Languages - But how do I say .... in this country?

[natv4]

---=== EDIT 25/04/08: ===---
Useful words and phrases for basic holiday, eating, shopping, getting around situations, for printing off.
You can listen to the phrases spoken, or take a speedy beginners course.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/quickfix
https://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/quickfix
https://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/quickfix

Good for those that don't want to pack lumpy phrase books - nor spend on them.
----=== End of Edit ===----

Well I have been a bit slow in writing up the rest of my trip....but it is coming. Until then I noticed that maybe something we need in the touring section is some info on local greetings, words, etc that may help someone travelling through a country.

Just the basics really, please, thank you, hello, goodbye, cheers (when drinking).

Also, I'm not very sure of correct speelings, so please feel free to correct me, I won't take offence. I have included the spelling (I think) and in square brackets the sounding out of the word.

Here goes nothing:

France
Hello - Bonjour [Bonjoor] (day)
- Bonsoir (night) [bonswar]
Goodbye - Aurevoir [ofwoir]
Yes - Oui [wee]
No - Non [nno]


Czech Republic
Hello - Ahoj [ahoy]
Goodday - Dobre Den [dobry den]
Goodnight - Dobre Notts [dobry notts]


Toasts
Czech Republic, Slovakia - [Salutay]
Poland, Russia - [Nastraviay]
France - Santé! [sontay]
England - Cheers, to your health, bottoms up.

Please add more, I will try to later and add any to this message from replies.

All the best.
____________________
Travelling around the world...a bit at a time. Where am I now? / Visit my BLOG
Bike: Blue Honda VFR800fi (*NEW*) Mileage: 22k Countries visited: GB/F/D/CZ/PL/E/I/B/A/HR/H/Rus/E/MA
West Europe...2004, East Europe...2005, Russia/France...2006, Morocco...2007

[missile]

The only foreign phrase you need to remeber is "Two beer please and make it snappy"

dos cervezas agradan rápidamente

deux bières veulent rapidement

Due birra accomoda rapidamente

Zwei Bier gefällt schnell

Dois cerveja agrada depressa
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Bikes, Beer and Babes, not neccessarily in that order

[stinkwheel]

A mate of mine rode from Edinburgh to Prague on a 1960's BSA Starfire with no charging system.

The ony German he knew was:

Gelb angel. Mein moterrad ist kaput.

Roughly (and gramatically incorrectly): Yellow angels (German AA). My motorbike is broken.

Repeat down emergency telephone on autobahn until someone comes out to tow him somewhere to charge his battery.

[FreshAL]

I have a phrase book from when I went to Prague, I'll dig it out and post the useful bits later on. (posting here to remind me)

Nice new Avtar Stinky

[ROM]

.

[pwntifex]

Can only help for French, can PM me about French-related queries!

Yeah
Ouai [Weh]

Cheers! [Toast, while drinking]
Santé! (Literally, "Health!")

Ordering a meal
If you are at a restaurant, it would sound a bit odd just to say "steak please".
I would like - Je voudrais
I'll have - Je prends

You can also say "Pour moi, le [.......]" (lit. For me, the [....])

I'm sorry, I don't understand.
Desolée, mais je ne comprends pas.

Can you speak more slowly please?
Vous pouvez parler plus lentement, s'il vous plaît?

I don't speak French
Je ne parle pas Français.

Where are..[the toilets]
Où sont..[les toilettes]

Where is..[the bar]
Où est..[le bar]

Do you speak English?
Parlez-vous Anglais?

Have a nice day (only applicable in the morning/early afternoon)
Bonne journée

Have a nice evening/rest of the evening (youll hear this at restaurants)
Bonne fin de soirée

Good night
Bonne nuit

Watch out!
Attention!

Gently!
Doucement!

Sorry
Désolé(e)

I think I have broken my leg
Je crois que je me suis cassé la jambe.

My head hurts
J'ai mal à la tête
...au ventre (stomach)
...au cou (neck)
...au/x pied/s (foot/feet)
...à l'épaule/aux épaules (shoulder/s)
...au/x bras (arm/s)

It hurts
Ca me fait mal

This way
(Venez) Par ici

Quickly!
Vite!
Dépêchez vous/Dépêche-toi! (Less polite, but would be excused in an emergency situation. Literally "Hurry yourself!")
Dégage! (MOVE!)

