I'm trying to learn how to say 'I'm sorry, but I ate your wife' in as many languages as possible. So far I have:
ENGLISH: I'm sorry, but I ate your wife.
FRENCH: Je suis desole', mais j'ai mange' votre mariee.
JAPANESE ROMAJI: Sumimasen ga, okusan wo tabemashita.
ASL: She makes an O hand, taps her lips, makes a B hand and extends it
palm out, makes a D hand, taps her lower jaw with her fingertip, and
then clasps her hands together.
She makes a sad face, makes an S hand, and makes a circle against
her chest.
Help! If you speak other languages, please translate this sentence for me! It's a matter of life and death! Really!
(And yeah, I know the French is missing a couple of accent marks. I hate typing those little fuckers.)
Replies: add your comment: currently 59 comments
Hi, random stalker/reader coming out of the woodwork here. I believe that en Español, it would be "Estoy apesadumbrado, pero yo comí a su esposa". Hope that helps!
Posted by Tifaria @ 07/03/2002 05:00 PM EST
DUTCH: Het spijt me, maar ik heb je vrouw gegeten. (For ruder version, use 'gevreten' instead og gegeten.)
Posted by Dutch Blonde @ 07/03/2002 05:33 PM EST
An alternate Spanish version (I think):
Lo siento, pero he comido su esposa. (I'm sorry, but I've eaten your wife.)
Posted by Me me @ 07/03/2002 05:58 PM EST
Hmm, in Dutch I'd use 'opgegeten' instead of 'gegeten'. But that's just the difference between 'having eaten [your wife]wholly' (opgegeten) and
'having eaten of [your wife]' gegeten).
Oh, and in German, 'Entschuldigung,
aber Ich habe Ihre Frau aufgegessen.'
In concluding, Cantonese, but I left out the accents and all because I'd have to explain the whole system and I don't know if it really matters... : mm ho yi si ("sorry"), ngo sik mai ne ko tai tai ("I ate your wife")
Btw, love the sign language.
Posted by mandor @ 07/03/2002 05:58 PM EST
"Miyan hajiman, buin ul muggus ssumnida..." (korean)
wow. now there's a catchy phrase. too bad korean doesn't romanize well -
Posted by the flying racoon @ 07/03/2002 06:10 PM EST
Portuguese: desculpa, mais eu comi a sua mulher.
What a beautiful phrase. :D
Posted by bell @ 07/03/2002 07:22 PM EST
Okay. We cheated and Babelfished, but here's Italian:
"Sono spiacente, ma ho mangiato la vostra moglie."
Translated back to English, it's:
"They are spiacente, but I have eaten your moglie."
God, I love the Fish.
Posted by Sarah and W2 @ 07/03/2002 09:22 PM EST
In German, entschultigung means pardon me. "I'm sorry" is
Es tut mir leid.
Which literally means it does me sorrow.
Posted by Father Moon @ 07/03/2002 09:29 PM EST
Russian:
Mne ochen galle, no ya syela vashu genu. (soft g's)
*tips hat*
Posted by vera @ 07/03/2002 10:45 PM EST
General Arabic: Lelasaf, akaltu zawjatak
Posted by Kagerou @ 07/04/2002 03:22 AM EST
In Chinese, it's : "Dui bu qi, wo ba ni de tai tai chi diao le."
Posted by Becca Ming @ 07/04/2002 03:33 AM EST
I love you all so very, very much.
Posted by Mooncalf @ 07/04/2002 03:36 AM EST
"Jag är ledsen, men jag har ätit upp din fru."
Ah... I don't think I'll ask why :)
Posted by Random Swede @ 07/04/2002 05:03 AM EST
It seems that some of the phrases mean, "I ate your wife" which is the past tense, and some mean "I have eaten your wife" which is the present perfect tense. For example in German, in the past tense, it would be, "Es tut mir leid, aber Ich asze ihre Weib". The "SZ" being a special form of double S used in German. In LATIN, the past tense is "Me paenitet, sed ego uxorem tuam edibam." The present perfect would replace edibam with edi.
