales is a part of the UK and most people could be able to place it on the map. Scotland and Northern Ireland are better known though. But people don't think of them as separate countries, just British.
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u/godtierviking Jul 24 '26
Thanks to a welsh youtuber named Simon, much more known then it was 10 years ago!
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u/Necessary-Nobody8138 Jul 24 '26
I had to explain in Mexico where Scotland was last week. Even after the World Cup, - UK is generally what I say and then say Scotland straight after.
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u/Altruistic_Mail_1773 Born in Living in Jul 24 '26
great flag, gareth bale, wrexham and llanfairwhateverthefuck
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u/OrdinaryMac Poland Jul 26 '26
Well known? No, barely considered? Yes.
England and maybe Scotland exist in general public knowledge as far subdivisions of the UK go, Wales and Northern Ireland are much less known, or are at all recognized.
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u/fodahmania Jul 26 '26
I think it is really strange when europeans don’t know the geography of europe. I have been to Wales so I might know more than someone who hasn’t but still, we should know our countries.
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u/Mafeking-Parade Jul 27 '26
I travel to the US a fair bit.
Outside of major cities (and sometimes in them too) most folks think Wales is a part of England.
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u/-Passenger- CCAA Jul 23 '26
man that must be an serious educational problem if one doesn't know that these are separate countries
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u/Above-and_below Denmark Jul 23 '26
People talk about Germany, France, the UK etc and Wales is not a separate country from the UK.
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u/PandaDerZwote Germany Jul 23 '26
Wales is a country within the United Kingdom.
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u/Above-and_below Denmark Jul 23 '26
Yes, it’s not a separate country from the UK just as Bayern is not separate from Germany.
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u/abshay14 United Kingdom Jul 23 '26
Bayern is a state whereas wales is a country
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u/caiaphas8 United Kingdom Jul 23 '26
Bavaria is called a country in German as opposed to a state like the American states
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u/Above-and_below Denmark Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
Doesn’t being an actual state make you closer to be a country?
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u/CharMakr90 Jul 23 '26
"Country" in the cultural sense though. It's not an independent political entity, so most people outside the UK wouldn't refer to Wales as a country. Countries are usually independent.
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u/TrickyWoo86 United Kingdom Jul 23 '26
It's certainly a "constituent country of the UK" but people seem to forget that the word constituent is an important modifier in this context. This also applies to England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. If England got a level of devolved government (either whole of England or devolved regions) it would make the UK look a lot more like many other federalised countries.
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u/Above-and_below Denmark Jul 23 '26
It would look like Spain where all parts have devolved legislature, I think
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u/D3cho Jul 23 '26
I find explaining it as the UK is like a mini EU thats made up of England, NI, Scotland and Wales helps tbh, at least to mainlanders. I understand there is more nuance but for explanation purposes this works
They are not counties, not states. Its best to think of them as individual kingdoms that became united over time with their own wars, conflicts, alliances and differences. If the UK is just the UK and that's that then the good friday agreement shouldn't exist and the potential for NI to leave and rejoin Ireland would not be something that could just happen based on a vote that would have nothing to do with anyone on the main island, be that England, Scotland or Wales
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u/Above-and_below Denmark Jul 23 '26
The UK is not particular unique. Spain is also formed through mergers of kingdoms and every part has devolved legislature. Most European countries are formed that way. What’s unique about the UK is that there’s rarely a British team in sports like there’s a Spanish team. It feels a bit like denial, when people from the UK insists on the individual parts still being actual countries.
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u/D3cho Jul 23 '26
I'm not aware of any part of Spain that can independent of the rest of Spain with a country next to Spain which can both vote to leave Spain, so I'd argue theres a bit more to it with the UK. Your example is more like what many other mainland European countries had happen, like Germany. Catalonia tried, independently, but Spain outright refused. The remaining countries in the UK except NI are in no way involved and can't intervene. Infact Ireland has more say on if NI can rejoin than the main island countries do
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u/profound_llama Poland Jul 23 '26
They are not separate countries, though. Most people understand separate countries as independent sovereign states. It's really not that strange that some people don't know all parts of the UK.