My friend is hurt
Mon ami est blessé

My motorbike has broken down. Can I use your mobile phone, please?
Ma moto est en panne. Est ce que je peut utiliser votre portable, s'il vous plaît?

As a side note, French motorcyclists generally don't nod - usually they either wave with the left hand, or 'kick' with their left leg, sticking it out from the peg. This can be quite a puzzling action for those not in the know!

Help!!!
Au secours!

In France, they drink halves! So if you ask for a beer, you will almost certainly get a half-pint. You have to ask for a 'large' if you want a pint!
Une grande pression [Kronenbourg] s'il vous plaît.

Of course that's assuming you will drink the lager on tap and not in bottles..

Swearing!
Once the beer's flowing and you feel you need to express yourself a bit..

Merde - Crap! Literally translated as 'shit', but it's not really as strong. Tends to be heard when something goes wrong (ie. you drop your buttered toast)

Putain - F*ck! This is what you would hear from that guy on youtube who cartwheeled his mate's gixxer down the road. Infinitely variable. Rather insulting; 'pute' is a prostitute.

Con/Connard/Connasse - Literally bastard/bitch, comparable to 'w@nker' in English.

Branleur - Literally w@nker, not very widely used.

P.d. - 'Pihdih', lit. pederast, translates loosely to faggot.

Directions
And understanding them

A gauche - On the left
A droite - On the right
Tout droit - Straight on
La deuxième à gauche - Second left
Tournez à droite - Turn right
Prenez la deuxième rue à gauche, puis continuez tout droit pour 500 mètres jusqu'au bout de la rue. - Take the second road on the left, and continue straight for 500 metres to the end of the road.

Being Lost!
And how to find yourself again

Excuse me..
Excusez moi (polite)
Pardon (less so)

Où se trouve [le pub] - Where is [the pub]
Je suis perdu - I am lost
Pouvez-vous me montrer - Can you show me
Pouvez-vous me dire - Can you tell me
Pouvez-vous me donner - Can you give me

If somebody mentions something in conversation - for example when they are giving you directions and they say "turn left by the bank" and you are unsure where the bank is, you can ask:

Où ça? - (Lit. "Where that"?)

Finding Stuff Out
'Cause it's useful

Is there..
Est-ce qu'il ya [le wifi] ici? - Is there [wireless internet] here?
Est-ce que is not necessary when asking questions but it is 'correct'. You could quite easily ask 'Il ya le wifi ici?'.
Vous avez [un bar] - Do you have a bar?

French roads
French roads are split up into 3 main types:
AUTOROUTES (A roads), which are basically motorways. These have tolls and are very long and boring.
ROUTES NATIONALES (N roads), which are like A roads. Tolls are only imposed upon the crossing of structures (such as a bridge or a tunnel)
ROUTES DEPARTMENTALES (D roads), which are the equivalent of B roads. They are 'local' roads. No tolls.

In general, roads in france are very well kempt - much better than ours at home! The surfaces are generally even and are even - none of that red/black/green surfacing we do on our motorways.
Do not be afraid to take the Autoroutes - they are nice roads, and if you are early and not in high season they should be clear.
Of course, if you are on the road at a particularly busy time, you may be stuck at the toll booth for a while.

Emergencies
France does not operate on the same system as us, that is by having 3 seperate emergency services (Fire, Police, Ambulance).
Instead, the French have Police / Regional Police / Pompiers.
The pompiers fulfill the role of Paramedics and Fire crew. It is most likely that you will encounter these should you have an accident, although the ambulance service in France is privatised. Healthcare in France is excellent - just remember to bring your NHI card.
If you need to call the emergency services, the numbers are:

General Emergency 112
Medical Emergency 15
Police Required 17
Fire and Rescue 18

Vous/Tu
It's important to remember that you generally should always use 'vous' to people you don't know - it's polite. You can use 'tu' with people you know well, or to children, and to some extent waiters and such, but the latter is not considered particularly polite.