Posted by Father Moon @ 07/04/2002 12:14 PM EST
Is this supposed to be some reference to Hannibal Lector or something? He says something similar in the books. Heh, someone has toooooo much time on her hands :)
Posted by Wondering @ 07/04/2002 01:21 PM EST
More Korean bits:
"Joi song handeyo, buin eul muggusseupnida." polite
"Mianhande, nuh neh jibsaram muggussuh." casual
"Mianhajiman nae ga nee jibsaram mugguttah." informal, condescending
"Shitsurei desuga, okusan wo tabechattandesu." formal, Japanese
... What is this for? ^^;
Posted by Keiiii @ 07/04/2002 02:44 PM EST
In Vietnamese: Sin loi, nhu ma thao anh vo mai roi. Please don't ask about pronunciation. Unless you grew up speaking the language like I did, it is extremely difficult. All those little marks tell you how you're supposed to control your voice. I had to make an image of it and link it since there aren't such marks on this keyboard. ^^;;
Posted by Cho @ 07/04/2002 03:06 PM EST
Sadly, all the other languages are taken (mostly). So:
Sindarin Elven: Nin mistad, er mad le bess.
Literal: My mistake, I ate(have eaten?) you[r] wife.
Blartgh. Isn't it sad that I know that? Na i Valar, er beleg hen (By the Valar, [I am] one great (big) child (fool is a better translation)).
Posted by Nagia @ 07/04/2002 04:01 PM EST
Three ways to say it in Klingon:
jIQoS 'ach be'nallI' vISoppu'
jIQoS 'ach be'nallI' vISopta'
jIQoS 'ach be'nallI' vISop rIntaH
The first could be translated as 'I'm sorry, but I have eaten your wife,' the second as 'I'm sorry, but I set out to eat your wife and have done it,' the third as 'I'm sorry, but I have eaten your wife and the fact cannot be reversed.' They translate rather poorly, however. Klingon has no past tense, only aspect suffixes.
And I had to look that up in a dictionary, but I did own the dictionary ...
Posted by Skimmer @ 07/04/2002 04:44 PM EST
Well, Entschuldigung is my standard sorry-phrase, but es tut mir leid is much better, thanks for correcting me ^^
And btw, what is the Eszett called in English? Just double-s?
(to type the ß punch in alt-0223)
Posted by mandor @ 07/04/2002 05:52 PM EST
How about Mi'kmaq:
Meskei, tepitemaq maqumkaq.
You pronounce it:
Mess kayee, daybidaymach machumgach
The ch's are sort of guttarals like J. S. Bach... So say it with me now...
Posted by Sheerlyevil @ 07/04/2002 06:05 PM EST
Tamil: Manikavum naan unathu manaviya sapittuvittan. And yes, you pronounce it.
(Not sure about 'shitsurei desu ga' for I'm sorry. More like Moushiwake gozaimasen ga... for very formal and moushiwake arimasen ga... for polite. Also depends is the speaker male or female. Also depends do you want to get into keigo, which seems a little silly, but you could use the lowering form of taberu and say itadakimashita. Except that sounds like something else...)
Posted by mjj @ 07/04/2002 08:36 PM EST
Wow....so many ways.
Why did you want to know this, Moon? Have you...eaten someone's wife, recently? ^_'
Posted by Wolf @ 07/04/2002 11:22 PM EST
Skimmer done did what I was longing to do last night but couldn't for want of the Klingon-English dictionary I no longer have.
I am surprised that "I'm sorry" translates, considering that their greeting translates out to "What do you want?"
So, instead, I give you Solthasti.
"Kyr es, asanathasa es eapadaseia."
Basically, "How terrible of me, your woman I ate."
Posted by chaobell @ 07/05/2002 12:35 AM EST
In Ss'kari:
Uss'mah taa. Taa ts'd'himsei ss'ahn Tah'a'tah. ("Forgive me. I ate/devoured your mate.")
