# "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:** 3
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/41 "2012-02-02T17:30:36Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Thanks, I can speak Japanese decently, but I’m not always sure of nuances. Come to think of it, wouldn’t the negated potential form translate closer to “I am unable to understand” meaning more along the lines of “even if you taught me, I wouldn’t get it”? > [@jovan](#): > > It doesn’t even mean that; if you wanted to express an impossibility to understand, you would say something like “_rikai dekimasen_”. “_Wakaru_”, by definition, expresses a potentiality, and thus has no potential form. Furthermore, “_wakareru_” exists as an intransitive verb, and that’s what anyone would hear it as. “_Nihongo ga wakaremasen_” only really parses as “Japanese doesn’t break up.” I would simply say: [subject] [particle] wakaranai. For example: 英語が分からない　- Ei go ga wakaranai. - I don’t understand English スペイン語が分からない　- Supein go ga wakaranai - I don’t understand Spanish 日本語が分からない　- Nihon go ga wakaranai - I don’t understand Japanese ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/42 "2012-02-02T17:36:16Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > A quick stroll down memory lane and a dictionary later, the Latin version should be “Latinum non loquor” (phon.: lahteenoom non lokwor). Are you sure about that? I refrained from posting because I wasn’t, but I think it’s _linguâ latinâ non loquor_ (lit. “I do not speak with the Latin tongue,” with the word for “tongue” also being the word for “language”). By the way, **hibernicus** ’s “literal” version of the Irish isn’t 100% literal. Word by word, it’s “Not-is Irish at-me.” \*Níl \*X _agam_ is how you say you don’t have something, but technically the verb is “to be” (and etymologically, this particular form of the verb comes from “to see,” which makes it even weirder. Irish is awesome). ---
**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, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/43 "2012-02-02T17:45:44Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > In standard (Mandarin) Chinese, the name of the standard (Mandarin) language is “Putonghua,” and means just as you describe. It’s generally the Beijing dialect. In a way, it’s like how we associate newscaster English as being kind of a “common” or standard English. > > It’s important to know that it’s a common, standard language because it’s the only really mutually intelligible language in China. There are lots and lots of dialects with different levels of intelligibility with Mandarin, plus a lot of languages that have nothing in common short of Hanzi (e.g., Cantonese). > > I suppose there’s the possibility that if you say you don’t speak Mandarin, there’s the possibility that you might speak Shanghaiese or Nanjingese or some other Chinese dialect. In any case, the word “Putonghua” is what my language teacher is teaching me to say. You’re right, I forgot about how many different dialects there are in China. Speaking as someone from Taiwan, it didn’t occur to me that “Chinese” might mean different dialects instead of just an all-encompassing Mandarin. I guess the difference between me and \*\*jjimm \*\*is where we grew up or where we learned Chinese. > [@Balthisar](#): > > And this is the difference between Pinyin and other Romanization systems. Not writing “Zhongguo” (even without the diacritics) looks strange to me. > > And because I’m a bad student, I can’t really remember what I was taught about the spoken language versus the language in general. Instead of (English) “yingwen” (the English language) it’s something like “yingru” (spoken English). > > I can read a few different languages, and I can speak and understand about three others, and one of those really quite well, but Chinese isn’t one of them. This means that in the moment of truth, I freeze (uncharacteristically) and say “ting bu dong” as my way of saying, “I’m very sorry mate, but I’m unable to understand a single thing that you’re telling me in Chinese.” 😉 Don’t take my spelling of Chinese words as anything official. I just try to sound it out and finagle a passable English spelling. I’ve never studied Pinyin or the proper way to convert Chinese words to English, so my “tzong” is just my own personal spelling. I speak Chinese with parents and people of the older generation but my formal learning stopped around when I was 6 or 7. Its such a difficult language anyway that I don’t think I’ll ever get any more advanced that I am now ---
**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 2, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/44 "2012-02-02T18:54:50Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Are you sure about that? Not in the least, no. I’m reasonably certain you don’t need to add “lingua”, “latinus” is its own word. However, I’m confused by