Will keep this updated.
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the warped one: This is a follow up from the thread 'my willy hurts'

[natv4]

Nice work pwntifex, very informative, I've updated my post to include your toast, but otherwise I'll leave the french to you.

missile, good stuff, but would you mind adding which language each is from, or is the idea just to say them all until said beverage arrives?
____________________
Travelling around the world...a bit at a time. Where am I now? / Visit my BLOG
Bike: Blue Honda VFR800fi (*NEW*) Mileage: 22k Countries visited: GB/F/D/CZ/PL/E/I/B/A/HR/H/Rus/E/MA
West Europe...2004, East Europe...2005, Russia/France...2006, Morocco...2007

[pwntifex]

Thanks nat, much appreciated and glad it's of some use
I can also do a few basics in other languages (not sure how useful they will be though, but its all i know! at least people in norway/netherlands will understand you with swedish..and half of the eastern bloc with russian ):

Swedish
Yes - Ja (yah)
No - Nej (nay)
Hello - Hej (hay)
Thanks - Tack
Please - Use 'thank you' with request
Sorry - Jag är ledsen - (Yahg ay lehsen)
Good Morning - God kväll (goh k-vell)
Good Evening - God morgon (goh morohn)
Good Night - God natt (goh natt)
Goodbye - Hej då (Hay door)
Do you speak English? - Pratar ni engelska?
I don't understand - Jag förstår inte (yahg fehshtoor intah)
I need help - Jag behöver hjälp (yah behoevuh yelp)
Where is/are - Var är (var ehr)

German
Yes - Ja (yah)
No - Nein (nine)
Hello - Hallo (hahloh)
Thank you - Dankeschön (dankershern)
Thanks - Danke (danker)
Please - Bitte (bittuh)
I'm sorry - Es tut mir leid (ehs toot meer light)
Good Morning - Guten Morgen (gootuhn mohrgun)
Good Evening - Guten Abend (gootuhn ahbent)
Good Night - Gute Nacht (gootuh nakt)
Goodbye - Auf wiedersehen (Owf veedursayuhn)
Do you speak English? - Sprechen Sie Englisch? (Shpreken zee ennglish)
I don't understand - Ich verstehe nicht (ish fershtayuh nihkt)
I need help - Ich brauche Hilfe (ish browhuh hillfuh)
Where is - Wo ist (Voh ihst)
Where are - Wo sind (Voh sihnd)

Russian (Romanised, I dont think anyone should have much trouble with pronunciation)
Yes - Da
No - Nyet
Hello - Privyet
Thank you - Spasibo
Sorry - Prostitye
Good Morning - Dobroye utro
Good Evening - Dobriy vyechyer
Good Night - Spokoinoi nochee
Goodbye - Do svidaniya
Do you speak English? - Vi govoritye po-angliyski?
I don't understand - Ya nye ponimau
I need help - Mne nuzhna vasha pomosh
Where is - Gdye ...

Also remember that Russian has no articles, so 'where is the pub' would translate directly to 'Gdye pab' / 'where pub'. Likewise, 'I am Welsh' would be 'Ya Uelsh' / 'I welsh'.

Generally speaking, a lot of amenities tend to share the same names in Russian as the ones we use for them. Here's a little list of useful vocab anyhow, written in Cyrillic so you can spot them and Romanised for pronunciation:

EDIT: OK, so the forum doesn't display cyrillic characters, so I just made a big image.

I probably missed a bunch out, but that'll be enough to get you by when you arrive I should think.
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the warped one: This is a follow up from the thread 'my willy hurts'

[Keen]

A few extra french bits:

de rien- you're welcome (kind of like 'it's nothing')

c'est pas grave- kind of like 'its not a problem', literally a bit like 'its not serious', but you use it kind of like 'oh its ok, dont worry about it'.

oui- yes... but in the south of France they have an accent, so they don't say 'wee', they pronounce it more like 'way'. EDIT: actually I'm wrong, just found out the other night (after nearly 2 years in France!) that saying 'way' is like saying 'yeah', yes is still 'wee' even here, just everyone says 'way' all the time (confused? I am)

french biking etiquette: nods are uncommon, usually people give a little wave with the left hand (barely moving it from the bar) or give a little peace sign (quite usual). French car drivers frequently move over to the side to leave you room to pass, if they do, you say thank you by extending the right leg as you overtake.

