# It's Greek to me (in other languages) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 29, 2008, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638 "2008-06-29T10:00:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/1 "2008-06-29T10:00:58Z")
I am guessing most languages have an idiom for the concept of not being able to understand something at all… eg. “It’s Greek to me”. In Czech it is translated as “It’s a Spanish village”. Others? ---
**Author:** ![ignis\_glaciesque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@ignis\_glaciesque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ignis_glaciesque)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/2 "2008-06-29T14:45:44Z")
Oddly enough, in German, it would be, “Es ist mir Spanisch,” “It’s all Spanish to me.” Someone told me that they also say, “wie spanische Dörfer”, “like Spanish villages”, but as IANANative German speaker, my linguistic spidey-sense fails me here as to whether or not it is an actual phrase they use. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/3 "2008-06-29T14:56:41Z")
Calling **Nava!** ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/4 "2008-06-29T14:58:47Z")
The idiom is the same in Norwegian: “Det er helt gresk for meg.” ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/5 "2008-06-29T14:59:23Z")
“Me estás hablando en chino.” “You’re speaking Chinese to me.” That’s one idiom I remember hearing (and using) in Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/6 "2008-06-29T15:25:29Z")
Yeah, but what do Greek people say? ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/7 "2008-06-29T15:50:25Z")
[QUOTE=ignis\_glaciesque] Oddly enough, in German, it would be, “Es ist mir Spanisch,” “It’s all Spanish to me.” Someone told me that they also say, “wie spanische Dörfer”, “like Spanish villages”, but as IANANative German speaker, my linguistic spidey-sense fails me here as to whether or not it is an actual phrase they use. [/QUOTE] The German idiom is usually _das kommt mir spanisch vor_ (this seems Spanish to me); the origin is assumed to be to Carlos I of Spain becoming German emperor Karl V in 1519 and importing alien, Spanish manners to the imperial court. The village idiom is not “spanische” but _böhmische Dörfer_ (bohemian villages): _Das sind böhmische Dörfer für mich_ = I am ignorant on that subject. ---
**Author:** ![Timchik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Timchik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timchik)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/8 "2008-06-29T16:56:18Z")
The Russian equivalent is “это китайская грамота для меня” [eto kitayskaya gramota dlya menya], meaning roughly “it’s Chinese writing to me”. I think French also uses “Chinese” as the referent (“c’est du chinois”). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/9 "2008-06-29T17:20:51Z")
[QUOTE=KarlGrenze] “Me estás hablando en chino.” “You’re speaking Chinese to me.” That’s one idiom I remember hearing (and using) in Spanish. [/QUOTE] And also “está en chino,” “that’s in Chinese.” Catalan uses the same expression, but don’t ask me whether it’s influence from Spanish or what. There’s a lot of commonality like that between both languages. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/10 "2008-06-29T17:49:41Z")
[QUOTE=Timchik] The Russian equivalent is “это китайская грамота для меня” [eto kitayskaya gramota dlya menya], meaning roughly “it’s Chinese writing to me”. I think French also uses “Chinese” as the referent (“c’est du chinois”). [/QUOTE] Generally rather “C’est de l’Hebreu” (Hebrew). ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/11 "2008-06-29T19:14:07Z")
[QUOTE=KarlGrenze] “Me estás hablando en chino.” “You’re speaking Chinese to me.” That’s one idiom I remember hearing (and using) in Spanish. [/QUOTE] Same for Dominican Spanish. According to Mighty\_Boy, Danes say “sounds like a Russian city”. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/12 "2008-06-29T19:19:52Z")
[QUOTE=Mighty\_Girl] Same for Dominican Spanish. According to Mighty\_Boy, Danes say “sounds like a Russian city”. [/QUOTE] Nope. We say “Det er det rene Volapyk” = “It’s pure Volapyk”. We use the expression “A city in Russia” as a comparison, if there is a subject we know nothing about. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/13 "2008-06-29T20:52:51Z")
