When other languages do it better
Discussion
English is an amazing language but there are times when I find words in other languages that are more logical or sum up in one word what you would need a phrase to do in English.
In English we have just one word for grandmother and grandfather but then it doesn’t specify which one as we all have two of each. Danish does it better as in addition to a general word you can say morfar or farfar which is literally mother father and fatherfather.
Germans have a great word for blokes that sit done to pee “sitzpinkler”. As well as being a literal description it has a faintly dismissive, judgemental tone.
Sometimes words aren’t really fully translatable. Like sayonara in Japanese. It means goodbye but it has a tone of finality about it that doesn’t exist in English, giving a meaning that you might never seen that person again.
Any other examples?
In English we have just one word for grandmother and grandfather but then it doesn’t specify which one as we all have two of each. Danish does it better as in addition to a general word you can say morfar or farfar which is literally mother father and fatherfather.
Germans have a great word for blokes that sit done to pee “sitzpinkler”. As well as being a literal description it has a faintly dismissive, judgemental tone.
Sometimes words aren’t really fully translatable. Like sayonara in Japanese. It means goodbye but it has a tone of finality about it that doesn’t exist in English, giving a meaning that you might never seen that person again.
Any other examples?
French is full of lovely phrases that don't travel. L'esprit de l'escalier, literally the spirit of the stairs, to describe when you have thought of a pithy or witty retort but a moment too late to deploy it.
Tete dans le cul is a play on words with a double meaning, simultaneously your head in a bottle, cul de bouteille being the bottom of a bottle & head up your arse, to describe being hungover. And Sparadrap for sticking plaster is far superior a word than er, sticking plaster.
Tete dans le cul is a play on words with a double meaning, simultaneously your head in a bottle, cul de bouteille being the bottom of a bottle & head up your arse, to describe being hungover. And Sparadrap for sticking plaster is far superior a word than er, sticking plaster.
Edited by President Merkin on Tuesday 13th June 07:36
Edited by President Merkin on Tuesday 13th June 07:38
Not so much a phrase, but I've always wondered if foreign languages have some terrible accents like we do, or when they write on facebook do they completely butcher their own languages?
Imagine trying to learn an accent from somebody so you sound a bit more authentic and it turns out they're the french equivalent of a brummie.
Imagine trying to learn an accent from somebody so you sound a bit more authentic and it turns out they're the french equivalent of a brummie.
I spend a lot of time in Germany and although I can converse, I'm not fluent. I remember walking around Luebeck back when I used to smoke. My lighter had ran out of gas and I saw a couple of women smoking outside a bar. In my best German, I said excuse me have you a light please? One of them smiled and lit my cigarette but I could tell I hadn't got it right. I apologised and said my German isn't great and asked her for the correct phrase. She said in German they would just say "fire me" instead of can I have a light. It seemed more logical and concise.
Triumph Man said:
Not so much a phrase, but I've always wondered if foreign languages have some terrible accents like we do, or when they write on facebook do they completely butcher their own languages?
Imagine trying to learn an accent from somebody so you sound a bit more authentic and it turns out they're the french equivalent of a brummie.
Definitey they do. There's a very good French movie, Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis where a guy living the good life on the Riviera gets transferred to Normandy & can't understand a word they're saying.Imagine trying to learn an accent from somebody so you sound a bit more authentic and it turns out they're the french equivalent of a brummie.
On having an accent when speaking a foreign language.
My mum is Dutch but I barely speak it and they all seem to speak wonderful English, until you hit the countryside and this was years ago.
I got into a minicab and told the driver where I wanted to go, in Dutch.
We started having a conversation in his mother tongue and I thought, wow! I'm actually alright at this
But quickly it got too fast and complicated for me so I said in Dutch that I was English and only spoke a few words of his language.
'Oh!' he said 'I thought you were a Belgian'.
I'm currently learning Spanish and a Spanish speaking friend of mine, who is French, says I speak it with a French accent.
Odd! as I'm from Sarf London
My mum is Dutch but I barely speak it and they all seem to speak wonderful English, until you hit the countryside and this was years ago.
I got into a minicab and told the driver where I wanted to go, in Dutch.