Wiktionary - apparently, there’s a specific construct, which is not part of the regular declension of “latinus”, to mean “in Latin” or “in the Latin tongue”- Latine. Is it something the Romans did, is it some Low Latin bastardization, is it something that jokers came up with in the 14th century ? No clue. All I know is that “Latinus” means Latin (as in the language), that it’s a second declension word, that in the context of the sentence “I don’t speak Latin” the word Latin should take the accusative (… right ?) and that the accusative of Latinus is Latinum. That is the extent of my current knowledge of Latin. I may have used to know more, but then again I might not have because I only paid attention for two years out of six. ---
**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 2, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/45 "2012-02-02T19:40:41Z")
> [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](#): > > Then **Acsenray** (when did you cap the A, btw?) adds _Ich kann Deutsche_, which means “I can German,” when I assume you meant either _Ich kenne Deutsch_ or _Ich kenn’ Deutsch_, which is “I know German.” > [@psychonaut](#): > > No, he had it right. “_Ich kann Deutsch_” is a perfectly good idiom for “I can speak German”. “_Ich kenne deutsch_”, on the other hand, would probably be considered a mistake. > [@Ximenean](#): > > Although it is not correct to say that \*kann \*is a form of the verb _kennen_, right? > [@Hellestal](#): > > _Ich kann Deutsch_ is good, but that’s not a form of _kennen_ being used. It’s a form of _können_. Literally, it’s “I can German”. Can you German? Yes, I can. :smack: Of course! _Können_! I’m glad I got the conjugation right anyway. It’s been a long time since I had to exercise my German grammar. I can still do this in about three seconds flat though: der-des-dem-den, die-der-der-die, das-des-dem-das, die-der-den-die. Of course, I still left out the “nicht.” ---
**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 2, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/46 "2012-02-02T21:21:59Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > […] > 英語が分からない　- Ei go ga wakaranai. - I don’t understand English > スペイン語が分からない　- Supein go ga wakaranai - I don’t understand Spanish > 日本語が分からない　- Nihon go ga wakaranai - I don’t understand Japanese I’d be interested to see how you get those Japanese characters. 🙂 Someone I know wrote out _“gomen nasai”_ (“excuse me”) in hiragana. Can that be written in the more elaborate characters (rather than using the syllabaries)? ---
**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 2, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/47 "2012-02-02T21:31:32Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > I’d be interested to see how you get those Japanese characters. 🙂 > Someone I know wrote out _“gomen nasai”_ (“excuse me”) in hiragana. Can that be written in the more elaborate characters (rather than using the syllabaries)? 御免なさい. I’m not aware of any kanji for “nasai” but someone else might know. Edited: you could try this: 御免為さい ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/48 "2012-02-02T22:11:34Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > I’d be interested to see how you get those Japanese characters. 🙂 My computer is set to allow me to switch back and forth between roman characters and kana on the fly with a press of a key on my keyboard. > [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Someone I know wrote out _“gomen nasai”_ (“excuse me”) in hiragana. Can that be written in the more elaborate characters (rather than using the syllabaries)? Certainly. Hiragana auto-converts to kanji, and sometimes katakana, as I type and, usually, selects the correct kanji based on context. ---
**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 2, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/49 "2012-02-02T22:29:14Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Certainly. Hiragana auto-converts to kanji, and sometimes katakana, as I type and, usually, selects the correct kanji based on context. But isn’t it true to say that _gomen nasai_ is usually written in hiragana? The IME’s first suggestion is hiragana, and no. 2 has kanji for _gomen_ but not for _nasai_. So it’s not straightforward to say what the “correct kanji” is in this instance. ---
**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 2, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/50 "2012-02-02T22:38:30Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > By the way, **hibernicus** ’s “literal” version of the Irish isn’t 100% literal. Word by word, it’s “Not-is Irish at-me.” \*Níl \*X _agam_ is how you say you don’t have something, but technically the verb is “to be” (and etymologically, this particular form of the verb comes from “to see,” which makes it even weirder. Irish is awesome). Good point! It didn’t even occur to me that my “literal” translation was still idiomatic. And I learned something new from you today. I never knew that the irregular forms _níl_ and _an bhfuil_ had any connection with “to see”. Thanks for that! ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/51 "2012-02-02T23:06:16Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > I would simply say: [subject] [particle] wakaranai. > > For example: > > 英語が分からない　- Ei go ga wakaranai. - I don’t understand English > スペイン語が分からない　- Supein go ga wakaranai - I don’t understand Spanish > 日本語が分からない　- Nihon go ga wakaranai - I don’t understand Japanese That just means “I don’t understand”. The question was how you would say “I _can’t_ understand”, and the correct way to say this is not “_wakarenai_”, it’s “_rikai dekinai_”. As in: “彼はなぜ日本語が未だに分からないのか、理解できない。” -\> “I just can’t understand why he still doesn’t understand Japanese.” > [@hibernicus](#): > > 御免なさい. I’m not aware of any kanji for “nasai” but someone else might know. > > Edited: you could try this: > > 御免為さい I tried a Google search for “御免為さい”, and just as I thought, the only people who write it this way are l33t and foreigners. In a formal settings, “御免なさい” is OK, but otherwise it’s written in hiragana. Google returns 2,600,000 hits for “御免なさい” versus a massive 96,400,000 for “ごめんなさい”. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/52 "2012-02-03T03:35:27Z")
> [@jovan](#): > > That just means “I don’t understand”. The question was how you would say “I _can’t_ understand”, and the correct way to say this is not “_wakarenai_”, it’s “_rikai dekinai_”. Of course you can say this, but I think it is less common for someone to say “I can’t understand Japanese” than “I don’t understand Japanese.” Splitting hairs, I know, but rikai dekinai, to me, feels more like an incapacity to understand than simply a present inability to undertand. Also, “I don’t understand” is simpler. 分かった？ _[spoiler]_ Understand?[/spoiler]Getting back to the OP, however, the way to say “I don’t speak Japanese” would either be “Nihon go ga hanashimasen” or, more commonly and less formally “Nihon go ga hanasanai.” And yes, you could prefix it with “boku wa” for a boy, “atashi wa” for a girl, “ore wa” if you want to sound ‘street’, or even “watashi wa” for a more formal presentation, but personal pronouns are very infrequently used in Japanese. > [@jovan](#): > > I tried a Google search for “御免為さい”, and just as I thought, the only people who write it this way are l33t and foreigners. In a formal settings, “御免なさい” is OK, but otherwise it’s written in hiragana. Google returns 2,600,000 hits for “御免なさい” versus a massive 96,400,000 for “ごめんなさい”. I agree with you on this one, although when speaking, as just a personal preference, I typically say “ごめんね” instead of “ごめんなさい.” ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/53 "2012-02-03T03:57:28Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Of course you can say this, but I think it is less common for someone to say “I can’t understand Japanese” than “I don’t understand Japanese.” Splitting hairs, I know, but rikai dekinai, to me, feels more like an incapacity to understand than simply a present inability to undertand. You just repeated what I said. My post was in reply to the grammatically-incorrect “_wakarenai_”. > [@](#): > > Also, “I don’t understand” is simpler. 分かった？ > (…) > .I agree with you on this one, although when speaking, as just a personal preference, I typically say “ごめんね” instead of “ごめんなさい.” Unless you’re talking to a child, or you’re a teacher talking to a pupil, saying “分かった?” after explaining something is actually rude. Unless you’re on 2-chan, Japanese internet posters will speak to each other in the polite form. Similarly, depending on who you are speaking to, and what you are apologising about, saying “ごめんね” instead of “ごめんなさい” may also be inappropriate. I’m only writing all this to thouroughly scare off potential learners of the language. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/54 "2012-02-03T04:11:48Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Someone I know wrote out _“gomen nasai”_ (“excuse me”) in hiragana. Can that be written in the more elaborate characters (rather than using the syllabaries)? Actually, ‘gomen nasai’ is more like I’m sorry than excuse me. For ‘excuse me’, I use ‘sumimasen’, even though it’s really just a more formal way to say ‘I’m sorry’. For example, if I’m in an elevator standing behind someone and need to reach over them to press the button for my floor, I would say ‘sumimasen’, never ‘gomen nasai’. However, if I accidentally nick someone in the neck with my umbrella as I’m walking down the street, I’d say ‘gomen nasai’, of course followed by ‘daijoubudesuka’ to check if they’re okay and to show courtesy, but I’d never say ‘sumimasen’ in that situation. You can also use ‘shitsureshimasu’ for ‘excuse me’, although I’d typically use ‘shitsureshimasu’ when entering a room or other enclosed space, especially when I’m not being expected and I know others are there. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/55 "2012-02-03T04:34:44Z")
