Marzocchi705 Posted November 9, 2006 Report Share Posted November 9, 2006 Icelandic! yes please! some basics would be nice also what could be helpfull if you brake tho word down phoneticly so its easyer to learn how to pronouce. Thats pretty much how i learnt French and German. Funny thing is when i was in spain i felt like a complete pillok for the first few days there, just because i couldnt speak any (well next to none) of the language. I now know enough phrases to get by, i just think its a common courtousy to attemp to speak their language when your in their country, they do it when they come to ours. Quote Link to comment
ToneMonkey Posted November 9, 2006 Report Share Posted November 9, 2006 I'm notoriously terrible at languages. Christ, even my English is fairly bad. My bro could speak all the Scandinavian languages and Englishwhen he was a young nipper and my folks were both fluent in Swedish (which was lucky living there), although I think when we moved there, they hadn't even heard Swedish. I was talking to them about Iceland the other day. They're going on a bike trip and were going to call into to Iceland, but it worked out too expensive. They'll be doing nearly all of the Scandinavian countries (except for Finland) and visiting our old house in Sweden, so they'll need to get back in practice. JoJo - less then 2 years now and I'll be over there picking up a funny accent. Better put some beers in the fridge. It's nice seeing all the German, it shows me just how much I've forgotten/couldn't understand in the first place. I spent 4 years studying German and 4 years study French and I just can't get the hang of them. Learn't a bit of Spanish and for some reason that seems to go in a little easier. Although whenever I try to speak Spanish, it ends up a mix between french and spanish (unless ordering 2 large beers, I seem to know that in loads of languages) Quote Link to comment
JoJo T. Magnifficent Posted November 9, 2006 Report Share Posted November 9, 2006 Oh a kiwi.....sorry...can't understand your accent... lol, thats ok. Niether can I as for speaking in other languages, my knowledge is fairly limited to a few sparse catch phrases such as "Madre de dios! Es el Pollo Diablo!", which i believe is spanish for "Mother of God! Its the devil chicken!" (see monkey island 3 for more details and proabably a more correct spelling ) and "Mine Deutsch ist sh*zen" (* was added to avoid getting in trouble, im sure we all know what goes there ). I think it means "my german is s**t", but it could mean "my german has s**t", im not sure about the possesive rules in german. mayb its sposed to be sh*zher? someone please correct me if im wrong. also thats the english spellin, german has those funny B shaped things for the zh sound doesnt it? and ToneMonkey, unless "less than 2 years" means a few mins, the beers wouldnt last till then Quote Link to comment
Primal Posted November 10, 2006 Report Share Posted November 10, 2006 "Mein Deutsch ist Scheiße." My German has s**t would be, "Mein Deutsch hat Scheiße." The ß (pronouced es-tsett) represents "ss." Quote Link to comment
psw Posted November 10, 2006 Report Share Posted November 10, 2006 And I'm now also quite sufficient in translating Australian into English Very funny... I believe icelandic is recognised as the most difficult language to learn...I'd like to know a few phrases, but language is something you do have to hear... I work in a very multicultural environment, lots of european and arabic dialects and various versions of english, australian and kiwi especially... Oddly enough cussing in a foriegn language is a good way to get some basics...have to watch out what people teach you...I gave up on arabic when people explained what it was I was really being taught to say... Instead, I often cuss in a strange spanish that I think i picked up from western movies...people get the meaning and it seems to be the one languge that doesn't offend where I am... Another interesting thing about language is that different cultures will have words and phrases that express things that aren't possible in english, for instance. I bet there are plenty in iceland besides a multitude of words for snow! Sure, fire away... pete Quote Link to comment
aidlook Posted November 10, 2006 Report Share Posted November 10, 2006 And I'm now also quite sufficient in translating Australian into English Very funny... I believe icelandic is recognised as the most difficult language to learn...I'd like to know a few phrases, but language is something you do have to hear... I work in a very multicultural environment, lots of european and arabic dialects and various versions of english, australian and kiwi especially... Oddly enough cussing in a foriegn language is a good way to get some basics...have to watch out what people teach you...I gave up on arabic when people explained what it was I was really being taught to say... Instead, I often cuss in a strange spanish that I think i picked up from western movies...people get the meaning and it seems to be the one languge that doesn't offend where I am... Another interesting thing about language is that different cultures will have words and phrases that express things that aren't possible in english, for instance. I bet there are plenty in iceland besides a multitude of words for snow! Sure, fire away... pete I know we have heaps of words in Swedish that you can't translate into english... it's funny though...because a single word can kinda describe the whole mentality of the people... take the swedish word "lagom" for example.... It's very hard to explain since there's no english word that means the same...but it would be something like "not to much, not to little...but just about enough" and I think it describes the Swedish mentality in a good way...and can be applied to almost any context...Like if your very talented at something...showing of is not very popular ...but you can show of a little...but are expected to be quite humble about it.... Quote Link to comment
