readings - How to read single stand-alone language-name kanji?

So we all know that most (all?) countries' names can be written in kanji as well as kana. And occasionally kanji from these names are used to represent the language of those countries. For example, we can see 「独逸」の「独」 here:

「ドイツ統一の中心人物であり、「鉄血宰相（独: Eiserner Kanzler）」の異名を取る。」

How is 独 read in this context? Is there a consistent rule that applies to all similar instances (米, 伊, 英, etc.)?

Answer

Generally speaking these are read using the 音読み, and most frequently occur in pairs (e.g. 日米【にちべい】, 日独【にちどく】).

I actually did some trolling through EDICT and a couple other sources to create a master list of these, and came up with the following list:

豪   ごう  Australia
爾   る   Argentina
墺   おう  Austria
白   ぱく  Belgium
戊   ぼ   Bolivia
伯   ぱく  Brazil
勃   ぼつ  Bulgaria

加   か   Canada
智   ち   Chile
中   ちゅう China
華   か   China
漢   かん  China
哥   こ   Colombia
玖   きゅう Cuba
捷   しょう Czech Republic
丁   てい  Denmark
埃   あい  Egypt

英   えい  England
洋   よう  Europe
芬   ふん  Finland
仏   ふつ  France
独   どく  Germany
銀   ぎん  Guinea
希   き   Greece
蘭   らん  Holland
洪   こう  Hungary
氷   ひょう Iceland

印   いん  India
尼   に   Indonesia
愛   あい  Ireland
イ   い   Israel
伊   い   Italy
日   にち  Japan
和   わ   Japan
約   やく  Jordan
良   ら   Latvia
馬   ま   Malaysia

満   まん  Manchuria
墨   ぼく  Mexico
蒙   もう  Mongolia
緬   めん  Myanmar
乳   にゅう New Zealand
児   に   Nicaragua
朝   ちょう North Korea
諾   だく  Norway
帛   はく  Palau
巴   ぱ   Panama

秘   ひ   Peru
比   ひ   Philippines
波   ぽ   Poland
葡   ぽ   Portugal
普   ふ   Prussia
羅   ら   Romania
露   ろ   Russia
新   しん  Singapore
南阿  なんあ South Africa
韓   かん  South Korea

蘇   そ   Soviet Union
西   せい  Spain
瑞   すい  Sweden
瑞   すい  Switzerland
叙   じょ  Syria
台   たい  Taiwan
泰   たい  Thailand
突   とつ  Tunisia
土   と   Turkey
烏   う   Ukraine

宇   う   Ukraine
米   べい  USA
瓦   が   Vanuatu
委   い   Venezuela
越   えつ  Vietnam

Some notes on the above:

• It's not an oversight that Sweden and Switzerland have the same character; that's how they're listed in the dictionary.


• Japan and China each have several variations. Generally speaking it's hard to go wrong defaulting to 日中【にっちゅう】 when talking about international relations. Beyond that it's probably best left to a native to clarify the nuances of each.



• Hungary also has two characters; of these my impression based on research is that 洪【こう】 is the preferred one in Japanese.

Also, if you're looking for continents, you've got the following:

阿   あ           Africa
南極  なんきょく       Antarctica
亜   あ           Asia
欧   おう          Europe
北米  ほくべい        North America
南米  なんべい        South America