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

[Dom1981]

[Gone]

If anyone thinks they might become sufficiently lost to find themselves in Finland, I'll sort out some basic survival phrases for them, but petrol is almost always paid for at the pump by bank/credit card (or cash - euros), and most people understand English to some extent.

I got by for years with little more than 'kiitos' (pron: key-toss) which means thank you.

[Half Baked Henry]

Great thread. My first time on a bike was a trip to Kazakhstan. I went solo and through 22 countries so had a lot of language barriers. There were a few phrases I got translated at each border:

Pleasantries, hello, goodbye, please and thanks and
"I'm sorry officer, there's an on the spot fine for that offence in my country"
Luckily I only got in trouble with baksheesh hunting cops twice out of about 130 stops, and twice I got bought lunch so it worked out pretty even!

I found that people appreciate sign language a lot more than English, esp. in central asia where Russian is the common second language that everyone knows. In eastern europe some German will cover you in most countries and in the Balkans, as previously mentioned, english was widespread.
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Prepping to race a honda innova delivery bike across the Sahara, get in!!

[turkish2011]

Hi

Anyone travelling through Turkey will be pleased to know English is pretty widespread, including most of the roadsigns and a lot of Turkish words look familair, doesn't need a degree to work out what they mean.
Getting fuel, food and drink and a place to stay for the night is pretty straightforward with even limited use of the local language, most small phrase-books will cover most situations. I find the local books that teach the locals English are the most helpful as they have pronunciation pointers as well as the obvious translation. And in case I haven't mentioned it before the roads are good and open with excellent surfaces and no speed cameras, plus there are early warning signs for radar traps!
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Life is not about how many breaths you take but how many times it takes your breath away

[ruck bodgers]

malaki ilong mo . means you have a big nose in pinoy / filipino

[dan_flash]

Let's wake this thread up, seeing as we're coming into spring.

Being German, with a Polish Girlfriend, living in England, I'm gonna do something slightly different.

Pronunciation. With maybe a few examples.
That way, when you get a dictionary or phrase book out, or need to read signs or local print or anything, you could at least be understood by people should the need arise.
All pronunciations translated to English, obviously.


German

Generally consistent, few things to watch out for.

W = v
Z = ts
ß = ss (sharp s, less common in colloquial talk though as more and more people just put 'ss' instead)
I = either i or ee, either would be understood
U = oo
R = back of the throat 'err', can get away with a Scott's/trilled rr though
E = ehh
G = hard g
J = y

So;
Bitte (please) could be BEE-TEH.
Kunst (art... the English always assume it means something else...!) could be KOO-NST.
Erdinger (nice brand of beer) could be ERR-DEEN-GER.

Umlaut. Other languages, particularly Nordic, use the Umlaut as well. It's the 2 little dots above a vowel which changes the sound, although in German we only use it above A, O or U.

Best way to describe it - imagine pronouncing those vowels but with an E in it aswell.

Ä ä = could get away with 'eh'.
Ö ö = could get away with 'oo'
Ü ü = a fucking nightmare to describe. Could maybe get away with 'urr' sound.

So;

ängste (fear, plural) could be EHNG-STE
hören (listen, verb) could be HOOR-REN
müller (brand of rice pudding / good German football player) could be MURR-LER.

(They aint 100% but will make you just about understood. If anyone else has a better way of translating them into written English, then please pitch in...)

Groupings. Common in nigh every language - 2 or more letters lumped together to make a different sound.

*If S comes before a P or a T, it gets pronounced as SH.
Spiegel (mirror) could be SHPEE-GEL
Stehen (verb, to stand) could be SHTEH-HEN

*SCH together makes a SH sound as well.
Flasch (bottle) could be FLASH
Fleisch (meat) could be FLY-SH

*EI makes a EYE sound
Drei (number 3) could be DRRY
Polizei (police, [important...!]) could be POL-EE-TSEYE

*IE makes a harsher EEE sound
Bier (!!!) could, naturally, be BEER
Vier (number 4) could be FEER

*CH makes a harsh sound, heard in the Scottish dialect for words like Loch. However, could get away with just pronouncing it hard like a CK sound.
Hoch (high) could be HOCK
Ich (I, me) could be EECK

Think that covers the most important pronunciation things. Best thing to do - grab some German literature and have a practice, even if you can't understand what the words mean.

It's also worth noting, as we may all know by now, that the main German-speaking countries have amazing roads. A grasp of pronunciation may well go far in the Austrian alps, the German black forest, etc...
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Yamaha XJ600S, Volvo v40.

[dan_flash]

Gonna have another quick go now with Polish pronunciation.

Disclaimer - my Polish is still quite basic, and I may miss a few important things... Please don't flip out with a "co to kurwa jest!?!?" if I get something wrong or miss something...!


Polish

A very consistent language. How it looks on paper is how it sounds out loud.
However, there are a dew googlies in there with regards to foreign characters.

Firstly, the little squiggle that you sometimes see under an A or an E makes it a nasal sound. Best way I can describe it is like trying to pronounce L, N and W all at the exact same time - although that's still quite far from accurate.
If it's a skull fuck, just be lazy (as many Polish people do!) and treat the squiggle as if it just adds an N after the vowel).

A a is pronounced AH
Ą ą (notice the squiggle) is pronounced O{LNW}

Polką (a Polish female) could be POL-KO{LNW}
Porządku (OK, fine, satisfactory) could be POSH-O{LNW}D-KOO

E e is pronounced EH
Ę ę (notice the squiggle) is pronounced E{LNW}

Dziękuję (thank you) could be JE{LNW}-KOO-YE{LNW}
Jak się masz? (how are you?) could be YAK SHYE{LNW} MASH?

