It's all Greek to me
- Thread starter Jana337
- Start date
In Spanish they also say that "it's Chinese to me" 
But then... that would be no problemcrikey. i thought we said 'c'est de l'hébreu pour moi'...
In Hebrew we say "this is Chinese to me".
Rather It sounds like Chinese to me (Me suena a chino).In Spanish they also say that "it's Chinese to me"
^We Bulgarians use Chinese too: Това е като (на) китайски. = This is like (in) Chinese. or Това е като китайско писмо. = This is like Chinese writing.
As far as I know, Chinese is (one of) the most difficult language(s) in the world and it's still rarely known outside China, and that's why such expressions hav been created.
As far as I know, Chinese is (one of) the most difficult language(s) in the world and it's still rarely known outside China, and that's why such expressions hav been created.
French has also the expression, a bit outdated but used in the 1850-1950ies : "c'est de l'algèbre pour moi" (it's algebra to me).
In English 'It's all Greek to me' — or some such variation — is so common, to my way of thinking, that looking at some alternate turns of phrase — for instance 'It's Double-Dutch' — seem unusual.
When speaking in German with my mother's family, I am often at a loss to understand someone who speaks in a dialect or with an accent, with which I am unaccustomed. (I'm limited to Southern German at best; though some would argue that anyone with „Schwyzerdütsch“ shouldn't cast stones ... but I digress). As such — perhaps because of it — I've often made use of the same phrase as several other German speakers have mentioned, viz: „Das kommt mir spanisch vor“ ... quite literally: 'Seems like Spanish (to me)'.
When speaking in German with my mother's family, I am often at a loss to understand someone who speaks in a dialect or with an accent, with which I am unaccustomed. (I'm limited to Southern German at best; though some would argue that anyone with „Schwyzerdütsch“ shouldn't cast stones ... but I digress). As such — perhaps because of it — I've often made use of the same phrase as several other German speakers have mentioned, viz: „Das kommt mir spanisch vor“ ... quite literally: 'Seems like Spanish (to me)'.
In Italia si dice: "questo per me è arabo".
German isn't much easier. I'm surprised, no one posted such a saying with German.
German isn't much easier than Chinese?! The grammar is probably more difficult but this is true for all the Indo-European languages. As for syntax, vocabulary, pronunciation and especially ideograms, Chinese is by far more difficult than German for a European speaker.
German isn't much easier than Chinese?! The grammar is probably more difficult but this is true for all the Indo-European languages. As for syntax, vocabulary, pronunciation and especially ideograms, Chinese is by far more difficult than German for a European speaker.
With regard to 'Double Dutch', as I mentioned above, perhaps I spoke too soon.
Traces of the word 'Dutch' being used to mean 'German' & 'German-speaking peoples' are found in English to the present-day, in terms like 'Pennsylvania Dutch'; a people descended from dispossessed Germans, (because of religious beliefs).
As late as the early English colonial period, the terms 'Low Dutch' and 'High Dutch' were used to mean 'Low German', (i.e. languages inclusive of those of the Benelux countries, as well as the indigenous Low German as once spoken 'north of the Benrath (line)'; and 'High Dutch' to mean what is to-day called 'High German', inclusive of the opposite extreme of Low German, viz „Oberdeutsch“.
(Just as the German word for 'Dutch' is „niederländisch“ i.e. 'of the Low Lands', where the German word for 'German' is „deutsch“; in a similar way, I believe the Dutch word for 'Dutch' is «Nederlands» — i.e. of the 'Low Countries' — where the Dutch word for 'German' is «Duits»).
Thus, the term 'Double Dutch' — inclusive of the language-game of the same name — might have been a reference to the difficulty of an English-speaker to understand 'Dutch' in its erstwhile historic use, i.e. German.
In addition to what has been said in # 91, Japanese has also the expression ”ちんぷんかんぷん”(chinpun kanpun) also written : 珍紛/糞漢紛/糞 (other variants) meaning "unintelligible talk", gibberish, double Dutch. It bears the character 漢 kan/han meaning Chinese. Originally probably from Nagasaki, at the extreme south of "mainland Japan" (if you exclude Okinawa and the multiple small islands), point of contact between Japan and foreigners (Chinese included).
