r/GlobalTalk • u/altbekannt • Aug 11 '21
[Question] what's the most exotic language you speak at least one word in? Question
Am Austrian and I think for me it might be Thai: "kop khun krap". Which is "Thank you".
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u/diogenes_sadecv Aug 11 '21
Yucatec Mayan: bix a bel (how are you [lit. How is your road])
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u/sheepbadeep Aug 11 '21
Mine is also Yucatec Mayan but I have no idea how to spell it. It means bellybutton
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u/flen_paris Aug 11 '21
Sámi: Buorre beaivi / Good day
Malay: Dilarang merokok / No smoking
It's one of these two. I consider Sámi language more exotic from a global perspective, but Malay is more exotic for me as a Finn.
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u/Grzechoooo Aug 11 '21
I know "tak" means "no" in Indonesian.
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u/KLMNTI_Sickness Aug 11 '21
Opposite in Polish, tak means yes
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u/Daggerfall Aug 11 '21
Google Translate says Dzięki is thanks in Polish. It does however mean thanks in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish (the latter spelled slightly differently)
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u/AmfibiusRex Aug 11 '21
Swedish for thank you and please is tak
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u/Random_reptile Change the text to your country Aug 11 '21
I know a few words in Yonghe Qiang, an indigenous language of Central/Southern China.
For example "Mupa" (God), "Kytsimupa" (The God of hunting), "Pezuhta" (Tibetan language) and "Hrarezuhta" (The Sinitic Languages).
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u/Embe007 Aug 11 '21
Canadian. I know one word in Ojibwe - miigwech which means 'thank you'. It's a good start :)
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u/okaymoose Canada Aug 12 '21
Fantastic! I'm from Ontario and my partner had a friend who was learning Ojibwe in university. Its so nice to see the country evolving (if slowly).
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u/Embe007 Aug 12 '21
Yeah, it's pretty amazing to see Indigenous language courses offered in so many universities. They're very popular. Really, who wouldn't want to learn an Indigenous language if they had the time? It's a window on another way of understanding the world and in these climate crisis days, probably a subtler, integrated, more community-minded way.
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u/altbekannt Aug 11 '21
I don't even know the language. Where do they speak ojibwe?
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u/Embe007 Aug 11 '21 edited Aug 11 '21
It's one of the 70 or so distinct languages of the many Indigenous peoples of Canada. It's one of the more widely spoken ones. Many are on the verge of extinction.
edit: more info plus graphics here: https://www.canadiangeographic.ca/article/mapping-indigenous-languages-canada
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u/Tengri_99 Kazakhstan Aug 11 '21
German: "Hallo"
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u/KnephXI Aug 11 '21
My German is "Es ist geil ein Arschloch zu sein". It means it's hot to be a butthole. All the thanks goes to my cousin and his music taste.
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u/PowderPuffGirls Aug 12 '21
It's more like "it's awesome to be an asshole". Doesn't really have anything to do to with the actual butthole.
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u/KnephXI Aug 12 '21
I think it's a case of German translated to another language and then English :)
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u/delrio_gw Aug 12 '21
Schnabeltier. Which I am led to believe is duck billed platypus.
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u/[deleted] Aug 12 '21
[removed]
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u/TheCanadianDoctor Aug 11 '21
Canadian: "How'sItGoin'Bud‽"
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u/8lbs6ozBebeJesus Canada 3d ago
Outferaripareyabud?
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u/TheCanadianDoctor 3d ago
Hack'n Darts and break'n hearts in the timmies parking lot while slamming a few mickys before leaving with tim bits.
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u/Luutamo 🇫🇮 Finland Aug 11 '21
Exotic in what sense? I'm Finnish but very few speak finnish on this planet... so... finnish?
Or as in, not many speak it here in Finland? The probably portuguese or japanese
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u/altbekannt Aug 11 '21
It's the latter - question is headed towards your personal perspective. Obviously all languages are not exotic if you're a native speaker.
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u/Speffeddude Aug 11 '21
I know a fair amount of Chinese, but my most "exotic" word may be "k'i box" from Steven King's Gunslinger series. Can't make a more exotic language than a fictional language!
Also, for those in the know, k'i box is what I called my old car.
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u/SuchSuggestion Aug 11 '21
Piro, an indigenous Amazonian language. Tsrunini ghinkakle means “stories of the old ones” or myths
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u/DonCallate Aug 12 '21
I know a bunch of Welsh words. My favorite words are hiraeth (longing for something, especially home) and wwyllyd (wistful).
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u/bricklegos Aug 12 '21
As someone who has studied Welsh myself, I feel like half of the words are coherent and the other half looks like someone jumped on a keyboard
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u/DonCallate Aug 12 '21
The other day a friend of mine, a mildly-popular musician, introduced a new song called When What You Love Lets You Down (WWYLLYD) and I told him that meant "wistful" in Welsh. He obviously flipped...but the point here is that he pulled a completely random initialism that is 7 letters with only 2 vowels, and that it turned out to be a word in Welsh.
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u/lori244144 Aug 12 '21
German : I can tell you when my birthday is and that the train station is around the corner. I can’t type it for you though.
