The language thread

What about a thread dedicated to interesting, peculiar, funny or for other reasons postable things about languages? There are a lot of'em and surely there are things worth mentioning. So here it is:

The thread about languages.

Feel free to post the things YOU find the rest of the watch should hear about. But please, no programming languages. Unless it's COBOL, of course.

Here are a few useful phrases thranslated to Norwegian:

"I will not buy this record, it is scratched."
"Jeg vil ikke kjøpe denne platen, den har riper"

"My hovercraft is full of eels."
"Luftputebåten min er fylt med ål"

"Do you want to come back to my place, bouncy bouncy?"
"Vil du bli med meg hjem, hompetitten, hompetatten?"

"I am no longer infected"
"Jeg er ikke lenger infisert"

pibbur who guarantees the watch that these translations are actually completely correct.

Here we go - German:

"I will not buy this record, it is scratched."
"Ich kaufe diese Platte nicht, sie ist verkratzt."

"My hovercraft is full of eels."
"Mein Luftkissenfahrzeug ist voller Aale."

"Do you want to come back to my place, bouncy bouncy?"
"Willst du zurück zu mir nach Hause kommen, Bussibärchen."

"I am no longer infected"
"Ich bin nicht mehr infiziert."

And - Romanian: (some of the words don't have the exact meaning as they do in English, but it's the best I could do).

"I will not buy this record, it is scratched."
"Nu voi cumpăra acest album, este zgâriat."

"My hovercraft is full of eels."
"Hovercraft-ul meu este plin de țipari."

"Do you want to come back to my place, bouncy bouncy?"
"Vrei să vii înapoi la mine, hop hop?" (hilarious … )

"I am no longer infected"
"Nu mai sufăr de infectie."

I love the sound of scratched, zgâriat, verkratzt, riper - like fingernails on plastic

And in Polish:

"I will not buy this record, it is scratched."
"Nie kupię tej płyty, jest zarysowana."

"My hovercraft is full of eels."
"Mój poduszkowiec jest pełen węgorzy."

"Do you want to come back to my place, bouncy bouncy?"
"Chcesz przyjść do mnie do chaty, bara bara?"

"I am no longer infected."
"Już nie jestem zarażony."

"I will not buy this record, it is scratched."
"Ain't buyin' this fucked up album."

"My hovercraft is full of eels."
"Dude, I need more meth."

"Do you want to come back to my place, bouncy bouncy?"
"It'd be OK, we're kissin' cousins."

"I am no longer infected."
"Doctor done patched me up."

(Kentucky Redneck, naturally)

Originally Posted by zahratustra
"My hovercraft is full of eels."
"Mój poduszkowiec jest pełen węgorzy."

Could you spell this out phonetically, please? The guy in the Polish grocery never smiles, and I would like to attempt this.

And - Romanian:..

And in Polish…

What we really need now is a translation into Hungarian.

pibbur who goes into hiding for fear of being hit.

Originally Posted by HiddenX
I love the sound of scratched, zgâriat, verkratzt, riper - like fingernails on plastic

Or a blackboard…

pibbur who covers his ears by the mere thought of it

In Dutch.

"I will not buy this record, it is scratched."
"Ik koop deze plaat niet, er zitten krassen op"

"My hovercraft is full of eels."
"Mijn hovercraft zit vol met aalen"

"Do you want to come back to my place, bouncy bouncy?"
"Zullen we naar mijn huis gaan, wippen?"

"I am no longer infected"
"Ik ben niet meer geïnfecteerd"

I understood most of it, even without the english translation. Finally, those years spent learning German turns out to be useful after all.

Which reminds me:
Every Saturday I solve a crossword in Dagbladet, a Norwegian newspaper. It's big and quite difficult. And the author which calls himself "Hansen" (probably because that is his name) is known for constructing looooong solution words and other weird things.

One of the keys which occurs quite often is "African", 2 letters in the solution. Usually the solution is "Ik", from (I think) "Ik ben Afrikaander" (I am an Afrikaner). Strictly speaking this solution isn't exactly correct. But that's to be expected, that's how his crosswords are, requiring a healthy dose of lateral thinking. And that is why a lot of Norwegians love his work.

Still no hungarians hanging around?

pibbur who once was a "Personcomplaintsdiagnosisprovidingexpert".

Originally Posted by Ripper
Could you spell this out phonetically, please? The guy in the Polish grocery never smiles, and I would like to attempt this.

I could but I have a better idea. Go there https://pl.wiktionary.org/wiki/m%C3%B3j imput exactly each word top right and listen. But are you sure about the choice of the sentence? Maybe he doesn't smile because he is afraid that you are infected or because you haven't invited him to your place bouncy, bouncy?

Originally Posted by zahratustra
I could but I have a better idea. Go there https://pl.wiktionary.org/wiki/m%C3%B3j imput exactly each word top right and listen. But are you sure about the choice of the sentence? Maybe he doesn't smile because he is afraid that you are infected or because you haven't invited him to your place bouncy, bouncy?

Well, he never smiles, and looks like someone who might have served hard time for strangling gorillas, so I must proceed cautiously.

I like the ancient sound of this language:

Some more practical German:

"My back hurts."
"Ich hab Rücken."

"I'd like the fries with ketchup and mayonnaise."
"Einmal Pommes Schranke."

"#sotrue"
"Echt so."

"And then I said 'oh really?' To which he replied 'yes really!'."
"Und ich so 'jetzt echt'? Und er so 'ja echt!'"

How to speak Icelandic using only 3 words

Some 'false friends' in the German & English language

German/English/ correct German term for the English meaning
bald/soon/ bald=kahl
Gift/poison/ gift=Geschenk
Billion/trillion/ (US) billion=Milliarde
Puff/bordello /puff = Hauch
winken/to wave/ to wink = zwinkern
Chef/boss/ chef = Chefkoch
Fabrik/factory/ fabric = Stoff, Gewebe
Hose/pants/ hose = Schlauch
Gymnasium/High School/ gymnasium = Turnhalle
…
here are many more.

Ooh, hope purplebob sees this thread, then we can get another set of translations

Originally Posted by HiddenX
Some 'false friends' in the German & English language

German/English/ correct German term for the English meaning
bald/soon/ bald=kahl
Gift/poison/ gift=Geschenk
Billion/trillion/ (US) billion=Milliarde
Puff/bordello /puff = Hauch
winken/to wave/ to wink = zwinkern
Chef/boss/ chef = Chefkoch
Fabrik/factory/ fabric = Stoff, Gewebe
Hose/pants/ hose = Schlauch
Gymnasium/High School/ gymnasium = Turnhalle
…
here are many more.

These are the ones that I find interesting. The entomology has got to be really screwy.

I think I can explain one of them:
The word gift exists in German in a similar meaning, too.
In the old word Mitgift - the things you give the bride at her wedding - the dowry.
So the word gift comes from to give (= German geben)