Different Languages? (On Topic Spam ONLY)

Ideal Maxima · Post by **Ideal Maxima** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 9:18 am

I was just wondering how to say "Hello" in normal simplified Chinese (I already know how to say it in Manderin,"Ni Hao"), then I thought why not start a thread all about how to say words in different languages

Every week, we can switch the topic word or sentence, for this week, it's "Hello" or "Hey"

Hello

English,"Hello"

(my native language) Bengali,"Oh He"

Indian,"Khya Hal He"

Chinese (Manderin),"Ni Hao"

Hey

English,"Hey"

Bengali,"Ay" (pernounced like the letter "A") or "Ay, Ei Jei" (which means, "hey, over hear!")

Yeltsu · Post by **Yeltsu** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 9:21 am

Hello

Norwegian: Hallo

Hey

Norwegian: Hei

Not the greatest difference, but anyway

Vicsun · Post by **Vicsun** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 9:21 am

Here lies the answer to your question!

Ideal Maxima · Post by **Ideal Maxima** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 9:24 am

thanks vicun, but i thought it would be more fun for everybody to post the languages they know of by themselves

, so every body, i suggest you don't open the link

Yeltsu · Post by **Yeltsu** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 9:26 am

Oh god! the Norwegian quotes from that site were hilarious!

the last one was like " oh f*** it's you!

I think someone had a blast coming up with them.

Ideal Maxima · Post by **Ideal Maxima** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 9:34 am

omg, the quotes for Bengali were horendus, their quotes are all wrong, they have asalamawalaikhome in the hello section... that's a religous greeting, not the bengali way of saying hello

and some of the words were indian not bengali... that site descraces me

EDIT: whoops, i'm spamming in my own thread

anyway, just post your way of saying "hello" or "hey"

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 10:16 am

Hello

in Swedish, my native language: Hej (pronounced as hey)

Russian, (phonetically transcribed, most of you can't read cyrillic letters): Preevyet

German: Tag (short for Guten Tag, pronounced as taak)

French: Bonjour

Arabic: Salam (short for Salam aleykum)

Greenlandic: Inuguyock (or Halluu)

Tibetan: Tashi dele

Vicsun · Post by **Vicsun** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 10:58 am

I believe the Russian hello is здравствулте (pronounced zdravstvulte). Привет (preevyet) is closer to the English greetings - it has a nuance of both 'welcome' and 'hello'.

Danish is similar to Swedish - hej (pronounced as the English hi though)

Germans use hallo as well as Tag. Not that different from English, actually.

In Bulgarian, the common greeting is здрасти (phoenetically: zdrasti), meaning hi. The formal word is зрдавей (phoenetically: zdravej). That would be hello.

Itallians say ciao, but that would hardly surprise anyone

. Pronounced 'chao' in case you don't know

In spain they say hola, but I guess that is still common knowledge.

Poles say dzien dobry instead of good day. I'm not sure what the word for 'hello' is.

I don't really speak that many languages, if anyone is wondering

Not even close actually.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 10:59 am

It's "Jo napot givanok" in Hungarian, often abbreviated as "Jo napot." The Jo is pronounced Yaw.

In Dutch, it's written "Dag," but it's Dah-ach, sorta, with a drop of about a major third between the two syllables (very quickly). The "ch" is a glottal stop, unless you're my wife, in which case, it's "doc."

In Spanish, it's "buenos diaz" which is pretty much as it looks, unless you're doing Trade Route Spanish (the Caribbean and Northern South American Spanish-speaking nations), in which case, it's pronounced "buen-ah di-ah."

In the US, it's either "Morning!" or "uhhhhhh..." depending upon whether or not you're a morning person.

Aegis · Post by **Aegis** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 11:56 am

"Morning" for me isn't so much a word, as it is a hand motion, roughly translated into "coffee".

Volk · Post by **Volk** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 2:35 pm

Bunã actualy meens " good " but for some reason people of Romania do walk around the streets saying good to each other, even though i am Romanian it still puzzled me, eaith way its a good day sort of deal, in East Romania where i'm from Servus is more common, as are a lot of Hungarian phrases.

Servus is common in most parts of Hungary and East Romania its general a " hey how yea dooing " kinda thing.

Jó napot Napot is generaly informal for good afternoon, kívánok is added for formalness so to say, Servus is a more common greeting among the Hungarians.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 2:46 pm

[QUOTE=Volk]Jó napot Napot is generaly informal for good afternoon, kívánok is added for formalness so to say, Servus is a more common greeting among the Hungarians.[/QUOTE]

Have to say, I heard "Jo napot" used at any time of day, save night. But what about "jo regelt!" then? That's recommended in guidebooks as "good morning," but I never heard anybody actually use it. I did until I realized people were replying with "jo napot!" at 10 AM.

