Most Chinese names for European countries are spelled out by sound. Read the characters for what they mean instead, and Russia becomes Sudden Net This.
Chinese doesn’t have an alphabet, so foreign names are written with characters that sound right. Russia is Éluósī, written 俄罗斯, and taken one character at a time that means suddenly, net, this. Read the same way, the USA is 美国, Beautiful Country, although the 美 was chosen for the sound of America.
There is a proper system. In mainland China, the state news agency Xinhua keeps official tables of which character to use for each sound, and the guidance says to avoid characters with unpleasant meanings. As far as I can tell, Hope Dried Meat passed.
The short ones
The UK, France and Germany each use one sound character plus 国, which means country. The UK is 英国 because 英 starts the Chinese spelling of England, and it also means hero. France is Law Country and Germany is Virtue Country the same way.
Portugal gets Grape Tooth, because its first two characters together are the word for grape. Greece gets Hope Dried Meat. Several countries end in 亚, which is used for the sound of a final a. On its own it means second, so Romania is Net Horse Nun Second.
Five countries end in Orchid: the Netherlands, Ireland, Finland, Poland and Ukraine. Only the Netherlands is known for flowers.
The real translations
Only a few names are actually translated. Iceland is 冰岛, ice island, Montenegro is 黑山, black mountain, and North Macedonia starts with 北, north. Belarus is half and half: 白 means white, and the rest is Russia’s name, so it comes out as White Sudden Net This.
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