The Official Language Thread II

[Elanor]

Earniel, have you ever listened to K3? I have one of their CD's, and it's pretty funny. "Wij sturen de papa's en mama's allemaal weer naar school toe." I suppose they're more for little kids, but that makes them just right for my level of Dutch comprehension... They're Flemish, aren't they? I wish I could get more Dutch CD's over here. I have a Marco Borsato one and a CD by De Kast that someone gave me.

[Earniel]

Oh yes, I know K3. They regularly play it on the radio. And yes, they're mainly geared at children, but they're very good at it, and quite popular. I can't say I'm much of a fan of them, but they do have very catchy tunes. K3 is indeed Flemish, Marco Borsato is from the Netherlands (again, I'm not much of fan, too much yelling and not enough singing to my taste). I don't think I ever heard from De Kast, though...

I'm surprised you can already find those CD's at your place. Ever came across a CD from Clouseau? They're quite 'big' over here, and somewhat one of the few bands of which I reckon they're big enough to export CD's outside of Belgium.

[Jonathan]

Wow, I just read that the Swedish pronunciation of the vocal "u" only exists in Sweden and Norway. I had no idea. Not that it's so much different from "u" in other languages anyway...

Originally Posted by Eärniel

(Although - naturally - I get rather pissed when they then start using my country's name as a swear word or making wild, unchecked accusations about it.)

From the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The reason the Earth has been shunned for so long is also due to a language problem. On Earth, Belgium refers to a small country. Throughout the rest of the galaxy, Belgium is the most unspeakably rude word there is.

I guess all you can do is laugh, eh Eärniel?
Belgium is not the only country subjected to jokes and stuff. In Sweden for instance, we call it a "Polish parliament" when a meeting or gathering of people turns into chaos

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

I guess all you can do is laugh, eh Eärniel?

That or to continue thinking that whoever editted that version (since I believe it is only in the American version) was very, very, gobsmacking stupid.

Originally Posted by Jonathan

In Sweden for instance, we call it a "Polish parliament" when a meeting or gathering of people turns into chaos

Reminds me of the expression "to go Dutch" in English when you split a bill between everyone.

[Elanor]

Yeah, all those terms are pretty meaningless when you look at what the country in question is really like. Sometimes there are funny or odd stories behind them though.

I got all my Dutch cd's in the Netherlands when I lived there. I don't think it's even possible to get them here, unless I ordered them on the internet and paid a ton for shipping. I'd really like to get some DVD's but they probably wouldn't even work on my DVD player.

[littleadanel]

I thought I'd bump this thread back to life, it seemed the appropriate place for my request.

I used to learn German, back in elementary school, but I have forgotten much... and dictionaries are not everything, I did look up the words but still have difficulties understanding this sentence:

"Und wir, die an steigendes Glück denken, empfänden die Rührung die uns beinah bestürtzt, wenn ein Glückliches fällt."

Any mooters out there who can help me with the translation?

[Forfirith]

I'm very surprised to see the number of Dutch people in here... I also live in Belgium..but I don't speak dutch. In fact I'm french and spanish not belgian. lol. Does somebody speak spanish ?

littleadanel > I would like to help you but my German is so bad, I even can't understand the sentence...

[Earniel]

Pity, I'd almost yelled "Fellow countryman! Wheee!" My French is okay, but my Spanish is very rudimentary.

Littleadanel, my German isn't grand and even with help of a dictionary I can't really make head or tail of it. This is the closest I can get.

"Und wir, (And we) die an steigendes Glück denken (who think of rising/climbing luck), empfänden die Rührung (found the emotion)die uns beinah bestrürtzt (that almost startles/frightens us), wenn ein Glückliches fällt. (when one luckily decides/fells)"

[Serenoli]

This is all Greek to me ... so here's my untranslateable revenge :

Ki bolle? Abar bolo, jore jore bolo, kichchui to bujhlam na! kire kuddus mia, amon bhabe mukh baka kore kothao ken? Thik moito baat koro.

[Earniel]

And what language is that?

[littleadanel]

Eärniel, thanks now I have a better understanding of it... all I could identify on my own was the "and we" at the beginning, and I guessed the last part as "when a lucky one falls". Isn't "ein Glückliches" a noun, meaning a lucky person? Anyway - so it's about rise and fall, about luck. Now I can understand its relevance - it was in a book, like a motto, but the sentence itself was divided, like [on the beginning page] "Und wir, die an steigendes Glück... [couple of chapters follow] ... denken, empfänden die Rührung ... [again some chapters later] ... die uns beinah bestürtzt, ... [and on the very last page:] ... wenn ein Glückliches fällt." As the life of the characters changes, maybe...