In very bad Hindi:
Mai rahana tuchchha. Mai kuchala ke nigalana apaka bibi.
In very bad Mingo:
Akehsëhse. Kes'as katënôtë yeya'tatúkê.
Whew. That's about all I can offer.
Posted by Shoiryu @ 07/05/2002 01:47 AM EST
Yo, a little mistake in the french translation, it should be:
"Je suis désolé, mais j'ai mangé votre femme"
(your phrase rather translate as "I'm sorry, but I ate your bride"... Which, shall we say, is much similar but not quite right XD XD XD)
Posted by Boule de poils @ 07/05/2002 02:48 AM EST
Well. I fear that my linguistic expertise, such as it is, was taken by the kind soul who posted the solution for German. I'm actually deathly curious to learn why you wish to know this, Moon? Oh, and by the way, Nagia, you may have posted the translation into Sindar, but how about Queyna (I think that's what the Noldorin language is- please correct me if I'm mistaken)?
Posted by Nathan @ 07/05/2002 05:38 AM EST
Randomly weighing in: I'd go with "Ich bitte um Verzeihung" for "I'm sorry" in German. It means "I beg for forgiveness", really, but it sounds cool. Also, I've always thought that you weren't allowed to use "asze" in spoken German, but only in formal writing.
The "ego" in "ego uxorem tuam edibam" is only necessary if you want to make a bit fuss over the fact that it was you who ate the wife, nobody else but you, you alone.
In Classical Greek, it would probably be "metamelei moi toutou, alla se^i gunaike ephagem^n" ('I repent of this, but I ate your wife', with the ^ denoting a lengthened vowel).
Posted by harpy @ 07/05/2002 06:29 AM EST
I'm told by a multilingual friend that "...the word 'vrouw' in Dutch translates as 'woman' and yes it can be used for 'wife', but the really correct word would be 'echtgenote'. So it would be 'Het spijt me, maar ik heb je echtgenote opgegeten'."
Posted by The role player known as 'P' @ 07/05/2002 04:09 PM EST
Augh, I wish I had that ancient Egyptian (Kemetic) dictionary...; I'm afraid my lingual expertise was stolen away by the Japanese..; and I don't know enough Kemetic to translate it unfortunately... x_x
Posted by Saikou @ 07/05/2002 04:15 PM EST
Actually, Chao, that suprised me too, but there is a verb - QoS - "to be sorry", although I suspect its usage more implies that you regret something than you apologize for it - "I'm sorry I didn't get more prisoners that raid," for example. However, the dictionary doesn't treat the usages. Hey, Klingon is a prety wierd language.
Posted by Skimmer @ 07/05/2002 05:04 PM EST
WOW! This has been a great discussion.
Posted by Father Moon @ 07/05/2002 05:10 PM EST
In Hebrew (speaker is female): "Ani mizta'eret, aval achalti et eeshtecha."
If the speaker is male, very slight change: "Ani mizta'er, aval achalti et eeshtecha."
Posted by Tamerine @ 07/05/2002 08:28 PM EST
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Al Bhed. Or maybe someone has, and I could be blind. XD
Posted by Keiiii @ 07/05/2002 09:13 PM EST
Al Bhed, you want? Translator, I find!
*ahem*
E's cunno, pid E yda ouin feva
Pronounced: "EAY'see kuoonnoh, peee-de EAY ae-deah ohooeen feeay-fuah"
And tying into the spontaneous Yodaish at the beginning:
"Sorry, I am. Your wife, I ate."
Posted by chaobell @ 07/05/2002 09:42 PM EST
Finnish. "Olen pahoillani, mutta söin vaimosi."
Posted by Kiyo @ 07/06/2002 12:15 AM EST
An attempt at Quenya:
Tya'ra nyen nyere, nan mantenye vesselya.
