Calling all #eoff linguists

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07-08-2008, 04:55 PM
starseeker

Calling all #eoff linguists

Basically for an event I will be attending this weekend, I am making a sign that says "Free Cake" in multiple languages. That's "free" as in "no cost", gratis not libre. Can any of you tell me how to write that in various languages that you know? Spanish and Chinese would be the most appreiciated, (I have French, German, Polish and Japanese already sorted)

Edit: sorted languages:

French: Gâteaux gratuit
German: Kuchen kostenlos
Polish: Darmowe ciasto
Japanese: 無料なケーキ
Chinese: miǎn fèi dàn gāo (I am not copying the symbols)
Danish: Gratis kage
Welsh: Cacennau am ddim
Spanish: Pastel Gratis (I don't know what Cerveza Gratis so I'm not using it)

I asked here because "free" is a tricky word to translate properly, because of the multiple meanings.
07-08-2008, 05:02 PM
rubah

pastel gratis might be spanish!
07-08-2008, 05:35 PM
Denmark

Esperanto: senpaga kuko
07-08-2008, 05:44 PM
Jojee

Chinese

free: miǎn fèi
http://www.mandarintools.com/cgi-bin/ugif/514D.gif http://www.mandarintools.com/cgi-bin/ugif/8D39.gif

cake: dàn gāo
http://www.mandarintools.com/cgi-bin/ugif/86CB.gif http://www.mandarintools.com/cgi-bin/ugif/7CD5.gif
07-08-2008, 05:47 PM
rubah

it always freaks me out when I see chinese written with those crazy inflection marks or whatever they are. What are they, jojo?
07-08-2008, 05:48 PM
Jojee

They're accents :3 It shows you how to pronounce the word. There's 4 accents in total ^_^ I always get the 2nd and 3rd accents confused, they sound pretty much the same imo. :\
07-08-2008, 05:52 PM
NeoTifa

cake-o free-o jk. i think rubah is right
07-08-2008, 05:55 PM
Shoeberto

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jojee

free: miǎn fèi
http://www.mandarintools.com/cgi-bin/ugif/514D.gif http://www.mandarintools.com/cgi-bin/ugif/8D39.gif

cake: dàn gāo
http://www.mandarintools.com/cgi-bin/ugif/86CB.gif http://www.mandarintools.com/cgi-bin/ugif/7CD5.gif

Yup totally not azn at all nope no way no how. :cool:
07-08-2008, 05:58 PM
Awrini

I'm not a very good linguist.
07-08-2008, 05:58 PM
Jojee

I'm not! xD I'm just... well versed in many things x]
07-08-2008, 06:02 PM
edczxcvbnm

ree-fay ake-cay
07-08-2008, 06:48 PM
Aerith's Knight

Dutch: Gratis taart
07-08-2008, 06:49 PM
rubah

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jojee

They're accents :3 It shows you how to pronounce the word. There's 4 accents in total ^_^ I always get the 2nd and 3rd accents confused, they sound pretty much the same imo. :\

can you record yourself saying that really slow and then at normal speed?
07-08-2008, 08:09 PM
Jessweeee♪

Vnaa Lyga
07-08-2008, 09:28 PM
Breine

Danish: Gratis kage.
07-08-2008, 09:32 PM
fire_of_avalon

Quote:

Originally Posted by edczxcvbnm

ree-fay ake-cay

SO WRONG. In Pig Latin back to back consonants at the beginning of words always stay together. So free cake is ee-fray ake-cay.

I learned that in a Babysitter's Club book!
07-08-2008, 10:17 PM
rubah

ellway atthay anday itay ustjay akesmay ensesay.
07-08-2008, 10:59 PM
Chemical

French:
cake = Gâteau

But they don't have a word for free that means the same thing.
They're free is either
"sans" as in fat free
or "libre" as in "free Willy!"

You probably have to find something like "no cost" or something like that.
07-08-2008, 11:02 PM
rubah

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chemical

French:
cake = Gâteau

But they don't have a word for free that means the same thing.
They're free is either
"sans" as in fat free
or "libre" as in "free Willy!"

