# Other Languages' "Pig-Latin" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 9, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-languages-pig-latin/502478 "2009-07-09T18:30:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kitemaker\_chuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a88e4f/32.png) [@kitemaker\_chuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitemaker_chuck)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-languages-pig-latin/502478/1 "2009-07-09T18:30:06Z")
What equivalents do other (non-English speaking) languages have for “ig-pay atin-lay”??? ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-languages-pig-latin/502478/2 "2009-07-09T20:00:31Z")
I know that some Spanish-speakers will do this by inserting a consonant into every syllable, like so: Chosen consonant is p: Español -\> Epe-spapa-ñopol ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-languages-pig-latin/502478/3 "2009-07-09T20:13:05Z")
Whopat opare yopou topalkoping opaopbout? ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-languages-pig-latin/502478/4 "2009-07-09T20:19:00Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > I know that some Spanish-speakers will do this by inserting a consonant into every syllable, like so: > > Chosen consonant is p: Español -\> Epe-spapa-ñopol Hebrew does the same, but with “b” _Ani Ohev Otakh_ (“I love you”) -\> _[Abanibi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-Ba-Ni-Bi)OboHebev Obotabakh_ ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-languages-pig-latin/502478/5 "2009-07-09T20:21:56Z")
French has a couple of examples: [loucherbem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louch%C3%A9bem) and [verlan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verlan). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-languages-pig-latin/502478/6 "2009-07-09T20:25:34Z")
… didn’t “pig latin” mean “butchered Latin”? Does it just mean “nonsense code talk”? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-languages-pig-latin/502478/7 "2009-07-09T20:59:46Z")
Nava, “Pig Latin” is also a specific kind of code-speak where for every word, you remove the first consonant cluster (if it starts with a consonant), affix the letter(s) to the end of the word, and end with “-ay” (rhymes with “hay” or “day”). If the word starts with a vowel, you just end with -ay. So Pig Latin would be ig-pay atin-lay. “I speak Pig Latin” would be “I-ay eak-spay ig-pay atin-lay.” I know Japanese has at least one of these, but hell if I can remember how it works. ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-languages-pig-latin/502478/8 "2009-07-10T09:37:22Z")
One of the most widely-known ones in Finland is kontinkieli, where the word “kontti” is inserted after every word and then the first syllables of words are switched. “My name is auRa” -\> “Minun nimeni on auRa” -\> “Minun kontti nimeni kontti on kontti auRa kontti” -\> “Konun mintti komeni nintti kon ontti kouRa antti”. Pig Latin, incidentally, is Pig German in Finnish - “siansaksa”. Used mostly in the sense of gibberish, but it also refers to a specific type of code language where the first syllables of concecutive words were switched and has been used since the 1600s in Sweden. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-languages-pig-latin/502478/9 "2009-07-10T09:57:19Z")
> [@Noone\_Special](#): > > Hebrew does the same, but with “b” > > _Ani Ohev Otakh_ (“I love you”) -\> _[Abanibi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-Ba-Ni-Bi)OboHebev Obotabakh_ I think you may have misunderstood. I chose “p” for my example, because it’s the prototypical example (“Epespapañopol” is what it’s called), but you can actually insert any consonant: “Hañabloño Iñingleñes, Eñespañañoñol yñy Eñepeñespañapañañoñopoñol” (hablo Ingles, Español y Epespapañopol = I speak English, Spanish, and Authentic Spanish Frontier Gibberish) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-languages-pig-latin/502478/10 "2009-07-10T11:21:11Z")
[It’s “umb-day” in any language.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwMzgEmrvs4) ---
**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:** [July 10, 2009, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-languages-pig-latin/502478/11 "2009-07-10T11:37:54Z")
… about the class of [language games](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_game), with a long list of language games in various languages. One language game popular with German children is not a language but a particular nonsensical song, [Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drei_Chinesen_mit_dem_Kontrabass) where from the second stanza all vowels are exchanged with one single vowel. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-languages-pig-latin/502478/12 "2009-07-10T11:42:31Z")
Here are many such secret languages: > **[Language game](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_game)** > > A language game (also called a cant, secret language, ludling, or argot) is a system of manipulating spoken words to render them incomprehensible to an untrained listener. Language games are used primarily by groups attempting to conceal their conversations from others. Some common examples are Pig Latin; the Gibberish family, prevalent in the United States and Sweden; and Verlan, spoken in France. > A common difficulty with language games is that they are usually passed down orally; while written... ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-languages-pig-latin/502478/13 "2009-07-10T14:39:21Z")
> [@tschild](#): > > One language game popular with German children is not a language but a particular nonsensical song, [Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drei_Chinesen_mit_dem_Kontrabass) where from the second stanza all vowels are exchanged with one single vowel. When I was in my early teens, I used to babysit for the neighbor kids, which occasionally involved being subjected to the particularly cruel and unusual form of punishment known as Barney. I remember a particular song from that that sounds similar. The lyrics were, “I like to eat, eat, eat / Apples and bananas,” which would then have the vowels in “eat,” “apples,” and “bananas” replaced with a succession of different ones. E.g., the long “o” version would sound something like, “I like to oat, oat, oat / Opals and boe-no-nos.” ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-languages-pig-latin/502478/14 "2009-07-10T15:41:30Z")
For pig latin, contrary to what \*\*SfG \*\*posted, I was always taught that if the word begins with a vowel, then you don’t do anything with it at all. So my “I speak pig latin” phrase, when translated, would be “I eakspay igpay atinlay.” Or “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” becomes “an apple a aday eepskay ethay octorday away.” Anyone else learn this way? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-languages-pig-latin/502478/15 "2009-07-10T15:48:31Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > For pig latin, contrary to what \*\*SfG \*\*posted, I was always taught that if the word begins with a vowel, then you don’t do anything with it at all. Huh, I never encountered anyone who didn’t use the “just put -ay after a word starting with a vowel” rule. Where did you grow up? (Milwaukee, here.) ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-languages-pig-latin/502478/16 "2009-07-10T15:51:03Z")
In argentina, the “p” language is called “Jeringoso”, or more correctly “Jeperipigoponsopo”