There is no verb 'apologize', so Ihave approximated with 'It causes sorrow to me.' 'Vesselya' is the polite form of 'your wife'; the familiar would be 'vessecca' (it is beleived by linguists). Also, it seems likely that 'mat' is irregular in the past tense here, thus 'mantenye', if it isn't the form is 'matnenye'. This was compiled with the aid of an online grammar site; I don't actually know Quenya, but I hope it helps nontheless.
Posted by Skimmer @ 07/06/2002 12:50 AM EST
This was too tempting to pass up. Another way of saying that in Sindar would be:
Nallain an edh, an ni gerin madin din bess.
Literally: I cry for you, for I have eaten your wife.
This is most likely full of mistakes, as I'm rather out of it from lack of sleep, so correct me if I'm wrong. Nagia's version is probably more correct when it comes to grammar. (I just like the literal translation of this version.)
Posted by Lesath @ 07/06/2002 03:02 AM EST
leet:
d00d, 3y3 473 j00r b1sh. sorry.
Posted by elysian @ 07/06/2002 06:17 AM EST
Another attempt for the German translation ^^
"Tut mir leid, aber ich habe Ihre Frau gefressen."
("fressen" instead of "essen" because he/she surely didn't use cutlery here XD)
Posted by Sandra @ 07/06/2002 11:23 AM EST
Okay, after a bit of research and a lot of guesswork, this is the closest thing I can come up with in middle Egyptian:
iw nn m mAat, rnj nbt wjs-nm mwHmt
Literally, "This is the truth, my mouth is filled with your wife".
I wish I could do something better/closer/more grammarically correct, but I haven't learned much Kemetic... if anyone can do better, please do.;
Posted by Saikou @ 07/06/2002 04:09 PM EST
oh yeah, it might be worth mentioning that the ancient Egyptians left out the actual vowels when they wrote stuff... so the pronounciation of my statement is completely up to you. ^^;
Posted by Saikou @ 07/06/2002 04:11 PM EST
Gah, posting again. I made a mistake that I caught when reviewing some texts... The line should be
iw nn m mAat, rnj hr wjs-nm mwHmt
nbt meant corn and I somehow confused that with "mouth". O.o
Anyway. I'm done now!
Posted by Saikou @ 07/06/2002 04:49 PM EST
mrow. Echtgenote is good, really, but it isn't as natural as vrouw. You could use it in Cannibalism for Dummies, but for coherence in a conversation first choice goes to vrouw, when directly referring to her. It. Food. Or something. Doesn't matter much, it's all good Dutch. (do people hit you too when you argue semantics?)
Mooncalf? Are you going to make a pamphlet about social niceties for Predators? Cookbook with instructions for small New-Guinean tribes moving to New York?
Posted by mandor @ 07/06/2002 05:20 PM EST
My Mandarin is rusty, but:
"Dui bu qi, wo chi le ni de tai tai." (with lotsa tones I can't type)
"Sorry, I ate your wife."
...I think that's it. There's very probably a better way of saying it, but there it is for now.
Posted by Quezzie @ 07/07/2002 12:59 PM EST
For Chinese, "tai tai" (meaning "wife") can also be referred to as "ai ren" (Beijing dialect) or "qi zi" (pronounced "chi zzzzz," more or less). "Tai tai" is predominately used in Taiwan, I think.
... boy, stop me before I sound even more pretentious.
Posted by Chi @ 07/07/2002 10:10 PM EST
On the Chinese bit, I earlier typed that it was, "dui bu qi, wo ba ni de tai tai chi diao le," which is probably the (incorrect) passive tense version. Something like, "Your wife was eaten up by me." Or you could say "Bu hao yisi, wo ba ni de tai tai chi wan le," which is "So embarassing (apology), I finished eating your wife." "Ai ren" is considered really formal/old fashioned-- or to literally mean 'lover'-- in anywhere but Beijing.
Posted by Becca Ming @ 07/08/2002 01:24 AM EST
*cries* I love how many people have joined into this...