Here you have related expressions in Spanish. Although, I know they have not strictly the same meaning of "it's all Greek to me":
In Madrid, they say "No me hables en polaco" -> "Don't speak to me Polish" to address rudely a Catalan speaker visitor specially from Catalonia.
"Háblame en cristiano" -> "Speak to me Christian" meaning "speak to me properly so that I can understand you".
In Madrid, they say "No me hables en polaco" -> "Don't speak to me Polish" to address rudely a Catalan speaker visitor specially from Catalonia.
"Háblame en cristiano" -> "Speak to me Christian" meaning "speak to me properly so that I can understand you".
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Likewise, in Esperanto we say Ĝi estas por mi Volapukaĵo. I guess early Esperantists (wisely) thought it better to pick on another planned language than a traditional language.
(Escribo en español, y aunque lo entiendo perfectamente, no me atrevo a escribir ni una palabra en inglés...
Si alguien quisiera traducir sucintamente mi pregunta al inglés, se lo agradecería ya que me gustaría que ésta fuera leída por la mayor cantidad de foreros posible).
Recuerdo que hace mucho leí no sé dónde que no en todos los países el chino es sinónimo de idioma incomprensible (Casi aseguraría que en la China no lo es...)
Encontré estas definiciones en el Diccionario de la Academia :
Chino:
5. m. coloq. Lenguaje incomprensible. No sé a qué te refieres, porque me estás hablando en chino
Chino básico:
1. loc. verb. coloq. Arg. Resultar incomprensible o difícil de desentrañar. La electrónica es chino básico para él
Si alguien conoce una lista de países/idiomas que contemple este asunto, y/o quiere contarnos qué lengua se usa en su país, o en su idioma, para aludir a un lenguaje incomprensible, se lo agradezco desde ya. Especialmente a los chinos...
Si alguien quisiera traducir sucintamente mi pregunta al inglés, se lo agradecería ya que me gustaría que ésta fuera leída por la mayor cantidad de foreros posible).
Recuerdo que hace mucho leí no sé dónde que no en todos los países el chino es sinónimo de idioma incomprensible (Casi aseguraría que en la China no lo es...
)Encontré estas definiciones en el Diccionario de la Academia :
Chino:
5. m. coloq. Lenguaje incomprensible. No sé a qué te refieres, porque me estás hablando en chino
Chino básico:
1. loc. verb. coloq. Arg. Resultar incomprensible o difícil de desentrañar. La electrónica es chino básico para él
Si alguien conoce una lista de países/idiomas que contemple este asunto, y/o quiere contarnos qué lengua se usa en su país, o en su idioma, para aludir a un lenguaje incomprensible, se lo agradezco desde ya. Especialmente a los chinos...
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Te parecerá curioso pero ese "it's all greek to me" es originario de España, hacia principios de 1500 se produjo una llegada masiva de artistas y sirvientes a la corte.
Y el griego pasó a ser sinónimo de lengua extranjera e incomprensible.
No tardó mucho en llegar y asentarse en las Américas, donde por un lado y con el tiempo lo tomaron los holandeses rubicundos que eran como "el queso de Juan" (Jankee) y por el otro cambió la forma para designar a los hablantes de otra lengua incomprensible, "grigos" primero y gringos después.
Y el griego pasó a ser sinónimo de lengua extranjera e incomprensible.
No tardó mucho en llegar y asentarse en las Américas, donde por un lado y con el tiempo lo tomaron los holandeses rubicundos que eran como "el queso de Juan" (Jankee) y por el otro cambió la forma para designar a los hablantes de otra lengua incomprensible, "grigos" primero y gringos después.
En alemán decimos:
Das kommt mir Spanisch vor.
(Esto me suena muy raro.
Aquí hay gato encerrado.
literalmente: Esto me parece ser español)
(Esto me suena muy raro.
Aquí hay gato encerrado.
literalmente: Esto me parece ser español)
Yes, you're right. They say 'c'est de l'hébreu (pour moi)' if something is incomprehensible, complicated, סָתוּם.
See also: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=628839
See also: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=628839
In Finnish, we similarly say 'täyttä hepreaa' when something is incomprehensible. In English it would translate to "utter/pure/absolute Hebrew".
