It can be spelled either way. Helgoland is closer to the German/Dutch spelling, but Heligoland is the official English one.

What about the pronounciation? I like it better with the 'I'

Both ˈhɛlɪgoʊˌlænd and ˈhɛlgoʊˌlɑnt are in my dictionary.

I could swear in my old version of Diplomacy (purchased around 1983ish) it was Helgoland and Galacia (instead of Galicia).

Oh okay.
I didn't know that, thanks.

I do believe that Skagerrack is wrong though (should be Skagerrak)

Might be like the age distinction between Romania/Rumania.

or like brasil/brazil, colombia/columbia, etc. lots of places have multiple spellings, no?

I always wondered about Galicia, because Galicia is a region of Spain...

And does anyone spell Colombia as Columbia?

I'm pretty sure that the version I have at home spells it 'galatia.'

people in the united states do. columbia is the proper spelling in US english, i think. it always has a red line under it in ms word when i type colombia.

yes galicia is a region of spain, and also of turkey if i'm not mistaken. or maybe that one is spelled galatia. i can't remember.

Galatia in English, Galacia in spanish, is an ancient region of Turkey.

Doesn't really look like it would be were it is in the Dip map at all.

yeah but there is also that region in central europe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galicia_(Central-Eastern_Europe)

Skagerrak should be spelled Skagerrak. The only language I know that differs from this is Swedish, with Skagerack an alternative spelling. Danish and Norwegian don't even use ck, but rather kk when it's a short a. The a in Skagerrak is long though, as shown by the spelling.

Galicia is both the name of an autonomous region in Spain, and confusingly also a region split between Ukraine and Poland. Galatia was an ancient Roman province in modern day Turkey, however, but I don't think Diplomacy should go that far back :)

spanish galicia is really beautiful. and there are celtic myths in ireland that the first celtic kinds of ireland sailed from the northwestern corner of spain to ireland, which would be galicia. i don't know anything about galicia that as part of austro-hungarian empire aside from what i just read on wikipedia =/

The reason there are so many "Galicia" like places in Europe is the Romans. Galicia or Galatia or whatever is a derivative of Gauls aka the Celts. Those regions, in Spain, Turkey and indeed Western Ukraine, were traditionally inhabited with various Gallic tribes during Roman times. Hence the confusion.

actually the wikipedia article said the name for galacia on the dip map is from a slavic word, though. but you're still probably right.

"people in the united states do. columbia is the proper spelling in US english, i think. it always has a red line under it in ms word when i type colombia."

The country is spelled Colombia in English. It's the Spanish spelling for "Columbia," an old general term for the Americas named after Christopher Columbus.

There's probably a line because you don't capitalize it...

lol that could be. i guess you're right, i always thought that people spelled it "Columbia" but a quick google shows you to be correct.

The Central European Galicia may be Celtic or Slavic; you can find people on both sides, and both explanations are plausible.

But Spanish Galicia and Anatolian (the region that is now Turkey) Galatia are Celtic, related to the Gauls in France and the Gaels in Ireland (and now also Scotland); we have Roman records that assure us that they spoke Celtic languages. Based on linguistic evidence, the Irish Gaels probably really did come from Galicia, although the people that they conquered may have also been Celtic (but of a different branch, closer to the Welsh/Britons).

Source: mostly memory, qualified by checking on Wikipedia

I meant to add, but somehow forgot, that Christians should recognise Galatia as the location of a congregation that Paul wrote an epistle to.

Also, djbent, Brazil is NOT spelled Brasil in English - this is the Portuguese (and thus Brazilian) spelling. Brasilia, however, is spelled with the 's'.

um, that' what i meant. sorry for confusion.

Yeah plus when you write it like that it looks like you're writing basil, which sounds kinda silly and is also a spice.

You can never have to much basil. Or too much Brasil, for that matter.

precisely.

I have to disagree about Basil, as I once learned the hard way....

Too much is never enough, except when it comes to spices.

and a couple other things in life...

well russia in russian is rasaya or raseya so thats another difference although raseya is the official and rasaya is a folk pronuncation

russian letters here
Pacceя
Pocceя

I have a Russian friend and he started me reading the first chapter of Доктор Живаго by Бори́с Леони́дович Пастерна́к.

Я мог дедуцировать довольно бит его. Он был изумитен как просто замена характера смогла получить разумный перевод хотя бы для главных слов как сестра.

Whoa... Cyrillic? Less of that please - someone might start accusing you of trying to set up some kind of pre-game alliance with 'anyone who can read this message'...

لتس اتاك رسا

I'd love to be able to use that.