How many languages do we speak?

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On a sidenote, I seem to get the first post on a new page disproportionally often.

[Natan]

Originally posted by Roland
Natan:

"Technically speaking, it's always written in hebrew characters..."

I thought some of the modern jiddisch literature used latin characters ?

As far as I know, there's not even an agreed upon system of transliteration, nor could there ever be, since pronounciation varies so much by region. Besides, there'd be no point, since you'd just be left with slavicized middle German plus a bunch of Hebrew words.

"Yakh libe tzu redn yiddish, ober es iz nisht mein mame-loshn."

I love to hear it, but I can't speak it. Yet I understand about 80-90 % of it.

"I love to talk Yiddish, but it's not my mother tongue." (loshn is the ashkenazi pronounciation of the Hebrew lashon, meaning tonge/language. mame-loshn is hence "mother-tongue."

"kh'rede yiddish mit mein zede, er iz fun Lodz. Es iz a mikhaye far im tzu redn yiddish mit mir."

mikhaye = pleasure or problem ?

"I speak Yiddish with my Grandfather, who is from Lodz. It is a great pleasure (mikhaye) for him to speak Yiddish with me.

"oon er hot zain gefilte-fish mit tzuker oon nit mit kein pfefer gekokht."

I didn't know jiddisch also has the dreaded double negation. Does it have triple and quadruple negations too ?

Never seen more than two, but the double negative phrase "ni(sh)t kein" is almost universally used - it's the equivlent of "ain't got no" in American slang. This has gotten me into trouble a few times when I got German and Yiddish confused.

And don't tell me you tried that "recipe"!

Which one? Of course I've eaten gefilte fish, although the peppery kind - I'm not sure where I could even get them if I wanted to. Those Litvaks were always much too arrogant anyway.

And now Roland, it's your turn - show us some Bayernisch.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Sagacious Dolphin


I know what it meant but its a poor translation of - "Welcome the Wales" or "You cross the Wales", just curious as to what you "meant".

Welcome to Wales. Check the signs next time you enter the place. If you bring binoculars you may be able to see one from Bristol

[Provost Harrison]

Well OK, I checked again, it should be Croeso i Gymru. I was close, anyway

[Asher]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
Well your English is damn good for someone who is crap at languages. The only way to tell you are not English is the accent, the English itself is faultless, better than the majority of native speakers, and you can't really ask for more than that.

Is Snapcase Svedish?

[Roland]

Natan:

"... but the double negative phrase "ni(sh)t kein" is almost universally used - it's the equivlent of "ain't got no" in American slang. This has gotten me into trouble a few times when I got German and Yiddish confused."

Standard german is quite picky about this, but in our dialect, you could create monstrums like "I bin no nia net in koam Puff net gwen", which would be "I have not never to no brothel not been". Supposed to say, "really, really not, trust me, no, really not".

"Yakh libe tzu redn yiddish, ober es iz nisht mein mame-loshn."

Would be: "I red gern Jiddisch oba es is net mei muattasproch"

Crucial phrases:

"Des passt scho" - "It's allright"

"Wirt, no a Runde bittschee" - "Waiter/Chef, another round of beers please" (btw, yiddish "bitt(e)scheen" ?)

"Du narrischa Hund du" - "You crazy dog", meaning an acknowledgement of courage

And a short story:
"Gestan bin I mit an feschn Medl essn gwen, hod ois passt, und auf amoi wandlt's me ane mim Schrim drüwa. I moan I dram, wos soi des nua haasn ? I hob do nix to. Oda wei I nix to hoab ? Ah, Weiwa. Oiwei dessöbe."

Well ?

[Zoid]

I speak swedish, english and porno film german

Originally posted by Asher

Is Snapcase Svedish?

Yes, he is. (I was a little surprised by this but I don´t know why really...)

Dissident: "Die Bart, die" means "The moustach, the" IIRC

[Roland]

Bart is beard, but it's _der_ Bart. And the second "die" doesn't make sense anyway. Diss, where did you get that?

[Zoid]

Originally posted by Roland
Bart is beard, but it's _der_ Bart.

Oh, yeah...I knew it was something face related But since it´s from a Sideshow Bob line in "The Simpsons" I don´t think you should take the error in the grammar too seriously...

[Roland]

I'd even give the Simpson's a dispense from german grammar.

[Rogan Josh]

Originally posted by jasev
There is an ancient legend in Ireland; it says that the first irish inhabitants came from northern Spain (Galicia). So the spanish guys should have priority with irish girls

Funnily enough, there is a version of this legend which has these people (the Firbolg) coming from Greece, so Paiktis22 isn't far wrong....

The rendition of the Firbolg in the online game 'The Dark Ages of Camelot' isn't so flattering though

[Bereta_Eder]

And I think we have also colonized parts of the Iberian Peninsula.
At least that's what I've read in Asterix.

[Venom]

I speak jive and Venom, if no one's mentioned those yet.

[Zoid]

Originally posted by Roland
I'd even give the Simpson's a dispense from german grammar.

Yeah, it a b!tch ain´t it?

Luckily enough swedish and german grammar is closely related, so I didn´t have much trouble with it in school But I have managed to forget most of it so I´m thinking of brushing up my german at night school, just for fun...

[Kassiopeia]

German grammar... Do not get me started on that topic. For your own sake. All those exceptions, articles, relations, propositions, conjugations... Aargh! I am studying my second term of German, and it will be the last one for good. That is a promise.

German - the language that convinced me that languages weren't my cup of tea, and that science was for me.