ec If you translate all those other languages into English you get British Islands that s because the words isles and islands have very similar if not identical meanings British Isles would be just as valid a translation into English from most of those languages As for whether the islands are small or large it depends on perspective and point of view Honsh for example is much much bigger than any of the British Isles and is still referred to as part of the Japanese Archipelago What s more the WP article on the subject says An archipelago is a chain or cluster of islands no mention of small anywhere there