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Emmanuelle, who is French, but who is married to someone from Martinique (and speaks the French Creole of that Island) very kindly supplied some sentences I may well be able to use in Queen of Swords.
So now my question is: what other languages (or varieties of languages) do y'all speak fluently? And, can I ask you questions about those languages?
To get this off to an entertaining start (and to see if it would work) a few sentences that probably require an idiomatic translation. By idiomatic I mean: you can change the word order or use an expression that gets across the idea. So go on, show me what you've got. Please.
1. Don't look at me, I had nothing to do with it.
2. That boy is dumb as a post.
August 8, 2005 11:13 PM
Comments
I speak Dutch fluently (being Dutch and having lived in Holland all my life), and you can certainly ask me any questions you have about the language! I'd be delighted to help.
1. Kijk mij d'r niet op an, ik had er niks mee te maken.
2. Die jongen is geen lampie/niet zo snugger/te dom om voor de duvel te dansen/zo dom als het achtereind van een varken.
Ha! For the second one I could probably come up with about ten more fun idiomatic expressions, but perhaps I should do some work :-)
Posted by: marrije at August 9, 2005 03:25 AM
Mandarin,which is my mother tongue:
1 别看我，我和这事没关系。
2 那男孩笨得像块木头。
=）
Posted by: Leon at August 9, 2005 07:44 AM
oooh, fun. anybody else? please?
Posted by: sara at August 9, 2005 10:15 AM
It's not a different language persay, but a distinctly Australian idiom for 2. would be "He's got a few kangaroos loose in the top paddock".
Posted by: Meredith at August 9, 2005 03:31 PM
I am a native Russian speaker, and you are certainly welcome to ask me questions about it. :-) To translate those two sentenses into Russian:
1) Чего ты на меня-то уставился, я тут непричем. (Or, in English transcription: Chego ty na menya-to ustavilsya, ya tut neprichem.)
2) Этот парень туп, как дуб. (Etot paren' tup, kak dub.) Meaning, this boy is dumb as an oak-tree. :-)
Funnn!
Posted by: Tanya at August 9, 2005 05:29 PM
German was way too long ago, but I do speak fluent Southern.
Don’t be lookin’ at me, Gran’ma, I ain’t done nothin’ about it nohow.
That boy is so slow that you need to sight him with a post to see if’n he moves.
Also, looking at a group of people who have come to lunch: Don’t commence to talkin’ now, you hear. Ya’ll get on in here and set, or I’ll throw dinner out in the yard to the dawgs.
Why, he's nervous as a cat in a room full of rockin' chairs.
There’s more, if you need it!
Posted by: asdfg at August 10, 2005 12:37 PM
Well i personaly am not a fluent speaker of any language but my best friend speaks maori (native to New Zealand) fluently. Sh eowuld be happy to put any dialogue you may want into Maori and i know half of NZ would be pleased to see the Maori culture represented properly. If youread or watch most representations of Maori culture it is so completly off it is insulting.
Maybe there could be a trip to early new zealand huh??? lol
Posted by: Kay at August 11, 2005 01:05 AM
Languages eh? If you've need of either Quebecois French or Mohawk let me know. While not exactly fluent in the second one I could find you what you'd need.
Posted by: tzigane at August 16, 2005 09:30 AM