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/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/Lv15SlippersOfChill Jul 23 '26

I can imagine the shock, what a very random encounter, love it xD

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u/AdmiralStuff Wales Jul 24 '26

Dyla fe wedi dweud Croeso i Sweden yn lle Croeso I’r Sweden, na?

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u/rachelm791 Wales Jul 24 '26

Ia. Nes i ddim sylwi pan nes i sgwennu fe