Multi/Bilingual Language Thread

[CombNWattles]

I have a story about this, but first let me give non-Afrikaans speakers some context...

'baie' means 'very' or 'much'
'dankie' means 'thank you'
...so "Baie dankie" is "Thank you very much" in Afrikaans.

We had some out-of-country visitors and it was their first time in South Africa. One woman wanted to learn to say 'Thank you' in Afrikaans and she was struggling to remember the word pronunciation. My mother suggested she remember the phrase 'buy a donkey' as it is so phonetically close to the original 'baie dankie'. The woman thought this was a very good idea and she became quite excite to use it at the first opportunity. This happened to be, that very night, at an elegant restaurant in Cape Town. The waiter came over to take their order and upon completing the task, the woman loudly and proudly said, "Pick an ass."

Poor dear was so embarrassed when told of her mistake. True story.

#secondhandembarrasment

 

[CombNWattles]

Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch, aber sehr nicht gut.

 

[CombNWattles]

Ich spreche besser Deutsch als mein Bruder; er sagt “du bist kein Wagon Fuhrer” for “you are a bad driver”.

His reasoning:

Du bist kein = you are no

Volkswagen = people’s + car, so wagon = car

Fuhrer = ruler, king

So, du bist kein Wagon Fuhrer = you are no car king = you are a bad driver.

 

[Evadig]

I’m in Italy right now (one more day) and have begun learning Italian on the fly, used Spanish to purchase in the shops, sung at church in Latin, thanked the airline captain in German, and teased a couple friends by speaking Polish.

It’s actually quite fun and makes me motivated to learn more languages (not fluently, just enough to get around for ten days).

 

[Evadig]

@BantyChooks I was just wondering,
does any of this look correct?

I’m relying basically on one app, a translation program, and a diplomat training course from before 2000, so I have no clue if any of this is proper Polish. The words are randomly pulled from flashcards.

Thanks
Oh, and the pronunciations are based on how the words phonetically sound to me.

 

[ChickenShepherd_6116]

Hallo! Ich spreche nur wenig Deutsch... but my first language is English.

 

[Evadig]

Hallo! Ich spreche nur wenig Deutsch... but my first language is English.

Hi! How long have you been learning German?

 

[ChickenShepherd_6116]

Hi! How long have you been learning German?

Hello! Not very long yet! Maybe a month or so? My sister-in-law knows it much better than me, and helps me converse with her. Do you know any German?

 

[BantyChooks]

@BantyChooks I was just wondering,
does any of this look correct?

I’m relying basically on one app, a translation program, and a diplomat training course from before 2000, so I have no clue if any of this is proper Polish. The words are randomly pulled from flashcards.

Thanks
Oh, and the pronunciations are based on how the words phonetically sound to me.

View attachment 4125512

Grammar is still an exercise in futility for me, especially forms that change with gender, but at the very least it’s comprehensible - and, many of these phrases I have heard on a daily basis.

 

[500Chickens]

Hallo!