ToneMonkey Posted November 10, 2006 Report Share Posted November 10, 2006 aidlook - are you Swedish or a natural English speaker staying over there? I'm guessing that you're actually Swedish, even though your English is better than mine It's strange that in most European countries that I've been to, people generally have a "lagom" of English and another language, but us Brits are generally terrible at foreign languages. Quote Link to comment
psw Posted November 10, 2006 Report Share Posted November 10, 2006 I know we have heaps of words in Swedish that you can't translate into english... it's funny though...because a single word can kinda describe the whole mentality of the people... take the swedish word "lagom" for example.... It's very hard to explain since there's no english word that means the same...but it would be something like "not to much, not to little...but just about enough" Thanks for that, I will add it to my vocabulary...hope I pronounce it right Any more...how about some icelandic...this is great, it's good to know stuff like this when you work with people who often don't speak your language either...a third language,...perhaps we should learn esperanto! cheers pete Quote Link to comment
ToneMonkey Posted November 10, 2006 Report Share Posted November 10, 2006 My name means "and" in esperanto. Spelt the same (Kaj) but I'm not sure how they pronounce it. It also means "food" in Kiwi which is a little worrying, spelt different but pronounced the same (Kai). It also means "chicken" in one of the oriential languages Quote Link to comment
Ben Posted November 10, 2006 Report Share Posted November 10, 2006 My name means "and" in esperanto. Spelt the same (Kaj) but I'm not sure how they pronounce it. It also means "food" in Kiwi which is a little worrying, spelt different but pronounced the same (Kai). It also means "chicken" in one of the oriential languages in mandarin, ben means idiot. My initials (BT) apparantly sound like pervert and my full first name, benjamin, sounds like idiot jasmine tea. /random fact Quote Link to comment
aidlook Posted November 10, 2006 Report Share Posted November 10, 2006 I know we have heaps of words in Swedish that you can't translate into english... it's funny though...because a single word can kinda describe the whole mentality of the people... take the swedish word "lagom" for example.... It's very hard to explain since there's no english word that means the same...but it would be something like "not to much, not to little...but just about enough" Thanks for that, I will add it to my vocabulary...hope I pronounce it right Any more...how about some icelandic...this is great, it's good to know stuff like this when you work with people who often don't speak your language either...a third language,...perhaps we should learn esperanto! cheers pete If you ever go to sweden -and someone asks you how much you want of something...just reply "lagom" [lawgh-ohm] ...it's a pointless word really... Quote Link to comment
Foggy Posted November 10, 2006 Report Share Posted November 10, 2006 'I know we have heaps of words in Swedish that you can't translate into english...' Sounds like Swedish is kinda like 'Glaswegian'..................almost impossible to translate into English! Quote Link to comment
marksound Posted November 10, 2006 Report Share Posted November 10, 2006 I think my name is Glaswegian for "smartass" ... or "dumbass" ... never mind. Quote Link to comment
JoJo T. Magnifficent Posted November 10, 2006 Report Share Posted November 10, 2006 (edited) It also means "food" in Kiwi which is a little worrying, spelt different but pronounced the same (Kai). mmm kai. Gotta be careful though, the language has to be called "Maori" or more specifically: "Te Reo Maori" (pronounced ma-o-ri, it has a macron above the A which i was too lazy to type, said fast so it sounds kinda like mouldy). They can be very sensitive about thier individuality and culture. And cheers Primal for the clarification Edited November 10, 2006 by JoJo T. Magnifficent Quote Link to comment
ToneMonkey Posted November 13, 2006 Report Share Posted November 13, 2006 Tried to write Maori a couple of times, but it just didn't look right. Decided on Kiwi for speed Trust me, last thing I want to do is upset a Maori. It may be a stereotype but I've never met a small one. Quote Link to comment
aidlook Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 aidlook - are you Swedish or a natural English speaker staying over there? I'm guessing that you're actually Swedish, even though your English is better than mine It's strange that in most European countries that I've been to, people generally have a "lagom" of English and another language, but us Brits are generally terrible at foreign languages. I'm Swedish... The thing is that we've been a small country since the early 18th century, and we rely heavily on new inventions and export industries. So in a way we're forced to be good at communicating in foreign language to "survive" as a nation...well maybe not survive, but keep living at this high standard. Also I think it's due to a great system of education where all education is free...even university (I'm studying at one of europe's greatest schools of technology at the moment, and I get paid over 300$US from the government each month to pay for books etc...) Also there's a lot of emphasis put on language studies at young age (although I think they should start teaching english in kindergarten). Another factor is probably, that instead of dubbing films, we put subtitels and keep the original language of the film (except for some films intended for kids since they can't read yet). This has imo a hughe effect, since people constantly hear spoken english, while simultaneously getting it translated into swedish. And of course spare us the agony of watching dubbed films... (i once saw 8 mile translated to german.... ) Quote Link to comment
