Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Babel Fish Rocks!

Tomorrow I get a new sister...Well actually she won't technically be my sister until September 13th when she marries my brother, but still.... So she is from Madagascar and speaks Malagasy and French. I don't. I hear she speaks some English, but not a whole lot. So I got on the handy dandy interweb and Babel Fished a few important phrases. Here they are in all their glory, translated from English to French (They didn't have Malagasy) In no particular order:

-We are going to be good friends. Nous allons être de bons amis.
-Do you want to go shopping with me? Voulez-vous aller faire des emplettes avec moi ?
-What do you want to eat? Que voulez-vous manger ?
-I want rice. Je veux le riz.
-I want water. Je veux l'eau.
-I am tired. Je suis fatigué.
-If he is disrespectful towards you, let me know and I will beat him up. S'il est irrespectueux vers vous, laissez-moi savent et je le battrai vers le haut.
-Do you want to come over to my house? Voulez-vous venir à ma maison ?
-I do not comprehend you. Je ne vous comprends pas.
-It is a cognate. Elle est une apparentée.
-Do you have a wedding dress? Avez-vous une robe de mariage ?
-We can go spend his money. Nous pouvons aller dépensons son argent.
-Now, on your wedding night... Maintenant, votre nuit de mariage…
-Let us go find trouble. Partons ennui de trouvaille.
-If you rub his feet once in a while, then he will never ask for a refund. Si vous frottez ses pieds de temps à autre, alors il ne demandera jamais un remboursement.
-Do you feel you have been kidnapped? Vous sentez-vous avoir été enlevé ?

I love the one about a refund. He had to go there to get her so he could negotiate a price for her. I'm going to have to show her the movie Johnny Lingo. "Mahana-you-ugly! Get out of that tree!" Love it!

2 comments:

Rebekah said...

Nice! I don't even know how to pronounce those phrases. French sounds like such a polished, sophisticated language. I really wish I'd taken some classes in it. Spanish seems so ordinary next to French.

Kristin said...

Yeah...typing it has got to be easier than saying it. Congrats on the new sister-in-law to be. That is so exciting. My only complaint about Babel Fish is I can't translate Swedish stuff.