becka_sutton: Becka's default icon (Default)
becka_sutton ([personal profile] becka_sutton) wrote in [community profile] noviceconlangers2011-11-29 09:17 pm
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This site may be useful

Was nosing around looking for info on various real world natural languages and stumbled across Omniglot. This site seems to have sketches of loads of languages.

It also has a lovely page of idioms in multiple languages - inspiration for idioms for our languages. :-D

anke: (Default)

[personal profile] anke 2011-11-29 09:37 pm (UTC)(link)
*looks at idioms*

klar wie Kloßbrühe
as clear potato dumpling water = as clear as crystal - easy to understand
originally meant difficult to understand (as clear as mud)

That reminds me of a discussion my class had with a teacher about another idiom, "Passt wie die Faust aufs Auge", which literally translates to "fits like the fist on the eye".
He said it meant "doesn't fit at all", the entire class said it meant "fits very well".

Ironic usage getting set in stone? XD
anke: (Default)

[personal profile] anke 2011-11-29 09:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Also, my goodness, someone had some fun with adding, er, rather loose German translations of "Go away!"
Mach' mich nicht an! = Don't chat me up (though it it used more generally)
Nimm dein Gesicht und geh! = take your face and leave! (Not one I've come across so far...)

The others are more in the line of "Leave me alone".

I'm not particularly well-versed when it comes to dialects, but I suspect Berlinerisch "Leck' mir de Boll'n!" translates to "lick my balls", and my first guess for "Blas mer" would be, er, "suck me off"? An order for a blowjob, anyway.

My, my...
inventrix: (hwee)

[personal profile] inventrix 2011-11-30 06:24 pm (UTC)(link)
I had completely forgotten the existence of this site! Thank you! :D