> [@jovan](#): > > You just repeated what I said. My post was in reply to the grammatically-incorrect “_wakarenai_”. Ah, reading back up to your post (#30) I see you did, indeed, make the same point. I’d missed that. However, wakaranai is not grammatically incorrect. > [@jovan](#): > > Unless you’re talking to a child, or you’re a teacher talking to a pupil, saying “分かった?” after explaining something is actually rude. Yeah, in retrospect, that was probably a bit uncalled for. 😛 > [@jovan](#): > > Unless you’re on 2-chan, Japanese internet posters will speak to each other in the polite form. Until familiarity sets in, then it’s all slang all the time. > [@jovan](#): > > Similarly, depending on who you are speaking to, and what you are apologising about, saying “ごめんね” instead of “ごめんなさい” may also be inappropriate. From a formality perspective, yes. > [@jovan](#): > > I’m only writing all this to thouroughly scare off potential learners of the language. 😉 And you’re doing a good job. 🙂 ---
**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 3, 2012, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/56 "2012-02-03T09:24:44Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Actually, ‘gomen nasai’ is more like I’m sorry than excuse me. For ‘excuse me’, I use ‘sumimasen’, even though it’s really just a more formal way to say ‘I’m sorry’. For example, if I’m in an elevator standing behind someone and need to reach over them to press the button for my floor, I would say ‘sumimasen’, never ‘gomen nasai’. However, if I accidentally nick someone in the neck with my umbrella as I’m walking down the street, I’d say ‘gomen nasai’, of course followed by ‘daijoubudesuka’ to check if they’re okay and to show courtesy, but I’d never say ‘sumimasen’ in that situation. > > You can also use ‘shitsureshimasu’ for ‘excuse me’, although I’d typically use ‘shitsureshimasu’ when entering a room or other enclosed space, especially when I’m not being expected and I know others are there. I brought this question up because of a cartoon in _Cracked_ I found; the “cause of the Russian-Japanese War” (1905). Facetiously, it shows a Russian government official angry because a Japanese government official has trod on his toe. The artist knew nothing about Russian or Japanese script; I wanted to replace the ersatz dialog with the proper dialog–the Russian for “You clumsy idiot!” and the Japanese for “excuse me.” ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/57 "2012-02-03T14:48:18Z")
Great thread. OP, I hope you post your “final” result, _with transliterations for every one,_ (with a note that they are intended for English readers–a Spanish person would read an “i” as “ee”, for example). ---
**Author:** ![\_mostly\_Harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/9d8465/32.png) [@\_mostly\_Harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_mostly_Harmless)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/58 "2012-02-03T21:52:12Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Não falo português - (I) don’t speak portuguese > > No fall-uh port-uh-gace (varies with dialect) I suppose it does depend on dialect. The way I was taught it would sound more like: now fall-oo port-oo-gaysh. Anyway in Farsi it would be: “Man Farsi-ra na mi donam” which is “I don’t know Farsi” or “Man Farsi-ra harf na mi zanam” which is “I don’t speak Farsi.” ---
**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 3, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/59 "2012-02-03T22:28:10Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Getting back to the OP, however, the way to say “I don’t speak Japanese” would either be “Nihon go ga hanashimasen” or, more commonly and less formally “Nihon go ga hanasanai.” I know you speak Japanese much better than me so I’m sorry to correct you, but it would have to be “nihongo ga hanas **e** masen”. What you wrote means “Japanese doesn’t speak”. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399/60 "2012-02-04T12:48:39Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > I know you speak Japanese much better than me so I’m sorry to correct you, but it would have to be “nihongo ga hanas **e** masen”. What you wrote means “Japanese doesn’t speak”. Actually, what I wrote does mean “I don’t speak Japanese”, but you are correct. ‘Hanesemasen’ as the negative potential conjugation of hanasu (to speak) means the inability to speak, where as ‘hanashimasen’ as the negative present indicative conjugation means to choose not to speak, therefore, ‘nihon go ga hanasemasen’ is correct use for someone who does not currently have the ability to speak Japanese. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-speak/611399.md?page=4)