The Official Languages Thread

[Jonathan]

Moi, je viens de quitter l'École Française de Stockholm. LÃ*, j'ai étudié le Français pendant 12 ans.

originally posted by the Anti-French JD
Hey - you're supposed to be studying your french for your exam

Mais oui! Je suis en train!

[Lalaith]

Originally posted by Falagar
Yo tambien! No hablo Español bien, y ahora cuando la escuela es terminando entonces no practico muy.

Hope that made sense.

Mi problema es que no tengo la oportunidad para practicar mi español.
Pero en el proximo verano voy a ir a España.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Jonathan
Mais oui! Je suis en train!

I'm not anti-french - just don't particularly like many of them at the moment.

[Earniel]

Originally posted by Jonathan
une des plus belles langues du monde

C'est vrai, mais je pense que beaucoup des langues sont belles, chanqu'un avec sa propre caracthère.

[Grey_Wolf]

There was this commercial on Swedish tv3 where a woman was to buy a specific detergent on which bottle there was a ball in which you were supposed to pour the detergent, anyway her comment was upon seing the ball the following:

Den där fånbollen! Det kan man väl inte använda.

(That silly ball, is it of any use?)

I've even translated the term into French:

Balle de bête

[Falagar]

Originally posted by Lalaith
Mi problema es que no tengo la oportunidad para practicar mi español.
Pero en el proximo verano voy a ir a España.

Ah, tienes suerte! Yo quiero viajar a España tambien, pero no tengo tiempo o dinero...

Originally posted by Starr Polish
Comprendo.

Hurrah!

[Lalaith]

Originally posted by Falagar
Ah, tienes suerte! Yo quiero viajar a España tambien, pero no tengo tiempo o dinero...

Tiempo y dinero han sido mi problema todo el tiempo.
Pero tuve suerte y recibe dinero para vajar a España.

[Jonathan]

Yay, I'm going to Holland next month. Any Dutch phrases I should know? What's the word for restaurant bill? How do you say "thank you", "you're welcome" and "where's the bathroom?".
Eärniel, please help!

[Mercutio]

I was just going to ask who here lives in the Netherlands. My dad is leaving Tuesday to go there; he will be somewhere in the country at a friends house and then lecturing at the University in...Enschada (spelling?).

[Giroth]

I only speak english... But sometime when I have the time, I want to learn spanish and japanese.

[Jonathan]

Originally posted by Mercutio
I was just going to ask who here lives in the Netherlands. My dad is leaving Tuesday to go there; he will be somewhere in the country at a friends house and then lecturing at the University in...Enschada (spelling?).

Enschede . I don't know if there are any mooters from the Netherlands but Eärniel is from the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium.

[Earniel]

Originally posted by Jonathan
Yay, I'm going to Holland next month. Any Dutch phrases I should know? What's the word for restaurant bill? How do you say "thank you", "you're welcome" and "where's the bathroom?".
Eärniel, please help!

Bill is "rekening". Restaurant is identical in Dutch. Thank you is "dank u" in the polite form and "dank je" in the casual one. You can also say "bedankt" which literally would mean "thanked". Where's the bathroom would be (assuming you're looking for the toilet and not the whole bathroom) "Waar is de WC?" of "Waar is het toilet?"

Anything else?

Originally posted by Mercutio
I was just going to ask who here lives in the Netherlands. My dad is leaving Tuesday to go there; he will be somewhere in the country at a friends house and then lecturing at the University in...Enschada (spelling?).

Alas, there is no Hollandish mooter that I know of, but can a Belgian one be of assistance?

Enschede, I know the name from the news (there was a terrible accident in a firework factory a few years back) but I didn't know they had a university there. Never been there, though.

[Jonathan]

Originally posted by Eärniel
Bill is "rekening". Restaurant is identical in Dutch. Thank you is "dank u" in the polite form and "dank je" in the casual one. You can also say "bedankt" which literally would mean "thanked". Where's the bathroom would be (assuming you're looking for the toilet and not the whole bathroom) "Waar is de WC?" of "Waar is het toilet?"

Anything else?

Well yeah - how am I supposed to pronounce all that? . Oh, I'll just pronounce the words as if they were Swedish. Dutch isn't that different from Swedish anyway.
(but how is WC pronounced? 'we-ce'?)
Dank je

Originally posted by Eärniel
Enschede, I know the name from the news (there was a terrible accident in a firework factory a few years back)

Yes, that's why I remember the name too . I heard about it when watching the Eurovision Song Contest - because of the accident, they had to let a jury vote instead of the Dutch people

[Jonathan]

A few days ago we made an excursion to Fredriksten, Norway (to visit the famous fort where the Swedish king Karl XII was shot in 1718). At some café, we met a Norwegian guy with whom we talked about lots of stuff. He had had a job in Stockholm, so he carefully picked Norwegian words that he knew exist in the Swedish language, so we could understand each other perfectly well. I even practised some of my Norwegian that I've picked up when watching Norwegian television .

Um, so that was cool. I got to hear and speak Norwegian, you other language lovers didn't


And how do you say "hi" and stuff in Dutch? Does anyone know if the Dutch dub their movies or if they use subtitles?

[Linaewen]

Originally posted by Jonathan
Um, so that was cool. I got to hear and speak Norwegian, you other language lovers didn't

I think you know what I'd say here. Something along the lines of 'You suck'.

And how do you say "hi" and stuff in Dutch? Does anyone know if the Dutch dub their movies or if they use subtitles?

I believe 'Hi' is 'Hoi' or 'Hallo', at least, that's how I've been using them.

What kind of "stuff" do you want?

Lai, could I get a translation of this please?

Und ich kämpf mich durch die Nacht
Hab keine Ahnung was du mit mir machst
Ich krieg dich nich aus meinem Kopf und dabei will ich doch

[Jonathan]

I'm in the Netherlands, and I don't understand much of what they say . My friend does though, but he's studied German and stuff so I guess it's easier for him. I do however understand a lot of the written Dutch - their words look like twisted Swedish words .
The Dutch guy at whose place we're staying at recommends that I watch Dutch news. I guess that way, I will have picked up some of the language by the end of my stay.

[Nerdanel]

Sounds really good Jon!

Have a really good time down there! Glad you had time to stop by here!

[Grey_Wolf]

In the Cotswolds, England there lies a pretty village called Upper Slaughter.

[Lalaith]

Hehehe, soon I'll be in Sweden.

Any important words or sentences I should know?

The same for Finland.

[Grey_Wolf]

Originally posted by Lalaith
Hehehe, soon I'll be in Sweden.

Any important words or sentences I should know?

The same for Finland.

Hej! for example, which means Hi!

God Dag = How do you do

Hur går jag till... = How do I get to.... eller
Var finns.... = Where is/are...

and then there is this site for tourists:

http://www.sverigeturism.se/smorgasbord/index.html

and for finland:

http://www.hel.fi/english/index.html