Now the Ł ł. Looks like L but has a line through it. That makes it sound like W.
Ładny (nice, pretty) could be WAD-NIH
Łóżko (bed) could be WOO-SHKOH

Other letters will be pronounced similarly to other languages.
(example)
W = v
C= ts
U = oo
I = ee
Z = z (same as English)
R = trilled/Scotts rr
CH and H = harsh Scotts loch, little bit towards back of throat
Y = i as it sounds in English (BIN, SIT, etc)

IMPORTANT
There aint too many groupings to worry about, the main ones being;

N, C, Z and S are softened if they're immediately followed by an I.
Nie (no) could be NYEH
Cie (for you, informal, one of the cases) could be CHYEH
Się (flexible word for 'self') could be SHYE{LNW}
Buzi (kiss) could be BOO-SHEE

RZ = a slightly softer SH sound
Zgorzelec (German/Polish border city) could be ZGO-SHE-LETS

SZ = a harsher SH sound
Proszę (please) could be PRO-SHE{LNW}

CZ = a harsher CH sound
Czarny (the colour black) could be CHARR-NIH

Ć ć = a slightly-less-harsher-sounding CH sound...
Ś ś = a slightly-less-harsher-sounding SH sound...
Cześć (hi) could be CHE-SH-CH

Ź ź = an-even-slightly-less-harsher-sounding SH sound...
Ż ż = an-even-slightly-less-harsher-sounding SH sound...
Żywiec (a fine brand of beer) could be SHI-VYETS

Ó ó = basically, OO (sounds very very similar to U in Polish)
Mówić (verb, to speak/talk) = MOO-VEECH

Ń ń = largely redundant and hard to hear in conversation. Basically a softened N sound, like you hear at the start of 'knew' or the n in 'bank'.
Dzień dobry (hello, greetings, good day) could be DJYEN DOBRIH

And if it all just gets too much, then flag down a passer-by and say 'Proszę mi pomóc' (please help me - PROSHE{LNW} MEE POMOOTS.
Or drown your aching head in Piwo (beer - PEE-VO)
____________________
Yamaha XJ600S, Volvo v40.

[moroccos]

hELLO,
A team of professionals with extensive experience in tourism field, offers Morocco tours and Sahara desert trips by air- conditioned 4x4 and minibus, throughout the deep South of Morocco.

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[lazyrideruk]

All very helpful. So you can now ask a few specific questions in various languages. Will you understand the answers? No!

Over he past 30 years I have done many thousands of miles visited every European country on my bike, by myself, including Turkey. Some many times. Sure I have picked up a few words of greeting, but that is all. To all extent when abroad I am illiterate and dumb!

You must remember, under normal circumstances, the person you are addressing will already have a good idea of what you are about to ask. Be it a shop, restaurant, hotel, bar petrol station, people entering these places do so for a very limited number of reasons, so, in most cases your requests will already be anticipated.

Go into a hotel and try to buy a 10mm ring spanner and you will be buggered, regardless of how well you speak he language!

Learn body and sign language – much of it is international. Carry pencil so you can make little drawings. In most cases you will be the customer, looking to spend money, people like to help you spend your money.

If you are going to spend any length of time in a country, get a little dictionary that has English/Foreign language - some quite good conversations can be had by passing the dictionary between those having the discussion.

What ever, remember to be polite and patient , and remember it is you that is the illiterate

[bikersupermot...]

[Derek1943]

[Bunny Lingus]

Swahili.
Halo. - Hello.
Kwa heri. - Goodbye.
Habari za asubuhi/kutwa/jioni. - Good morning/afternoon/evening.
Hujambo? - How are you?
Sijambo, ahsante. - I'm very well, thank you.
Tafadhali, ongea pole pole. - Please, speak slowly.
Ninakufahamu. - I understand you.
Sikufahamu. - I don't understand you.
Mwandiki, kahawa maji bia. - Waiter, some more beer.

1,2,3,4,5,
6,7,8,9,10.
Moja, Mbili, Tatu, Nne, Tano,
Sita, Saba, Nane, Tisa, Kumi.

Hatari. - Danger.
Angalia ngazi. - Watch your step.
Boma ya polisi. - Police station.
Daktari. - Doctor.
Ajali. - Accident.

Mayai, haragwe, viazi, bekon, chai. - Egg, beans, potatoes, bacon, tea.
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Bunny Lingus & The Flipside Faggots

[rawdred]

Flemish...?
I'll never forget the first time I got lost on the way back to UK when I went into Belgium to cut down on toll and fuel costs.
Well, my Satnav decided to give up on me and I got turned around at a circle, so I stopped at a gas station when I saw 2 bikers.
I thought they might help.
I approached them and waved hello and I explained what happened and asked if they knew how to get to the ferry.

Bless them, because while they might have known what I asked, I didn't have A CLUE what they were saying.
All the time they where talking I was nodding and smiling, thinking:
"I AM SO FUCKED"

[hiranjgarbh]

this topic is fo funny I like it!
Greetings, Hiranjgarbh Anthony Missier Baker

[adriansk]

[Gone but not forgotten]

Northern English translated into Queens' English;

Eyup=Hello

Eyup mi owd tater=Hello my friend

Eyup tha big pufta=Hello my friend

Eyup tha fookin' wanker= Hello my friend
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Mick

[Vifferguy]

[Biker2021]

In Germany for The ADAC, or Yellow Angels, it is: Mein Motorrad in kaputt.

[ToryBlaker]

[b]France[/b]

I love this country and it's people. - J'aime ce pays et ses gens.
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