Japanese revisited:
Moushiwake gozaimasen ga, anata no okusan wo tabete shimaimashita.
This is the polite version. The kind of...I'm terribly sorry, but I have eaten your wife, type deal.
I'd put the "anata no" in there, because if you leave it out, it's actually a bit vague as to whose wife you're confessing to have eaten.
And I know it's "o" instead of "wo" if you want to be phonetic, but all of my Japanese correspondents use "wo" when they're emailing me...and who am I to argue with them?
Posted by Meriko @ 07/08/2002 10:01 AM EST
hsilgnE: .efiw rouy detatigruger ev'I ,lufetarg m'I
(mirror earth, all backwards)
Posted by WolfeFuzze @ 07/09/2002 12:19 PM EST
Just a quick note about the French parts: because Moon is female, it should be spelled "Je suis desolée", but the extra 'e' makes no pronounciation difference. However (to head off later questions ^_^), "j'ai mangé" does not change. It has to do with using avoir, not être, for the past tense, and having the object of the sentence coming after the verb.
Posted by Kara Jade @ 07/09/2002 04:25 PM EST
Minta maaf, tetapi saya telah makan isteri awak.
meaning i'm sorry, but i have eaten your wife (in Malay!). the two sentences are quite the same thing in the language, though this sentence comes off rather formal and polite. *mmmf*
minta maaf, tetapi isteri awak dimakan saya.
i'm sorry, but your wife was eaten by me.
or, what i think has the exact meaning.
Minta maaf, tetapi saya memakan isteri awak.
^-^
Posted by Kagaya @ 07/10/2002 07:46 AM EST
Es tut mir leid, aber ich hase dein Mutter gegessen.
Posted by andrew @ 07/10/2002 09:40 PM EST
A quick correction on the l337:
d00d, 3y3 473 j00r b17ch. 50rry.
Of course, considering that leet is...leet, you could easily get away with either, I'm sure. I just like being picky. ;)
Posted by Zee @ 07/11/2002 04:24 AM EST
Actually, as an chinese-speaking asian, there are a multitude of ways of saying "wife" in Mandarin.
The official term is "Qi zhi" and it implies a new wife. If the marriage lasts for more than five years or you are the husband, you'll most likely use "Lao po" (Old woman). "Tai tai" is mostly honorific informal and used in gossip. "Ai ren" does not imply marriage at all, just love/sex. If we were talking to a stranger politely, we would say "dui bu chi,(I'm sorry) Dan shi/Qi Shi (but/actually) wo yi jing (I have already) chi diao le ni de lao po (ate your wife)." There's no proper past tense in chinese, y'see... and "Chi diao" is necessary to imply you ate all of her. "Chi wan" implies a meal and "Bu hao yi shi" makes you sound like a wimp - It's more "Pardon me (for my bad manners)" than "sorry".
It's one hell of an annoying language, no? And I'm one anal bum.
Posted by Dar @ 07/11/2002 05:44 AM EST
Here's a more correct (not Babelfished) Italian version:
Mi dispiace, ma ho mangiato la tua moglie.
Posted by Thomas Castiglione @ 07/11/2002 09:36 AM EST
"Bin nebechdik, ober hobn esn du froi."
Yiddish. ^_^ The translation is probably horrible, but it's the best I could manage. Oy.
Posted by JK The Mad @ 07/12/2002 06:57 PM EST
Pig Latin:
Miay orrysay, utbay Iay teay ouryay ifeway.
Posted by Zee @ 07/13/2002 02:03 AM EST
For pig latin, one common tradition is that, should a word begin with a vowel, the word stays the same, but adds "-way" to the end. Thus:
Imway orrysay, utbay Iway ateway ouryay ifeway.
Posted by Kara Jade @ 07/16/2002 01:30 PM EST
Oh, God. If only people knew their own bloody language's grammar.
Portuguese: "Perdão, MAS (not "mais") eu comi sua mulher."
There you go. :)
Posted by bluecat @ 07/20/2002 05:26 PM EST