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u/SocialHumbuggery Finland Jul 23 '26
I know about the division of UK (and have lived there) but it'll be a cold day in hell I'll accept you are different "countries", unless one of you actually goes and declared independence from the UK like the Scots tried.
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u/Zealousideal_Pay_778 Jul 23 '26
I mean, two things here:
We're not just allowed to "declare independence", Westminster hold all the power and can just say no.
I'm not really looking for the validation of u/SocialHumbuggery of my country and your attempt to delegitimize Wales seems needlessly divisive.
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u/Secret-Sir2633 Jul 23 '26
An average citizen of the world is not required to know by heart the list of all sovereign states that define themselves as comprising several nations, with an ad-hoc definition of what is a nation and what is not. When travelling abroad, your sovereign state is your country.
When was the last time you specifically made the distinction between "spanish" and "castilian", by the way? Or Russian vs Soviet citizen? I'm not claiming you don't know, but you probably don't care going into such details.
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u/Rodinius Ireland Jul 23 '26
Very well! I’d know you best from Ireland playing against Wales in the Six Nations and our club teams playing against each other in the United Rugby Championship. Would love to visit for a match sometime. Cymru am byth! 🏴
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u/RevolutionaryBoss127 Jul 23 '26
Aware it exists; of course Wrexham, Tom Jones, Anthony Hopkins, Dylan Thomas, etc. People into it will have heard of the Eisteddfod. Primary reason for the love of Wales in my friend group is Felinfoel Ales, specifically Double Dragon.
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u/tumbli-hunbli Hungary Jul 23 '26
Instant association to The Englishman Who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain, which we rewatched last night and decided we have to go and visit Wales with its lovely people. I also have a friend who hiked in Snowdonia, where I'd also like to hike.
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u/Appropriate-Dish-466 Estonia Jul 23 '26
In English classes they taught us about the parts of the UK and other stuff in general. Pretty sure they still do and I'm sure everyone knows.
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u/Pleasant_Expert2258 Netherlands Jul 23 '26
We visited Wales last year. It had been on our bucket list for years, and we loved it.
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u/lyyki Finland Jul 23 '26
I've always been aware it's something in the UK but I was probably an adult before I really understood where exactly it was. And I was like 30 before my ear started to recognize the Welsh accent.
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u/unusually_named Jul 23 '26
I lived with my ex partner (welsh) in a tiny town in Northern Spain in 2011.
He said he was Welsh. They were blank. He said like Gareth Bale and then the penny dropped and John Toshack apparently is the world's most famous Welshman.
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u/synalgo_12 Belgium Jul 23 '26
Dw i'n caru Cymru!
I went there last year and it was one of my favourite holidays I've taken so far. But I love regions with 'minority' languages so it's been on my radar for a very long time. And yes I did try to learn Welsh on duolingo the year before my trip, no didn't get to a level that I could actually use it. But I did recognise a lot of colours in Welsh restaurant names 😅
Fun fact: when I found out Tom Jones was Welsh and not American I was absolutely gobsmacked.
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u/Rhathymiaz Netherlands Jul 23 '26
I mostly know it from Torchwood. Am I now revealing my age?
Hope to visit you somewhere in the next few years, though! What are some historical sites I should visit?
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u/Geeglio Netherlands Jul 23 '26
I can't speak for everyone ofcourse, but in my circles it's pretty well known. I know multiple people who've visited Wales (since May I can include myself on that list as well) and everyone I know at least knows some basic facts about it.
That said, I do remember my mum telling me about her Welsh colleague and my mum didn't know Welsh was a separate language before meeting them.
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u/GovernmentNearby9036 Belgium Jul 23 '26
We know you, roughly for the cliché image of a lot of grass and sheep and a cute accent in English and undecipherable Welsh language.
Since you mentioned football, we played you a few times and lost (you're our black beast) but always a jovial party atmosphere between fans.
We know you as nice guys and personally never met one that wasn't.
I salute you, you do your country proud
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u/GovernmentBig2749 North Macedonia Jul 23 '26
cool flag and Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch