法兰德斯 (Fǎlándésī): Flanders (the Dutch-speaking no…

Meanings

1 Flanders (the Dutch-speaking northern region of Belgium)
2 (historical) the medieval County of Flanders, covering parts of modern Belgium, France, and the Netherlands

Characters

法

fǎ

law (phonetic 'fla-')

兰

lán

orchid (phonetic '-lan-')

德

dé

virtue (phonetic '-der-')

斯

sī

this (phonetic '-s')

Examples

法兰德斯是比利时的北部地区。

Fǎlándésī shì Bǐlìshí de běibù dìqū.

Flanders is the northern region of Belgium.

法兰德斯画派代表人物有鲁本斯和凡·艾克。

Fǎlándésī huàpài dàibiǎo rénwù yǒu Lǔběnsī hé Fán Àikè.

Major figures of the Flemish school of painting include Rubens and Van Eyck.

Tips

culture

法兰德斯 (Flanders) is the Dutch-speaking northern half of Belgium, distinct from French-speaking Wallonia (瓦隆). It gave its name to the Flemish school of painting (法兰德斯画派) — Jan van Eyck (凡·艾克), Rubens (鲁本斯), Bruegel (勃鲁盖尔) — and to the WWI poppy fields immortalized in 'In Flanders Fields'. Note: Mainland Chinese sometimes uses 弗拉芒 / 佛兰德斯 for the same region.

memory

法 (fǎ) → 'Fla-', 兰 (lán) → '-an-', 德 (dé) → '-der-', 斯 (sī) → '-s'. The same 德斯 ending closes many Chinese transliterations of '-ders/-des' (compare 安第斯 'Andes').