You probably have to find something like "no cost" or something like that.

gratuit
07-08-2008, 11:09 PM
Heath

I was just about to give you German a second time so instead I offer you Welsh:

Cacennau am ddim.
07-08-2008, 11:19 PM
Blue Harvest

In Harveyish it's Where!? Gimmee!
07-08-2008, 11:33 PM
Krelian

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jojee

They're accents :3 It shows you how to pronounce the word. There's 4 accents in total ^_^ I always get the 2nd and 3rd accents confused, they sound pretty much the same imo. :\

I don't want to contradict a native speaker, but accents isn't the right word for it. Rather, they're tones and the direction of the 'accents' illustrates how they're supposed to be pronounced. For example 'ā' is a high and constant tone, 'á' is a tone that starts low and rises up (like in a question), 'ǎ' is a tone that starts kind of high, goes lower and then upwards again and 'à' is a tone that starts high and quickly goes low, like in an command sentence (i.e. 'Stop!').

Was German mentioned already? It's 'Kuchen kostenlos' or 'Kuchen gratis'.

In Indonesian it's probably 'gratis kue' (gratis imported from Dutch). I'm not entirely sure, though =(

EDIT: Oops, you already have Germany. Sorry... XD
07-09-2008, 12:02 AM
Ramza Beoulve

Spanish : "Pastel Gratis" (confirmation)

Although "Cerveza Gratis" would get you more clients xD

I don't really know in other languages, my memory is currently off.
07-09-2008, 12:13 AM
rubah

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krelian

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jojee

They're accents :3 It shows you how to pronounce the word. There's 4 accents in total ^_^ I always get the 2nd and 3rd accents confused, they sound pretty much the same imo. :\

I don't want to contradict a native speaker, but accents isn't the right word for it. Rather, they're tones and the direction of the 'accents' illustrates how they're supposed to be pronounced.

like 'inflections'?
07-09-2008, 12:18 AM
Krelian

Quote:

Originally Posted by rubah

like 'inflections'?

You mean if the different tones act like grammatical inflections? Then no, they can probably best be seen as separate vowels. A different tone just means a different 'vowel' then and can change the meaning of the word to something entirely different. Like in English 'ten' or 'tin'.
07-09-2008, 12:24 AM
rubah

I don't know what a grammatical inflection is, but I know that an inflection is just the way your voice is pitched.
07-09-2008, 12:29 AM
Krelian

Oh, sorry. XD Yes, it's similar to that, the difference is just that with intonation, if you get it wrong you'll just sound odd, with tones though, you may change the meaning of your words and you sometimes have to change tones several times in one word while intonation mainly focuses on whole sentences.
07-09-2008, 10:04 AM
Rantz

Google Translate
07-09-2008, 10:21 AM
Ramza Beoulve

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rantzien

Google Translate

Translate "free cake" to spanish in there and you'll get absolute FAIL :P
07-09-2008, 10:47 AM
Rantz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ramza Beoulve

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rantzien

Google Translate

Translate "free cake" to spanish in there and you'll get absolute FAIL :P

Yeah, most translations work though, so it's a backup if starseeker can't find a Polish person.
07-09-2008, 02:23 PM
Yar

Esperanto, the fake language: "Kuko senpaga."
07-09-2008, 02:42 PM
Jojee

Yep, tones is what they called them xD I said accents because they look like accents~ And no I will not record it haha, too lazy. There's tons of learn Chinese sites with recordings online. :3
07-09-2008, 05:00 PM
rubah

But they don't have your monkievoice
07-09-2008, 08:48 PM
starseeker

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rantzien

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ramza Beoulve

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rantzien

Google Translate

Translate "free cake" to spanish in there and you'll get absolute FAIL :P

Yeah, most translations work though, so it's a backup if starseeker can't find a Polish person.

Polish was the easiest, just had to phone a relative. It's darmowe ciasto in Polish.

Now to try and write these on my sign, the Chinese symbols are nasty.
07-09-2008, 09:02 PM
Krelian

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krelian

In Indonesian it's probably 'gratis kue' (gratis imported from Dutch). I'm not entirely sure, though =(

After thinking about it for a while it's probably 'kue gratis' instead. Yeah, that would be correct, I think.
07-09-2008, 09:06 PM
Madame Adequate

Estonian: Vaba kook