But then... that would be no problemcrikey. i thought we said 'c'est de l'hébreu pour moi'...![]()
Rather It sounds like Chinese to me (Me suena a chino).In Spanish they also say that "it's Chinese to me"![]()
With regard to 'Double Dutch', as I mentioned above, perhaps I spoke too soon.German isn't much easier. I'm surprised, no one posted such a saying with German.
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....One could also say: "det er det rene volapyk" (it's all volapük)...
According to this page over 30, with some of them using multiple metaphors....Wonder how many other languages have the same metaphor?
Not in my experience. In English, I've only heard this expression used with Greek and Chinese.... As I was browing through several Wikipedia pages, I also stumbled across the English: "It's (all) Hebrew to me". Is that expression commonly used?
cameo~ is the phrase "it's spanish to me" is realli used in taiwan? lol. so it would be 跟西班牙語一樣? andd, is the phrase 跟天書一樣 (like a heavenly script/book) used a lot?
thanks!
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.1. As you can see I'm from Taiwan.
2. We say "It's all Spanish to me."
3. I don't know why. Maybe my fellow Taiwanese can give us a reason.
I have not ever heard it. I am afraid it is from English. Something modern.well Hungarians say both :
it's Greek to me - ez görög nekem
He revised:I have not ever heard it. I am afraid it is from English. Something modern.![]()
ok i was actually wrong i think.
it's more likely that Hungarians only say it's all Chinese to me.
I think the expression : to jest czeski film ( It'a Czech film ) it's quite popular in Poland !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
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.Polish:
When you want to say, that you don't understand, and again the context is narrowed to plot / situation:
To jest czeski film = It's a Czech film.
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