The two European nations - one known for its chocolate, cheese and watches; the other for Ikea, Volvo and the Seventies pop band Abba - have often been confused for each other among the Chinese.

这两个欧洲国家——一个因巧克力、奶酪和钟表而闻名；另一个则因宜家、沃尔沃集团和七十年代Abba流行乐队而享誉，却常常被中国人搞混淆了。

The problem largely stems from the fact that both nations' names are written similarly in Mandarin - Ruidian (Sweden) and Ruishi (Switzerland) – which begin with the same symbol, according to the Swedish Consul General Victoria Li in China.

瑞典驻中国领事馆的维多利亚-李认为，问题很大程度上是因为这两个国家的汉语名字很相似——瑞典和瑞士都以“瑞”字开头。

In an effort to put an end to the mix-up, the Swedish and Swiss consulates in Shanghai have launched a competition on the Swedish Consulate website, asking Chinese people to come up with funny ways to help differentiate the two countries. Submissions can be accepted as a blog post, cartoon, photo, short film or in any other format.

为避免混淆，瑞典和瑞士的驻上海领事馆在瑞典使馆的网站上发起了一项比赛——邀请中国人想出有趣的办法来区分这两个国家。提交格式可以是博文、卡通、照片、短片或其他形式。

The winner with the best submission will receive a 12-day trip to Sweden and Switzerland and will be expected to report back on their impressions of both countries following the trip, the website states. Entries will be accepted until November 20.

网站上的比赛说明写道，作品优胜者可享有瑞典与瑞士12日游，并在旅行归来后反馈自己对这两个国家的印象。报名截止日期是11月20日。

The organisers have also devised a humorous campaign logo portraying a montage of objects and people associated with Sweden and Switzerland on separate maps of each country.

主办方还设计出了颇为诙谐的活动标识，分别在瑞典及瑞士地图上形象地标出相应的人与物。

Sweden’s map features meatballs, a Viking, Pippi Longstocking from Astrid Lindgren’s books, as well as two male cartoon figures with a heart between them symbolising gay marriage, which remains illegal in Switzerland. Switzerland's map features cheese, fondue, the Alps and a picture of Roger Federer.

瑞典的地图上标有肉丸、维京玩具、儿童文学作家阿斯特里德-林格伦笔下的“长袜子皮皮”、还有象征同性婚姻的两个卡通爱心男人形象（这在瑞士仍视为非法）；瑞士的地图上标有奶酪、奶酪火锅、阿尔卑斯山以及一张网球运动员罗杰-费德勒的照片。

China may not be the only country struggling to tell Sweden and Switzerland apart. Residents of Spanish-speaking countries also fall victim to the confusion as Sweden is spelt ‘Suecia’ in Spanish while Switzerland is called ‘Suiza’.

其实不止中国人分不清瑞典和瑞士，西班牙语国家的人也常常搞混——在西班牙语里，瑞典拼为“Suecia”，瑞士则是“Suiza”。

Sweden and Switzerland aren't the only destinations that have caused confusion among travellers. Last month, a British holidaymaker hoped to explore the architecture of the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain, but instead mistakenly caught a flight across the Atlantic to the tropical Caribbean island of Grenada following a confusing booking blunder. Earlier this summer, two US holidaymakers were flown to the wrong continent after an airline confused two airport codes.

对旅行者来说，也不只是瑞典和瑞士这两个地方会让他们犯糊涂。上个月，有个英国人想度假游览位于西班牙格拉纳达市的阿尔汉布拉宫，结果却搭错航班，飞越大西洋到了热带加勒比海的格林纳达岛，搞得各种预约乱翻了天。今年夏初，因为航空公司搞混了两家机场代码，导致两个美国度假者完全换到了南辕北辙的目的地。

China was the biggest spender in international tourism last year, overtaking Italy, Japan, France and Britain, and is the world's fastest-growing tourism source market, according to the latest figures from the World Tourism Organization earlier this year.

今年年初根据世界旅游组织的统计，去年中国已超过意大利、日本、法国和英国，成为国际旅游的消费国，并且还是全球发展最快的旅游市场。