# "I don't speak..." **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2012, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399 "2012-02-01T07:25:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/1 "2012-02-01T07:25:56Z")
I would like to know how to say “I don’t speak (language)” in various languages. I have a list here: Armenian. Chinese (Pinyin). Danish\* [Jeg taler ikke Dansk].\* Dutch _[Ik spreke niet nederlands]._ Finnish _[En puhua sumoalainen]._ German _[Ich spreche nicht deutsch]._ Hungarian _[Nem beszek magyarül]._ Ilocano. Irish. Japanese _[Nihon-go dekimasen]._ Latin. Polish _[Nie mówim po polsku]._ Russian _[Ja nie govoriju po-russki]._ Slovak. Slovenian. Swedish. Tagalog. Turkish _[Konuşmaarım türkçe]._ Ukranian. Yiddish. (The translation in italics is my own and I’m not sure it’s correct.) ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/2 "2012-02-01T07:42:34Z")
If I was going to learn only one sentence of a language, I can think many more useful than; “I don’t speak…”, I’m just saying. Sorry, I don’t know a second language and can’t help on that front. Surely there are on line translators though, have you tried those? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/3 "2012-02-01T07:46:40Z")
Não falo português - (I) don’t speak portuguese No fall-uh port-uh-gace (varies with dialect) ---
**Author:** ![coffinjumper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@coffinjumper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffinjumper)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/4 "2012-02-01T07:54:58Z")
Your Japanese seems weird to me. It translates more to something like “I don’t do Japanese.” You might want more of a “Nihongo o wakarimasen,” which would be “I don’t understand Japanese” or “Nihongo o hanashimasen,” which is actually “I don’t speak Japanese.” All formally, of course. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/5 "2012-02-01T08:29:45Z")
A few of your translations are wrong: > [@dougie\_monty](#): > > German _[Ich spreche nicht deutsch]._ _Ich spreche kein Deutsch_. > [@](#): > > Hungarian _[Nem beszek magyarül]._ _Nem beszélek magyarul_. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/6 "2012-02-01T08:31:01Z")
Je ne parle pas le français (for French). You can omit the “le” if you want. ETA: phonetically, juh nuh pah-R-luh pah luh fran-say. The “j” is soft as in Raj, not hard as in jelly. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/7 "2012-02-01T08:42:39Z")
Chinese (Mandarin): Woh boo shor poo tong hua. FTR pinyin is a writing system, not a language. What I wrote above is not pinyin. Chinese (Cantonese): Mm sik gong dong wah. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/8 "2012-02-01T08:44:29Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > _Ich spreche kein Deutsch_. Wouldn’t the verb come at the end? _Ich kann nicht Deutsch sprechen_. I can not German speak. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/9 "2012-02-01T08:59:18Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Wouldn’t the verb come at the end? _Ich kann nicht Deutsch sprechen_. I can not German speak. In a subordinate clause or in a sentence with two verb forms (like yours), yes. In my example, no. ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/10 "2012-02-01T09:03:52Z")
dutch is wrong too better is: [_Ik spreek geen Nederlands_] ---
**Author:** ![VanillaGorilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@VanillaGorilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VanillaGorilla)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/11 "2012-02-01T09:05:05Z")
Swedish: _Jag talar inte svenska._ ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/12 "2012-02-01T09:08:38Z")
Icelandic: _Ég tala ekki íslensku._ ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/13 "2012-02-01T09:22:18Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > If I was going to learn only one sentence of a language, I can think many more useful than; > > “I don’t speak…”, I’m just saying. > > Sorry, I don’t know a second language and can’t help on that front. Surely there are on line translators though, have you tried those? That one is actually very useful, it triggers “ok, let’s see who do we find who has a language in common with you” mode. I worked as a lab tech for several years; the sight of a warehouse dude dragging a truck driver into the lab was common enough to be unremarkable. Some of the truck drivers were looking quite scared by being forcibly dragged along by their sleeves, until they saw the white lab coat. White lab coat = person who’s more likely to speak Foreign than the dudes at the warehouse. Many tasks were routing enough to be handled just fine by two guys with nothing in common; for anything more complicated, the truckers got brought to the whitecoats. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/14 "2012-02-01T22:28:57Z")
> [@coffinjumper](#): > > Your Japanese seems weird to me. It translates more to something like “I don’t do Japanese.” You might want more of a “Nihongo o wakarimasen,” which would be “I don’t understand Japanese” or “Nihongo o hanashimasen,” which is actually “I don’t speak Japanese.” All formally, of course. “Ga”, not “o”! Nihongo ga dekimasen. Nihongo ga wakarimasen. Nihongo ga hanasemasen. Dekimasen is correct - it means “not able to do”. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/15 "2012-02-01T22:33:28Z")
Irish: _Níl Gaeilge agam_ (lit. “I don’t have Irish”) Finnish: _en puhu suomea_ Your Russian looks like it was transliterated by a German! ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/16 "2012-02-01T22:55:09Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Chinese (Pinyin). For Mandarin, it will sound like this: Wo bu jiang tzong wen ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/17 "2012-02-01T23:04:35Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Chinese (Mandarin): Woh boo shor poo tong hua. > [@YogSosoth](#): > > For Mandarin, it will sound like this: > > Wo bu jiang tzong wen What is the difference between these two? They both start with wo boo, i guess tong and tzong are close, then what? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/18 "2012-02-01T23:35:40Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > German _[Ich spreche nicht deutsch]._ > [@psychonaut](#): > > _Ich spreche kein Deutsch_. > [@jjimm](#): > > Wouldn’t the verb come at the end? _Ich kann nicht Deutsch sprechen_. I can not German speak. I was taught that in German it is idiomatic to use the verb _kennen_ by itself to mean "to speak (a language). Thus: _Ich kann Deutch._ ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/19 "2012-02-02T00:55:27Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Originally Posted by jjimm View Post > Chinese (Mandarin): Woh boo shor poo tong hua. > Quote: > Originally Posted by YogSosoth View Post > For Mandarin, it will sound like this: > > Wo bu jiang tzong wen > What is the difference between these two? They both start with wo boo, i guess tong and tzong are close, then what? jjimm is saying: I don’t speak/talk “ordinary language”, or “common language”. “Poo tong” means “ordinary” or “common”, “hua” can be “speech, talk, language, dialect” but is less formal For mine, “jiang” is also “speak”, but not as much “talk”. And “tzong wen” literally is “Chinese language”, not just “language” because “Tzong” is short for “Tzong guo”, which is “China” or “Chinese” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/20 "2012-02-02T01:14:03Z")
Not sure why you left out Norwegian (one of my favorite languages): _Jeg snakker ikke Norsk_. In Japanese, I would just say: _Nihon-go wakarimasen_. Literally: Japanese understand not. You could say _Watashi wa, nihon-go wakarimasen_ but it would normally be understood that you were talking about yourself. > [@elbows](#): > > If I was going to learn only one sentence of a language, I can think many more useful than; Don’t know about that. It’s the first phrase I learn when traveling to a new country. The second being: Do you speak English? I figure it’s only polite. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399.md?page=2)