PunkRockerLuke Posted December 18, 2006 Report Share Posted December 18, 2006 (edited) plus sweden has hot blondes. gone with the wind in german now that is funny Edited December 18, 2006 by PunkRockerLuke Quote Link to comment
Prostheta Posted December 18, 2006 Report Share Posted December 18, 2006 That's a total racial stereotype Luke. If you'd ever been to Sweden, you'd find that women are in general as normal and bland as anywhere else in the world. My wife is Finnish and can speak Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, German and English. Ad you say Aidlook, it's part of the general curriculum as opposed to Nina being a superhuman :-D Translation is funny (apologies in advance to Finnish speakers) especially swearwords like perkele and jumalauta! No direct translation but extremely powerful words in their own language and context. Quote Link to comment
Prostheta Posted December 18, 2006 Report Share Posted December 18, 2006 I speak Swedish, (English), and German (although it's been a while and it's quite rusty)...I'm also able to read and communicate in other nordic languages (except finnish). And I'm now also quite sufficient in translating Australian into English Aidlook, surely you know the loudest Finnish words like vittu and jumalauta? Quote Link to comment
Jester Posted December 18, 2006 Report Share Posted December 18, 2006 Translation is funny (apologies in advance to Finnish speakers) especially swearwords like perkele and jumalauta! No direct translation but extremely powerful words in their own language and context. Indeed. Perkele is probably my most used swearword. Also if you listen to some finnish metal bands you can hear a lot of those! Quote Link to comment
Primal Posted December 18, 2006 Report Share Posted December 18, 2006 According to the almighty wikipedia, "perkele" is the Finnish god of thunder, and was "perverted" by Christian priests, who made it one of the words for Satan. Interesting stuff. Quote Link to comment
aidlook Posted December 18, 2006 Report Share Posted December 18, 2006 I speak Swedish, (English), and German (although it's been a while and it's quite rusty)...I'm also able to read and communicate in other nordic languages (except finnish). And I'm now also quite sufficient in translating Australian into English Aidlook, surely you know the loudest Finnish words like vittu and jumalauta? of course i know vittu..and perkelle... My grandparents speak finnish btw....since they're born far north close to the finnish border. Is pekelle really the god of thunder?...I bet our god of thunder (Thor) would kick your ones ass....allthough it's probably the same guy Quote Link to comment
Jester Posted December 19, 2006 Report Share Posted December 19, 2006 I speak Swedish, (English), and German (although it's been a while and it's quite rusty)...I'm also able to read and communicate in other nordic languages (except finnish). And I'm now also quite sufficient in translating Australian into English Aidlook, surely you know the loudest Finnish words like vittu and jumalauta? of course i know vittu..and perkelle... My grandparents speak finnish btw....since they're born far north close to the finnish border. Is pekelle really the god of thunder?...I bet our god of thunder (Thor) would kick your ones ass....allthough it's probably the same guy Never heard him being called pekelle. In Finland we have Ukko, the god of sky, weather, crops and other natural things. Or he could be a she, Ilmatar, the virgin goddess of the air. Not really sure. Try saying "Ukko perkele!" in a low, menacing way. Or as a sort of battlecry. Sounds like something the good ol' vikings might have said when going into battle! Just the sound of that would make Thor cry and run home. Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Gallen-...f_the_Sampo.jpg Gallen Kallela's The defence of the Sampo. Juha ruokangas (a finnish luthier) inlayed that whole picture into one of his custom carved top 7 string's. Here's a pic: http://www.ruokangas.com/wallpapers/kalevala_1280x1024.jpg Truly amazing piece of work! Quote Link to comment
PunkRockerLuke Posted December 21, 2006 Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 Well Prostetha I'm an anti racism skinhead and I run the Iowa chapter of S.H.A.R.P. so dont go taking my comments and makin em look racist. I just made a simple statement and you think its racist. I've met a swedish blonde and thats why I made the comment. So be quiet and deal with that fact. Quote Link to comment
Jon Posted December 21, 2006 Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 Well Prostetha I'm an anti racism skinhead and I run the Iowa chapter of S.H.A.R.P. so dont go taking my comments and makin em look racist. I just made a simple statement and you think its racist. I've met a swedish blonde and thats why I made the comment. So be quiet and deal with that fact. With all due respect, he called the comment a racial stereotype. He didn't call you a racist. Big difference between the two. Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.