[QUOTE=mr. jp] Nope. We say “Det er det rene Volapyk” = “It’s pure Volapyk”. We use the expression “A city in Russia” as a comparison, if there is a subject we know nothing about. [/QUOTE] Hey, maybe he forgot his Danish since he came back six days ago. 🙂 Or perhaps he misunderstood my question. ---
**Author:** ![Crescend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Crescend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescend)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/14 "2008-06-29T21:24:30Z")
[QUOTE=Timchik] The Russian equivalent is “это китайская грамота для меня” [eto kitayskaya gramota dlya menya], meaning roughly “it’s Chinese writing to me”. I think French also uses “Chinese” as the referent (“c’est du chinois”). [/QUOTE] There’s also “тарабарский язык” (Tarabarski language) or “тарабарская грамота” (Tarabarski writing). There’s no such language as Tarabarski, it’s the Russian equivalent of the Greek etymology of the word Barbarian - people whose language sounds like “bar-bar”. Something written in Tarabarski is incomprehensible or cryptic. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/15 "2008-06-29T23:00:50Z")
[QUOTE=clairobscur] Generally rather “C’est de l’Hebreu” (Hebrew). [/QUOTE] Really? I’ve never heard that one. Here it’s always “c’est du chinois”. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/16 "2008-06-29T23:45:20Z")
[QUOTE=flodnak] The idiom is the same in Norwegian: “Det er helt gresk for meg.” [/QUOTE] Huh, I thought that was regional from where I come from. (North-west coast) Live and learn. Have you lived in other places than Oslo, while in Norway? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/17 "2008-06-30T03:06:56Z")
[QUOTE=ultrafilter] Yeah, but what do Greek people say? [/QUOTE] Εἶναι γιὰ μένα κινέζικα (It is like Chinese) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/18 "2008-06-30T03:40:51Z")
[QUOTE=mr. jp] Nope. We say “Det er det rene Volapyk” = “It’s pure Volapyk”. We use the expression “A city in Russia” as a comparison, if there is a subject we know nothing about. [/QUOTE] Does Volapyk = [Volapuk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volapuk_encoding) or [Volapük](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volap%C3%BCk)? ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/19 "2008-06-30T04:18:54Z")
In Japanese, ちんぶんかんぶんだ！(loosely meaning: It’s a curious Chinese story.) According to this [site in Japanese](http://www.eigo21.com/etc/kimagure/z017.htm), here are other examples: French:　C’est du chinois. 　 French:　C’est de l’hébreu.　　 Italian:　Per me è arabo. Italian:　Per me è ostrogoto. Italian:　Parli turco. Spanish:　Me suena a chino. German:　Das kommt mir Spanisch vor. 　 German:　Das sind mire böhmische Dörfer. Dutch:　Dat is Hebreeuws voor me. Danish:　Det ere det rene volapyk for mig. Russian:　для меня это китайская грамота Polish: To dla mnie chinszczyzna.\* Polish: Siedziem jak na tureckim kazaniu.　 Hungarian: Nekem kínaiul van. Finnish: Se on minulle hepreää. Czech:　To je pro mne spanelská　vesnice.\* Here’s a breakdown: “Greek” used by speakers of: middle Latin, English, Portguese, Norwegian “Chinese” by French, Spanish, Russian, Hungarian “Hebrew” by French, Dutch, Finnish “Spanish” by Dutch, Czech “Turkish” by Italian, Polish “Dutch” by English “Czech” by German “Arabian” by Italian “Volapük” by Danish “Ostrogothic” by Italian ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638/20 "2008-06-30T08:07:04Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Does Volapyk = [Volapuk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volapuk_encoding) or [Volapük](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volap%C3%BCk)? [/QUOTE] Yes. In Danish the letter “y” has replaced the German “ü”, but it represents the same sound. In regard to the OP, we could also say “det er kaudervælsk” = “it is kaudervælsk (to me)”. According to my etymological dictionary “kaudervælsk” breaks down to: “Chur” - the name of a Swiss town + “Welsh” - i.e. Celtic. Strange. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me-in-other-languages/454638.md?page=2)