Gading Take FIVE: Week of September 27 – October 3

by Jamie Rhein on

Each week, when I pick out posts for Gadling’s Take FIVE, I look for posts that fit together in some way. These week, I’ve noticed a numbers theme.

  • In David’s post on America’s most scenic train route, he noted that the journey between New York City and Montreal takes 11 hours and there are 90 seats left for the period between October 2 and November 11.
  • Abha found out that only 8 people in the Cameroon speak Busuu and that the human voice only travels 200 meters. You can read about this and more in her post on a website that helps you learn new languages.
  • When a man smuggles 200 canaries in 4 cages in 1 suitcase, there is trouble in international travel. Josh pointed out what that might be. Dead birds, 60 of them, for one thing.
  • Anna gave a heads up about 10 travel websites to tune into. Add Gadling, and that’s 11.
  • Jerry is also in the numbers game. He spent 16 hours in China’s Wild West and is writing about it in a feature series.
  • In Mexico there are 5000 condoms, 1 inflatable banana and 1 missing truck. Scott posted about why it would be a good thing if all were found.
  • And I’ve started watching the Amazing Race and posting recaps on that. This is season 13.

If you’re counting, you’ll notice 7 this week instead of 5.

Absolutely unforgiving insults from around the world

by Abha Malpani on

Learn a new language and you’ll see that the first few things you remember are the insults. It’s fun to insult in a foreign language and there is normally a whole lesson dedicated to them at language schools (well, there was at mine, anyway!)

Today I received in my inbox a link to this piece: “The 9 Most Devastating Insults From Around The World” — they are really rude, no — they are obscene and you will wonder what kind of people talk like this. Unfortunatley, such phrases are an essential part of the culture of these places. Here they are:

*Warning: The rest of this post is full of bad language. If you are easily offended, don’t continue reading*

  • The Spanish: “Suck butter from my ass” (Chupe mantequilla de mi culo): Yup, I’ve heard this one many times — I didn’t know it came from another most commonly used insult here “I shit in the milk” (me cago en la leche), which is insulting because milk comes from your mother and you drink it, so obviously taking a crap in it is just an outright offence.
  • The Arabs: “A thousand dicks in your religion” (Elif air ab dinikh): Ouch.
  • The Irish: “He’s as thick as a bull’s walt” (that is, as dumb as an erect bull penis).
  • The Bulgarians: “Let a hungry Carpathian long-haired she-wolf blow your dick, fuck” (Gladna Karpatska valchitza s dalag kosam minet da ti prai deeba): I’m not quite sure how good that translation is, but yikes…
  • The Chinese: “Fuck the 18 generations of your ancestors” (Cao ni zu zong shi ba dai): Wow, that’s a curse that insults everything you stand for!
  • The Icelanders: “Grandfatherfucker” (Afatottari): I’m surprised that hasn’t carried over to the English language.
  • The Armenians: “I’ll make sarma with your penis’ skin” (Glirit mortin hed sarma shinem).
  • The Serbians: “May God give you to search for your children with a Geiger counter” (Da bog da trazio detzoo Gaygerovim broyachem): I totally don’t understand this one.
  • The Romanians: “Stick your hand in my ass and jerk off with my shit” (Sa-mi bagi mana-n cur si sa-mi faci laba la cacat): BY FAR THE WORST I HAVE EVER HEARD.

Here is a list of common Hindi insults, none of which compete with the above!

What are the worst insults in your country?

How to say “I love you” in different languages

by Iva Skoch on

Happy Valentines day, everyone, wherever in the world you happen to be.

Not that I really care for this holiday, but any day is a good day to learn to say I Love you in Swahili: Nakupenda!

Here is a start of the long list:

1. Arabic Ana Behibak (To A Male)
2. Arabic Ana Behibek (To A Female)
3. Assamese Moi Tomak Bhal Pau
4. Bengali Ami Tomay Bhalo bashi
5. Bolivian Quechua Qanta Munani
6. Bulgarian Obicham Te
7. Burmese Chit Pa De
8. Cambodian Bon Sro Lanh Oon
9. Canadian Sh’teme
10. Catalan T’estim Molt (I Love You A Lot)

Speaking in tongues; dubbing the Simpsons around the globe

by Neil Woodburn on

One of the more enjoyable aspects of travel is coming across a version of the Simpsons dubbed in the local language.

Most of you reading this website are probably accustomed to the original American English voices of Homer, Bart, and the rest of the crew. Others around the world, however, have grown up hearing an entirely different voice when Chief Wiggums says something stupid or Homer screws up, doh!

The strange experience of hearing the Homer you know so well speak with a different voice in a different language is one of the many wonderful disconnects that make travel so rich and rewarding.

Below is a collection of various languages in which America’s greatest export can be heard around the globe. I just hope I got them all right, doh!

German

Czech
French
Spanish
Turkish
Japanese
Danish

Native Alaskan Languages Not Endangered — Yet

by Catherine Bodry on

Last week Martha reported on the shocking number of dying languages around the world, with Australia topping the chart. What surprised me was how many were in the U.S. or near its borders — the Pacific Northwest, including British Columbia, has 54 on the endangered-languages list. I grew up in Seattle and Portland and never even knew any native languages were still spoken in the area. Oklahoma, Texas, and Mexico have got a total of 40 dying languages.

I’m happy to report that Alaska is not listed — near the top of the list, anyway. The majority of the students I teach here are Alaska Natives who are bilingual — some are even ESL, which is an anomaly among U.S.-born citizens — and it’s not uncommon to hear Yupik or Inupiaq spoken around campus. The relative isolation of villages has, thankfully, somewhat preserved what can arguably be called their main cultural identity. That doesn’t mean that their native tongues aren’t in any danger; both Yupik and Inupiaq are considered endangered by some, but with over thousands of speakers of both, the threat of extinction isn’t as immediate as many other languages.

Check out the very cool article from the Associated Press for a more detailed look at some of the most endangered languages. And thanks to Images of Life for the photo of Yupik Alaskans in the village of Chevak.