Serenoli, that sentence of yours is intriguing! I second Eärniel's question: what language is it? Maybe you could give us some clues to its meaning, then letting us try and make out the other parts? My tiny little first attempt: do "bolle" and "bolo" have some connection? Or just randomly look somewhat alike?

Gee, another weirdness of me Totally unknown, therefore untranslatable, things intrigue me. Could you give some hints?

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by littleadanel

and I guessed the last part as "when a lucky one falls".

That was my first thought to, but 'to fall' is the German 'fallen' while 'fällen' was 'to decide' or 'to fell', according to my dictionary. I can't for the life of me remember if the conjugation of 'fallen' uses an 'ä' somewhere so I thought it better to play safe and go with 'fällen'.

Isn't "ein Glückliches" a noun, meaning a lucky person?

It would make sense, doesn't it? Especially since the Dutch variant is very similar but my dictionary drew a blank and for a moment it seems I forgot my dictionary doesn't know everything... 'Glucklich' means 'lucky' as in anycase. So yeah, you're probably right on that one. Seems to make more sense too.

die uns beinah bestrürtzt, ...

You might want to check whether it really says 'bestrurtzt' or 'besturtzt' because it's 'besturtzen' that means 'to fighten' or 'to startle'. Neither my dictionary or me know 'bestrurtzen' and my tongue has difficulty even pronouncing it. Then again, neither my tongue or my dictionary know everything. But it could change the meaning of the sentence.

[littleadanel]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

That was my first thought to, but 'to fall' is the German 'fallen' while 'fällen' was 'to decide' or 'to fell', according to my dictionary. I can't for the life of me remember if the conjugation of 'fallen' uses an 'ä' somewhere so I thought it better to play safe and go with 'fällen'.

I went through the dictionary's appendices and there was a list of irregular verbs, and yes, "fällt" is "falls". That one's solved, and...

Originally Posted by Eärniel

You might want to check whether it really says 'bestrurtzt' or 'besturtzt' because it's 'besturtzen' that means 'to fighten' or 'to startle'. Neither my dictionary or me know 'bestrurtzen' and my tongue has difficulty even pronouncing it. Then again, neither my tongue or my dictionary know everything. But it could change the meaning of the sentence.

... yes, it's "bestürzen", "to startle". No bestru... bestrütz... anyway , not in the dictionary. ('Tis only a middle-sized one, not the huge type I have for English, but still.) So I'm pretty sure it's "to startle".

EDIT: aaargh! *headdesk* I mislead you... by a typo. No bestrür-whatever. Typo. I'll go to upper post and fix it. *hides *

Thanks again

[littleadanel]

####

Bump.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by littleadanel

EDIT: aaargh! *headdesk* I mislead you... by a typo. No bestrür-whatever. Typo. I'll go to upper post and fix it. *hides *

Heheh, no worries. I wasn't misled much. I at first thought it was a typo, it was only when you typed it the same way twice that I thought of pointing it out.

[littleadanel]

... and that was because I didn't notice it in the first place, and then just copy-pasted the sentence instead of retyping. *grins*

[Serenoli]

Originally Posted by littleadanel

Serenoli, that sentence of yours is intriguing! I second Eärniel's question: what language is it? Maybe you could give us some clues to its meaning, then letting us try and make out the other parts? My tiny little first attempt: do "bolle" and "bolo" have some connection? Or just randomly look somewhat alike?

Gee, another weirdness of me Totally unknown, therefore untranslatable, things intrigue me. Could you give some hints?

Tell you what language it is? Ah, that would be telling!! Yes, littleadanel, 'bolle' and 'bolo' are indeed connected, the first is the past tense and the second the present tense for the same word- and it means 'to speak'. Hints, well, its something I said to all the mooters here. Nothing much, really. Oh, and disregard completely the 'Kuddus mia', it is just a funny way to address someone.

[Grey_Wolf]

Hvivomr, dszg'h z hgizmtv ozmtfztv

[Serenoli]

Thanks for the hint, GW !

So, it reads "Serenoli, what's a strange language"

Here's an answer:

wlm'g gvoo zmblmv, yfg rgh yzmtoz.

[littleadanel]

Originally Posted by Serenoli

Tell you what language it is? Ah, that would be telling!! Yes, littleadanel, 'bolle' and 'bolo' are indeed connected, the first is the past tense and the second the present tense for the same word- and it means 'to speak'. Hints, well, its something I said to all the mooters here. Nothing much, really. Oh, and disregard completely the 'Kuddus mia', it is just a funny way to address someone.

Then 'kore' and 'koro - the same case? And to continue the random guessing, 'Ki' at the beginning - does it mean 'who'? Or... is it a pronoun? (would be fun if it meant 'who'... 'cause it means 'who' in Hungarian...)