Minor European Languages

Solly · January 15, 2003, 18:11

I started a Welsh thread but it got spammed.

Languages like Welsh, Gaelic and Basque are apparently growing in popularity, and I might start learning Welsh. You get a pint for going to learn it every Sunday.

Slow - Araf
Ambulance - Ambiwlans
Bridgend - Pen-y-bont
Cardiff - Caerdydd
No smoking - Dim Ysmygy
Football Club - Clwb Pel-droed

Do you know a few words of minor language?

Paul Hanson · January 15, 2003, 18:15

Well, there's one or two words of Dutch I know:

Klootzak - Scrotum
Godverdomme - God be damned
Rot op - Piss off

And it continues in that sort of vein. And it's all because my mum only speaks Dutch when she wants to swear in public.

Lars-E · January 15, 2003, 18:16

How do you define minor language?

orange · January 15, 2003, 18:17

Boddingtons - Troll

Apolytonian

Paul Hanson · January 15, 2003, 18:19

Quote:

Originally posted by Lars-E
How do you define minor language?

Anything other than English, French, Spanish, German and Italian, I would imagine.

Solly · January 15, 2003, 18:20

And Finnish. Let's not get them started!

Lars-E · January 15, 2003, 18:24

Norwegian, Danish, Swedish.

Sandman · January 15, 2003, 18:26

I actually think it's a waste of time for governments to artificially prop up dying languages. I don't see the point.

alva · January 15, 2003, 18:34

Quote:

Originally posted by Paul Hanson
Well, there's one or two words of Dutch I know:

Klootzak - Scrotum
Godverdomme - God be damned

kl**tzak is closer to ash*le

Your right in a literally way, but not how it is used.
The same goes for godverdomme =(god)damned, sh*t,..

Paul Hanson · January 15, 2003, 18:51

Yeah, I'm aware of that. But if I'd translated it like that, then people would be saying "Yes, but literally it means..."

Provost Harrison · January 15, 2003, 19:47

Croeso i Gymru!

Now Stew is going to learn Welsh is he? Talk about a born again taff

Dr Strangelove · January 15, 2003, 20:36

Sooooo...... any Basque speakers show up yet?

Ari Rahikkala · January 15, 2003, 21:06

Quote:

Originally posted by Boddington's
And Finnish. Let's not get them started!

You have earned my blessings

.

Dauphin · January 15, 2003, 21:23

Quote:

Originally posted by Boddington's
I started a Welsh thread but it got spammed.

Languages like Welsh, Gaelic and Basque are apparently growing in popularity, and I might start learning Welsh. You get a pint for going to learn it every Sunday.

Slow - Araf
Ambulance - Ambiwlans
Bridgend - Pen-y-bont
Cardiff - Caerdydd
No smoking - Dim Ysmygy
Football Club - Clwb Pel-droed

Do you know a few words of minor language?

You learn that by looking at signs, not by going to lessons. Try something more adventurous like "Twll dîn pob Sais".

Harovan · January 15, 2003, 21:24

Baszom az anyadat, baszom az istenit, baszom a Krisztusmariat.

Must be something Hungarian. Hell knows what, but they repeat it all the time, when I hear Hungarians talk.

Solly · January 16, 2003, 03:43

OK.

Blwyddyn Newydd dda.

Bas · January 16, 2003, 08:48

Ole hiljaa, paskapäät!

One of the Finnish sentences I still remember. Unfortunately, I forgot pretty much all of my Finnish.

aaglo · January 16, 2003, 08:57

Bas - watch your mouth!

Estonia (English) ~ Finnish (English)

nahkhiir (bat) ~ nahkahiiri (leather mouse)
kummitus (wife) ~ kummitus (ghost)
raamatt (book) ~ raamattu (bible)
ect.ect.ect.

No wonder why estonian sounds funny to finns...

Harovan · January 16, 2003, 08:59

Quote:

Originally posted by aaglo
No wonder why estonian sounds funny to finns...

No wonder why Finnish sounds so weird to the rest of the world!

aaglo · January 16, 2003, 09:20

Quote:

No wonder why Finnish sounds so weird to the rest of the world!

I set up an obvious joke, and you slammed (into) it.

alva · January 16, 2003, 09:37

Quote:

kummitus (wife) ~ kummitus (ghost)

What's the difference?

Quote:

nahkhiir (bat) ~ nahkahiiri (leather mouse)

You have a word for 'leather mouse'...

, what the hell is a leather mouse..???

aaglo · January 16, 2003, 09:41

No, we don't have a word "leather mouse"

The estonian word for bat sounds very much like a leather mouse to us. Actually, a bat is kind of mouse with leather wings.

Harovan · January 16, 2003, 10:01

"Kocham te" should be "I love you" in Polish. Not that I have used it, though.

With "Jedno pivo" you order a beer in Czechia. This phrase I have used a lot.

I both cases I can't guarantee spelling, it's just how it sounds.

aaglo: Sorry to have slammed your joke, I have nothing against Finnish. In fact, it's pretty easy: Take a normal, non-barbarian language, replace all "a" and "e" with "ä" or "ää", double some consonants, especially "k" to "kk" and "t" to "tt", append "i" to every second word, and -voilà - you have almost perfect Finnish

aaglo · January 16, 2003, 10:03

Sir Ralph - that sounds interesting... I want to hear an example

Harovan · January 16, 2003, 10:10

I remember my first days in the IRCnet, somewhere back in the 90s. The channels were flooded with Finns. (Just like Apolyton

). They kept to talk in their language, and espelially often they wrote a phrase like "Onkko täällä suomalaisia?" I'm probably ruining spelling, but that's what I remember. I loved the word "täällä", because it has 3 'ä's and even 2 of them in a row, which never happens in German. I replied several times "täällä", "täällä", and they kept to talk to me Finnish... oh well, hell knows what that means

.

OneFootInTheGrave · January 16, 2003, 10:13

Sir Ralph
"jedno pivo" will get you a beer in Croatia, or in the whole of former Yugoslavia for sure

... and it is spelled correctly (for our languages)

perhaps I would qualify to speak a minor language :excited:

aaglo · January 16, 2003, 10:13

The finnish teenage idiocy comes to life in various places...

BTW, your sentence is almost perfect, the first word should be "Onko"

(if you want to know - which I doubt).

Harovan · January 16, 2003, 10:16

"Onko" is a coffee brand here...

So what does it mean, anyway?

aaglo · January 16, 2003, 10:20

It is a question, like this: "Is this your's?" = "Onko tämä sinun?"

Harovan · January 16, 2003, 10:25

So does "onko täällä suomalaisia" mean something like "are here Finns"? And did I by chance reply "here", "here"? In that case it would be no wonder why they kept to write me things in finnish...