We started having a conversation in his mother tongue and I thought, wow! I'm actually alright at this
But quickly it got too fast and complicated for me so I said in Dutch that I was English and only spoke a few words of his language.
'Oh!' he said 'I thought you were a Belgian'.
I'm currently learning Spanish and a Spanish speaking friend of mine, who is French, says I speak it with a French accent.
Odd! as I'm from Sarf London
I found myself watching a lot of robwords videos recently, can’t remember why but the first one was via a search. He talks a lot about how English has developed and changed due to both external influence (being conquered, immigration) as well as internal (it being fashionable to use certain verbal styles which then took hold).
Seems English used to be a lot more like others in structure and pronunciation rules, but has changed significantly in the modern era.
Seems English used to be a lot more like others in structure and pronunciation rules, but has changed significantly in the modern era.
grumbledoak said:
My favourite word in any language I am aware of. President Merkin said:
Triumph Man said:
Not so much a phrase, but I've always wondered if foreign languages have some terrible accents like we do, or when they write on facebook do they completely butcher their own languages?
Imagine trying to learn an accent from somebody so you sound a bit more authentic and it turns out they're the french equivalent of a brummie.
Definitey they do. There's a very good French movie, Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis where a guy living the good life on the Riviera gets transferred to Normandy & can't understand a word they're saying.Imagine trying to learn an accent from somebody so you sound a bit more authentic and it turns out they're the french equivalent of a brummie.
"Alright my luvver...here's a great ideal. Gimme yer clothes, yer daps and yer Massey Ferguson. That'd be gert lush."
Edited by 2xChevrons on Tuesday 13th June 11:19
Triumph Man said:
Not so much a phrase, but I've always wondered if foreign languages have some terrible accents like we do, or when they write on facebook do they completely butcher their own languages?
Imagine trying to learn an accent from somebody so you sound a bit more authentic and it turns out they're the french equivalent of a brummie.
Accents - yes, I've seen comments making fun of rural Italian accents and calling them slow, backwards, etc. Something about a rural upbringing wherever you are.Imagine trying to learn an accent from somebody so you sound a bit more authentic and it turns out they're the french equivalent of a brummie.
2xChevrons said:
Arnold Schwarzenegger famously offered to do the German-language dub of Terminator, since it was his native language and all. The producers/distributors in Germany politely decline the offer after viewing a test scene, since Schwarzenegger's rural Austrian accent was both hard to understand for speakers of 'standard German' and also was unfortunately comical since it gave the remorseless time-travelling killing machine a stereotypical country accent. I imagine it was like if the English-language Terminator was voiced by Justin Lee Collins or Phil Harding.
"Alright my luvver...here's a great ideal. Gimme yer clothes, yer daps and yer Massey Ferguson. That'd be gert lush."
"Alright my luvver...here's a great ideal. Gimme yer clothes, yer daps and yer Massey Ferguson. That'd be gert lush."
Edited by 2xChevrons on Tuesday 13th June 11:19
Darth Vader was played by Dave Prowse of the West Country.
In some original pre edit footage it's quite comical to see Darth holding up a rebel officer by his neck and going all West Country on him.
Obviously James Earl Jones got the job to voice Mr Vader.
croyde said:
2xChevrons said:
Arnold Schwarzenegger famously offered to do the German-language dub of Terminator, since it was his native language and all. The producers/distributors in Germany politely decline the offer after viewing a test scene, since Schwarzenegger's rural Austrian accent was both hard to understand for speakers of 'standard German' and also was unfortunately comical since it gave the remorseless time-travelling killing machine a stereotypical country accent. I imagine it was like if the English-language Terminator was voiced by Justin Lee Collins or Phil Harding.
"Alright my luvver...here's a great ideal. Gimme yer clothes, yer daps and yer Massey Ferguson. That'd be gert lush."
"Alright my luvver...here's a great ideal. Gimme yer clothes, yer daps and yer Massey Ferguson. That'd be gert lush."
Edited by 2xChevrons on Tuesday 13th June 11:19
Darth Vader was played by Dave Prowse of the West Country.
In some original pre edit footage it's quite comical to see Darth holding up a rebel officer by his neck and going all West Country on him.
Obviously James Earl Jones got the job to voice Mr Vader.
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