The map above shows what the English idiom, “It’s all Greek To Me” (something is completely unintelligible or impossible to understand) is in other European languages.
For example, in Greece it translates to: “It’s Chinese to me”. Other alternatives include Hebrew, Spanish Villages and railway stations?
See below for a list by language (from Omniglot the source for this map) including some that didn’t make it onto the map:
| Language | Idiom |
|---|---|
| Albanian | Mos fol kinezce (Do not speak Chinese) |
| Belarusian | Гэта для мяне кітайская грамата (Geta dĺa m′ańe kіtajskaja gramata) - - It's Chinese writing to me |
| Bulgarian | Говориш ми на патагонски (Govoriš mi na patagonski) - - You're speaking to me in Patagonian! |
| Catalan | Això em sona a xinès (It sounds like Chinese) |
| Croatian | Španska sela (Spanish village), kineski gradovi (Chinese cities), To su za mene španska sela. (It's a Spanish village to me) |
| Czech | Je to pro mne španĕlská vesnice (It's a Spanish village to me) |
| Danish | Det er (det rene) volapyk (That is (pure) Volapük), Det er en by i Rusland (This is a town in Russia) |
| Dutch | Dat is Chinees voor mij (That's Chinese for me), Dat is Latijn voor mij (That's Latin for me), Daar kan ik geen chocola van maken (I can't make any chocolate from that), Ik snap er geen jota van (I don’t understand one iota of it) |
| Estonian | See on nagu hiina keel (It's like Chinese) |
| Finnish | Täyttä hepreaa (Complete Hebrew), Kuulostaa siansaksalta (Sounds like pig’s German) |
| French | C'est du chinois (It's Chinese) C'est de l'hébreu (It's Hebrew) C'est du javanais (It's Javanese) C'est du russe (It's Russian) C'est du haut allemand (It's High German) |
| German | Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof (I understand only railway station) Spreche ich etwa chinesisch? (Am I speaking Chinese?) Böhmische Dörfer (Bohemian villages) Das ist Chinesisch für mich (That's all Chinese to me) Das kommt mir spanisch vor (That sounds Spanish to me) |
| Greek | Εἶναι γιὰ μένα κινέζικα (Íne gia ména kinézika) - it's Chinese to me Εἶναι ἀλαμπουρνέζικα (Íne alabournézika) - It's gobbledygook Εν τούρτζικα που μιλάς; (En toúrtzika pou milás?) - Are you speaking Turkish? |
| Hebrew | It's Chinese to me - (Ze sinit bishvili) זה סינית בשביל |
| Hungarian | Ez nekem kínai (This is Chinese to me) |
| Icelandic | Þetta er hebreska fyrir mér (This is Hebrew to me) |
| Irish | Ní thuigim focal de (I don’t understand a word of it) |
| Italian | Questo per me è arabo (This is Arabic to me) Questo per me è aramaico (This is Aramaic to me) Questo per me è ostrogoto (This is Ostrogoth to me) Questo per me è turco (This is Turkish to me) Questo per me è cinese (This is Chinese to me) |
| Latin | Graecum est; non legitur (It’s Greek, [therefore] it cannot be read) |
| Latvian | Tā ir ķīniešu ābece/alfabēts (It's the Chinese alphabet) |
| Lithuanian | Tai man kaip kinų kalba (It's all Chinese to me) |
| Macedonian | За мене тоа е шпанско село (Za mene toa e shpansko selo) - That's a Spanish village to me |
| Manx | Cha nel mee toiggal fockle jeh (I don’t understand a word of it) |
| Norwegian | Det er (helt) gresk for meg (It's (complete) Greek to me) |
| Polish | Równie dobrze mogłoby to być po chińsku (It could be in Chinese with the same effect - I would understand the same if it was in Chinese ... a u mnie wszyscy zdrowi (casual) (... yeah, everybody's healthy in my home) - suggests that the thing said before is completely out of place and nonsense Czy ja mówię po chińsku? (Do I speak Chinese?) |
| Portuguese | É grego para mim (It's Greek to me) É chinês para mim (It's Chinese to me) |
| Romanian | Parcă e chineză = It’s like Chinese, Ești turc? = Are you Turkish? |
| Russian | Это для меня китайская грамота (Eto dlya menya kitayskaya gramota) - That's Chinese writing to me |
| Serbian | То су за мене шпанска села (To su za mene španska selaa) - These are a Spanish village to me К'о да кинески причаш (K'o da kineski pričaš) - Like speaking in Chinese |
| Slovak | Je to pre mňa španielska dedina (It's a Spanish village to me) |
| Slovenian | Zame je to španska vas (this is a Spanish village to me) Govorim kitajsko? (Am I speaking Chinese?) |
| Spanish | Esto me suena a chino, no me hables en chino (It sounds Chinese to me, I don't speak in Chinese) Me suena como griego (It sounds Greek to me), Para mí que es griego (It's Greek to me) Eso es griego para mí (That's Greek to me) Es chino básico (It's basic chinese) Háblame en cristiano (Speak to me in Christian) |
| Swedish | Det är rena grekiskan (It is pure Greek) |
| Turkish | olaya fransız kaldım (I am French to the conversation/chat) |
| Welsh | Nid wy'n deall yr un gair arno (I don’t understand a single word of it) Mae y tu hwnt i mi (It’s beyond me) |
| Yiddish | (s'iz targum-loshn tsu mir) ס'איז תּרגום־לשון צו מיר It's Aramaic (the language of the targum) to me = |
Which is your favourite?
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