seen as how french has already been covered, I can help with a little basic spanish (I'm learning):

hola- hello
que tal?- how are you?/whats up? (informal)
bien, y tu?- good, and you?
como estas?- how are you? (more formal)

si- yes
no- no

por favor- please
gracias- thank you
de nada- you're welcome (it's nothing)
lo siento- I'm sorry

salud/ chin chin- both ways of toasting drinks/ saying cheers

donde esta (el bar)- where is (the bar)

me llamo es... - my name is... (llamo is pronounced 'yamo')

quiero... - I want/I would like...

cerveza- beer
vino blanco- white wine
vino tinto- red wine
agua- water

tengo- I have
quiero (una cerveza) por favor- I'd like (a beer) please

no entiendo- I don't understand
no se- I dont know
no hablo espanyol (phonetic)- I dont speak spanish
soy ingles- I'm english

joder!- pronounced 'hothere', means fuck!
mierda- shit

tengo una puta resaca- i have a bad hangover (puta is whore, so puta resaca is like a whore of a hangover ).
____________________
"he who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man"- Dr. Johnson

[natv4]

Thats exactly what I was looking for guys. Tres bien.
____________________
Travelling around the world...a bit at a time. Where am I now? / Visit my BLOG
Bike: Blue Honda VFR800fi (*NEW*) Mileage: 22k Countries visited: GB/F/D/CZ/PL/E/I/B/A/HR/H/Rus/E/MA
West Europe...2004, East Europe...2005, Russia/France...2006, Morocco...2007

[Zafyr]

[pwntifex]

Yes, the Danish and the Norwegians will understand most of what you say if you speak Swedish, and vice versa.
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the warped one: This is a follow up from the thread 'my willy hurts'

[quik_d]

more spanish

Habla ingles? (Do you speak english)

pardoneme (excuse me)

derecha (right)

izquierda (left)

no comprende (don't understand)

The o's in words is like the o in hockey, not like the o in oh dear

Double LL in a word is pronounced as a Y as in me llamo (yamo)

J's in a word is kinda spat out

if that makes sense?
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LOOK AT DAT M8 WELL LUSH A PARROT INT IT

[greatmoorred]

In spain you will probably need

Mas despacio por favor, mi habla un poco espanol
Which means (speak) more slowly please, i only speak a little spanish.
When those guys get going you might as well eat your phrase book, its like a machine gun.

[Keen]

[greatmoorred]

You're quite right
Its been a few years since nightschool.
how about "vamos cabron" before leaving a huge trail of smoke as you scream off into the distance.

[Jack Black]

You forgot Belgium.
Why ?

2 bears
2 pintjes

So if want to now something in dutch ask me

[pwntifex]

Went back and romanised the Russian, for the sake of easy pronunciation.
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the warped one: This is a follow up from the thread 'my willy hurts'

[krebsy]

check out the lonely planet guide books.

Includes such gems as:

"Harder"
"faster"
"slower" etc.

and

"don't worry, I'll do it myself."

under the "relationships" section.....

K.
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What's my New Year's resolution?

1280 x 1024.

[niff5855]

Mandarin Chinese.

Hello - Ni Hao (Knee How)

Cheers - Gun bai (Gun bay)

I want a beer, cold - Wo you pegou, binder. (Woh yow peugeot, binder).
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Live fast - die....erm...well...old !!!

[Louise]

Greece


Ma - la - ka

Wanker

Or even worse just put you hand in there face - concidered the worse insult - gives the 'bad eye'

[fle]

Slovenian:
Hello - Dober dan (day) (leterally)
hello2 - dobere večer (evening) (dober vecher)
Beer - pivo
large beer - veliko pivo
beer for all (if u travel with friends:) - runda piva
Cheers - Na zdravje/čin

Italian: (same words):
Buon giorno
Buona sera
Birra
Birra grande
Birra pet tutti
Salute



Russian:
Kuriš huy - Suck my dick
____________________
bite the dust

[rangoon]

Sory Fle but you are wrong about the suck my dick phrase, you are saying smoke my dick. Suck my dick in Russian is "sosi khui". I lived in Moscow before so I used this phrase a lot

[Shay HTFC]

smoke my dick lol. Thats even better

I would love to see some KGB's face after I ask him to have a long slow drag on my dick LOL

[rangoon]

The words blue,black and beaten come to mind. Those KGB guys are not renowned for their humor