E.g.:
"Ohjeet olivat täyttä hepreaa" - "The instructions were utter Hebrew"
Wonder how many other languages have the same metaphor?
E.g.:
"Ohjeet olivat täyttä hepreaa" - "The instructions were utter Hebrew"
Wonder how many other languages have the same metaphor?
According to this page over 30, with some of them using multiple metaphors.
Not in my experience. In English, I've only heard this expression used with Greek and Chinese.
In England there is the rather annoying habit that men who know not a word of French will say something like "He"s a fucking prick, pardon my French". Intending the last bit to me (a woman) implying that women being gently brought up will not know what he is talking about.
it's all greek to me= pawang elinika ang lahat na ito sa akin.or pawang Tagalog lahat sa akin ang mga ito!
I guess "it's all Hebrew to me" in English is a translation from the French (see above) : "c'est de l'hébreu pour moi". French refers to Arabic, Hebrew, Greek and Chinese as synonyms for things hard to understand.
As for "pardon my French", that relates to vulgarity, not difficulty. It is a kind of joke ...
As for "pardon my French", that relates to vulgarity, not difficulty. It is a kind of joke ...
I've personally never heard the "Spanish thing". Maybe that's just something between you and your friend; it's probably not a common phrase in Taiwan.
天書 is used, but I wouldn't say a lot. Another possible word for it is 鬼畫符(runes written by ghosts), which sounds a little negative. They are definitely not used as much as "It's Greek to me":
跟天書一樣！
根本鬼畫符！
We usually just say "我完全看不懂 I don't understand at all." Straightforward, nothing metaphoric.
天书 (a heavenly script/book) and 鬼画符 (runes written by ghosts) are also common sayings in Mainland China.
A heavenly script/book: often refers to verbal languages or terminologies.
Runes written by ghosts: refers to written languages or signs.
Sometimes, when two Chinese are talking, A was using all the hard terminologies that B could not understand, B may say: "please speak Chinese".
This is like saying "please speak English" among English speakers.
A heavenly script/book: often refers to verbal languages or terminologies.
Runes written by ghosts: refers to written languages or signs.
Sometimes, when two Chinese are talking, A was using all the hard terminologies that B could not understand, B may say: "please speak Chinese".
This is like saying "please speak English" among English speakers.
In Italy, we generally say: it sounds Arabic to me. We could never say like in German: it sounds Spanish to me...
He revised:I have not ever heard it. I am afraid it is from English. Something modern.
Polish:
There is also:
To dla mnie chińszczyzna = It's Chinese to me, but it's refered to sth difficult while learning, not to the understanding.
When you want to say, that you don't understand, and again the context is narrowed to plot / situation you could say
To jest czeski film = It's a Czech film.
I thought there was some more relation to Greek through letter jota, but
ni joty means nothing at all, so you could say:
Nie rozumiem ni joty = I don't understand at all, but you can use that phrase to beer as well:
W lodówce nie ma ni joty piwa - there is no beer (at all) in the fridge
So it's all based on context
Why? do you ask:
Chinese, because it seems very difficult to learn
Czech film has an exact meaning: nobody knows anything.
From my memory I can say, this saying appeared in Poland around 70s due to the Czech productions. I don't know exactly which film was most influencial, but it came into live speach, and survived to modern times.
Regards
Michał
I think the expression : to jest czeski film ( It'a Czech film ) it's quite popular in Poland !
It is in another context , but in relation to Greek , in polish language we use the expression : nie udawaj Greka , udawać Greka /uˈdavaʥ̑ ˈɡrɛka/ : ( play possum , play dumb) udawać, że nie ma się pojęcia, wiedzy na jakiś temat; zachowywać się jak ktoś niezorientowany, nierozumiejący określonej kwestii, mimo że w rzeczywistości jest inaczej . ( pretend that you have no idea or knowledge about something; behave like someone who is confused and does not understand a certain issue, although in reality it is not ..)
By the way, this expression (to jest czeski film: nikt nic nie wie) is much older than 1970s: in 1947 the Poles could see a Czech detective comedy directed by Josef Mach "Nikdo nic neví " (in Polish version "Nikt nic nie wie" - Nobody knows anything) with a very complicated plot and then this saying was coined.