OT: foreign languages - some useful phrases

beoram

beoram

Joined
Nov 27, 2001
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such as:

Gongta di ngay chöloogdâng tüngee mindu ("I'm sorry, it's against my religion" - Tibetan)

Dansöz olan bir yer var mý? ("Is there anywhere to go where we can see belly-dancing?" - Turkish)

Estne volumen in toga, an solum tibi libet me videre? ("Is that a scroll in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" - Latin)

Mitt huvud kommer av och det är fullt av godis. ("My head comes off, and is full of candy" - Swedish)

Si hoc legere scis, nimium eruditionis habes. ("If you can read this, you have too much education" - Latin)


Mon aéroglisseur est plein d'anguilles ("my hovercraft is full of eels" - French)

Mein Luftkissenfahrzeug ist voller Aale ("my hovercraft is full of eels" - German)

Ilmatyynyaluksemi on täynnä ankeriaita ("My hovercraft is full of eels" - Finnish)

Mae fy hofrenfad yn llawn o lyswennod ("my hovercraft is full of eels" - Welsh)


more useful phrases in foreign languages [@omniglot.com]
 
Hee Hee Hee :D Good ones Ben. Hey, How's the trip?
 
I own a "dictionary without words" with more than 500 little pictures to show - great invention if you are in a country or region you do not speak the language of. Maybe I could try to "say" the first two sentences with the help of this book, but I doubt if I could do it with the rest of beoram`s post... just imagine which pictures would be needed... ;)

Andreas
 
Originally posted by Pan Tau
I own a "dictionary without words" with more than 500 little pictures to show - great invention if you are in a country or region you do not speak the language of. Maybe I could try to "say" the first two sentences with the help of this book, but I doubt if I could do it with the rest of beoram`s post... just imagine which pictures would be needed... ;)

Andreas
Click to expand...

Uhhhhhh. Hovercraft and eels. ;)

Thanks Beo..... I needed that this morning.

Brian
 
Uhhhhhh. Hovercraft and eels.
Click to expand...

no pictures in my book. imagine saying "hovercraft" and "eels" via body language... :confused:

but what about that scroll and the pocket...

Andreas
 
Reminds me ov a book I have called the Descriptionary - It is when you know what the object looks like or what it is for, but you don't know the name of it.Pretty cool book overall. Perfect for that perspon in your life(in this case, me wife!) who is always saying stuff like "Can you go into the kitchen and get me the thing from on top of the big electrical thing."

Keith
 
Perfect for that perspon in your life(in this case, me wife!) who is always saying stuff like "Can you go into the kitchen and get me the thing from on top of the big electrical thing
Click to expand...

... My wife (who seems to have a similar "disease") would kill me if I gave her the book and said "show me the picture of the THING you mean" - I guess it is hard to be married to a German literature teacher or a linguist (even harder to go to the cinema and watch a film like "Gladiator" together with a historian...). She says she cannot read the menu at a restaurant because the mistakes (our favourite Italian Restaurant has some funny type-os in the menu) jump to her eye - and sometimes (after describing or explainig something - and using too many words while doing so) she says "tell me what I mean" - and I do with one matching expression - and get stabbed by her eyes - just because I did what she told me... :( :D

Andreas

edit: I was puzzled when I found out that THING-language actually works among women. They produce pictures (the right ones!) in each others head by just mentioning THINGS. Seems they are superior to men ...
(added because my wife might read this post...)
 
I have witnessed this thing language among women as well. Seems they are actually telepathic or something.
---
Beo--Cool stuff! Love the Monty Python ref.

As fer useful phrases: (if my rusty german serves me)

"Mein bleishtifte ist lange und gelp"--German - "My pencil is long and yellow."
 
is:" Yo necesitaba una trucha."

-- I used to need a trout.

I most times inject it into a conversation with the introduction of, "Like they say in Spain..." or something similar and silly.

Practice it & use it in a sentence today!

:D

-Craig
 
not exactly a foreign language phrase - but I noticed today a funny thing on a bottle of Perrier Water: they seem to have a new line of water in plastic bottles, which thus would be more easily carried without fear of breakage like their glass bottles.

But their catchphrase is a bit unfortunate. It says Now Portable!-- but at first glance I read: Now Potable!

;)

--Ben
 
Some funny things happen when you translate advertisements.
A French Wellness product was advertised for a short time here with the words "Befriedigen Sie sich selbst!" - which should and does say "satisfy yourself" - but actually also means "masturbate!" :eek:

Same thing with Rolls Royce - their "silver mist" - model would not sell in Germany as "Mist" is "rubbish" - and they did not translate...

Andreas
 
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