Volk · Post by **Volk** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 3:17 pm

Generaly Hunagarians see things differently then we do, Reggelt comes from the word Reggeli which meens brekfast if i remeber well, so generaly it was used by people before they ate brekfast, which is at around 8AM or so at the latest.

Hungarians follow a different style of living which generaly involves getting up at infatasmal hours such as 4AM or, because even in later times ( i remeber even in the 80's ) there usualy wasnt much to watch on the TV, or listen to on the radio, and there was plenty to do next day, so it was usualy agreed upon that getting an early start to things was best.

Of course a lot of the trends where broken with modernisation, and Jó Napot was addapted to Hungarian as Good day was to English, but typicaly and formaly its seen as:

Good morning : Jó reggelt [kívánok]
Good afternoon : Jó napot [kívánok]
Good evening : Jó estét [kívánok]
Good night : Jó éjszakát

Its important to remeber that in Hungarian "sz" is pronunced as "s" and "s" is pronuced as "sh" and that there is no formal form of good night even though it is used late at night, not just in the going to bed sense.

Yeltsu · Post by **Yeltsu** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 3:25 pm

[QUOTE=Volk]Bunã actualy meens " good " but for some reason people of Romania do walk around the streets saying good to each other, even though i am Romanian it still puzzled me, eaith way its a good day sort of deal, in East Romania where i'm from Servus is more common, as are a lot of Hungarian phrases.[/QUOTE]

We have the same sort of thing here in Norway. When we say goodby we say "ha det bra" which translates to "Have a nice time" However, people usually just say "Hade" which means "have a." Also something that doesn't make sense...

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 3:38 pm

[QUOTE=Volk]Generaly Hunagarians see things differently then we do.[/quote]

I find this a bit condescending to Hungarians, who are certainly entitled to go to bed and get up at whatever hours seem appropriate for their own culture. Unless, of course, you thought it would amaze me, in which case, I find it personally a bit condescending.

I've not spent anywhere near the time you have in Hungary, but between our various trips I'd say we stayed there about 3 months, total. We spent our time in urban areas, secondary and primary cities; and since we're both people watchers, and stayed in private homes most of the time, we gradually acquired a feel for the rhythms of that culture.

Hungarians follow a different style of living which generaly involves getting up at infatasmal hours such as 4AM or, because even in later times ( i remeber even in the 80's ) there usualy wasnt much to watch on the TV, or listen to on the radio, and there was plenty to do next day, so it was usualy agreed upon that getting an early start to things was best.

Have you been there for any extended period of time since the Soviets were expelled? I'm curious what your reactions of differences would be. We noticed that at least in larger, urban communities such as Szeged, or Pecs, the Hungarians were really into late night concertgoing and cafes afterwards. This augurs poorly for the survival of the "4 AM--it's good to be alive!" rise-and-shine philosophy.

Of course a lot of the trends where broken with modernisation, and Jó Napot was addapted to Hungarian as Good day was to English...

Which is what I'd said in the first place, when you replied it meant only good afternoon.

Luis Antonio · Post by **Luis Antonio** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 4:29 pm

Portuguese:

Hello - Olá
Hi - Oi
Whats up - e daê
(important thing to say for women disarming) I love you - Eu te amo
(important thing to say when in a pub) One beer please - Uma cerveja por favor

(Good Idea DNyte, nice thread)

Fiberfar · Post by **Fiberfar** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 4:37 pm

In Norway, some people say "Hei no" -Hey now. When saying goodbye to another person.

Morril · Post by **Morril** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 4:43 pm

[QUOTE=Vicsun]I believe the Russian hello is здравствулте (pronounced zdravstvulte). Привет (preevyet) is closer to the English greetings - it has a nuance of both 'welcome' and 'hello'.
[/QUOTE]

Привет is used to people you already know (family, friends) where as здравствулте is more "formal".

Vicsun · Post by **Vicsun** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 5:04 pm

[QUOTE=Morril]Привет is used to people you already know (family, friends) where as здравствулте is more "formal".[/QUOTE]
Upon further consideration you might be right. And probably are. However I'll still consult an expert in the field* to confirm/deny this

*someone who speaks Russian.

Morril · Post by **Morril** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 5:09 pm

[QUOTE=Vicsun]Upon further consideration you might be right. And probably are. However I'll still consult an expert in the field* to confirm/deny this

*someone who speaks Russian.[/QUOTE]

He he. Go ahead, but:
1. I speak russian
2. I allready consulted another expert (someone who is born in Russia)