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u/Lazzen Mexico Aug 11 '21 edited Aug 11 '21
Yucatec maya; Balam/Jaguar Sak/White Xux/wasp. Ba'ax ka wa'alik is hello.
Indonesian: Selamat Pagi/Good Morning
Hungarian: Paradiscom/tomato
Platdietsch: Mejal/girl
Quechua: Kancha/courtyard or field
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u/wolfjeanne Aug 12 '21
Oooh plat diets, hadn't thought about that. From a global perspective, my most exotic language probably is Frysian then.
Bûter, brea en griene tsiis, wat'dat net sizze kin is gjin oprjochte Fries. Which means, butter bread and green cheese, who cannot say that isn't a real Frysian. Supposedly a local independence hero made the phrase up to find impostors among his army.
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u/ambalamps11 Aug 11 '21
Howzit: Zimbabwean English
Ndiri kubika huku: Shona for “I’m cooking chicken” lol
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u/geedavey Aug 12 '21
Thanks to comedian Robert Klein, I know that "sessu" means "yes" in Lithuanian.
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u/earthwulf Aug 12 '21
I can do basic greetings in Fula/Puular, Soninke, and Wolof, three languages in Mauritania, though it's been a while.
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u/Yamadushi Aug 12 '21
I was taught how to say "motherf*cker" in three Vietnamese dialects, so probably that.
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u/altbekannt Aug 12 '21
Neat. And what is it?
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u/Yamadushi Aug 12 '21
I swear somebody will hate me for the spelling, but I only know how to say these, so apologies, haha.
There is the Du Ma (many accents missing), dit mei and... You know, I suddenly can't recall the central dialect. I have not talked to the person from central Vietnam for quite a while now
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u/laffydaffy24 Aug 11 '21
American here. Campidanese Sardo. Went on a trip there many years ago and really liked it.
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u/psycholepzy Aug 12 '21
I can swear in Klingon and tell my husband I love him in Khuzdul and Quenya.
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u/LinearJunebug Aug 12 '21
I guess it’s Ainu. I just looked it up, and according to Wikipedia, there were only 2(!) native speakers left ten years ago, although I know a moderate number of people can speak it as a second language. I know mefun, which is fermented salmon liver. Tastes as good as it sounds.
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u/Qthefun Aug 12 '21
Aussie here and know a few Quechuan words: Cuchy Ringo = pigs ear
Have butchered the spelling more than likely.
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u/HillInTheDistance Aug 12 '21
Finnish: "ei saa peittää." means "do not cover."
Learned it because our radiators were apparently made in Finland, and somehow, it just stuck in my head.
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u/YourTypicalSaudi Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 Aug 12 '21
In Bengali I know how to say thank you, not sure how it’s spelled but it’s pronounced something like this: Dhunopad
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u/nervous_nefertiti Aug 12 '21
I remember a bit of Twi from Ghana. I didn't learn to speak it very well, but a few phrases were enough to endear me to the lovely people.
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u/presque-veux Aug 12 '21
" !Gâi ǁgoas " - Nama taal from Namibia. It means good morning. I also know: "Matisa!"
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u/rockeh Aug 12 '21
I know a few words / phrases in High Valyrian, since OP didn't mention they have to be natural languages.
For a single example, "I love you" is "Avy jorraaelan" (To-you I-love)
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u/Peeeeeps USA Aug 12 '21
From USA and most exotic is probably in Danish. Happy birthday=Tillykke med fødseldagen
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u/okaymoose Canada Aug 12 '21
I know a bit a of French, Spanish, and German. None of them enough to hold a conversation but I think enough to not die if I visit a country with people who speak mainly these languages.
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u/whistleridge Aug 12 '21
American/Canadian and the langauge is Mooré:
- Ne y yibeoogo y gũsa soma? (good morning, did you sleep well?)
- Laafi bala. y zak rãmba? (yep, all good. how's your family?)
- Ub keemame. La y yĩins gãase? (all good, how are you doing?)
- Laafi. (good)
- Yaa sõma, wẽnd na kõ-d bilfu. (sweet! see you later!)
If you spend any time at all in Burkina Faso, you'll have this conversation about 50 times a day. It's just the normal rote exchange you have anytime you interact with anyone.
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u/mastersnorli 25d ago
Sanskrit - 'Vasudhaiva kutumbkam" which means whole world is my family :). I think it's a good phrase for this sub!
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u/8lbs6ozBebeJesus Canada 3d ago
Three languages I know random phrases in:
Himba (by far the most 'exotic' IMO): hello, how are you/moro, ua penduka
Taiwanese: have you eaten/jia ba buai
Algerian Arabic: how are you, thank you/ wesh raki, saha
Edit: Just remembered, I learned "good day, sir" in Sesotho (dumela, ntate) as well, that one is up there for exoticness
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u/ArmyOfDog Aug 11 '21
I think I can say “piece of shit” in Vietnamese. Though I have never verified if that’s what I’m actually saying.
Phonetically, it’s “nah-pee-choo.”
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u/whatthehellhappensto Aug 11 '21
I know one word in Basque: Ederak.
Means beautiful.
I think lol