September 15, 2003

Adult education

At last, a web site language course that teaches one the important phrases. Samples:

Greenlandic:

We would like to buy some blubber.
Orssorsiniarpugut.

Rumanian:

Have you stolen my budgie's turban?
Tu ai furat turbanul canarului meu?

Latin:

I can't hear you. I have a banana in my ear.
Te audire no possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure.

Thanks, Tex!

Update: and perhaps the most useful phrase ever, in 102 languages! Thanks to reader Don. Hey, it could happen!

Posted by Andrea Harris at September 15, 2003 11:22 PM
Comments

Reminds me of an old favorite:
http://www.yamara.com/junk/xl970512.html

Posted by: Don at September 16, 2003 at 04:23 PM

"Te audire no possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure."

Actually, the proper form would be the colloquial: "Te audire non possum est. Musa fixa in aure sapientum est."

But not a bad effort, nevertheless.

Posted by: Kim du Toit at September 16, 2003 at 06:21 PM

I figured that "no possum" etc. didn't look right, but I don't know enough Latin to be sure. (One of my plans for the year is to teach myself Latin, by the way.)

Posted by: Andrea Harris at September 16, 2003 at 07:07 PM

Amo, amas, amat. Eeeek!

Sorry, two years of collegiate Latin just came spiraling through in a flashback.

Anyway, possums are a New World delicacy the Romans knew nothing about.

Posted by: charles austin at September 17, 2003 at 10:28 PM