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So there sits my concertina, and it tells me to pick it up. It says to me "Squeeze me, I sing!" Or should that be press me? Or push me? How would you say this phrase in French, Spanish, German....

 

B)

 

Ken

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I have not lived there for a long time now, and language grows almost as fast as our children do, but when I lived in Germany they said ziehen und druecken for pull and push, respectively, though perhaps they have specific vocabulary used for music. Quetschen (squeeze) is what we did to fruit to make juice, or to describe people squeezed in an elevator. Ich druecke dich fest was always a term of endearment, I hug you tightly...which perhaps also could be used depending on how affectionately you regard your concertina. Ziehen is to pull, but ausziehen is to undress, so caution should be used in that case. Many beautiful words!

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Perhaps, en Francais: Poussez-moi, je chantent. Tirez-moi, je chantent. J'aime chanter! :rolleyes:

 

Chris

French frogs, as you know, only croak in one direction. Or when you Drink Water you also only take it in in only one direction -

 

Squeezing too is unidirectional too, so, unless you do the Drinkwater in PLUS out French solution, looks as tho the following could be as near as you are going to get to summat snappy: "poussé-tiré et moi je chante" or some other poetic licence :unsure: :unsure:

 

more variants (or is it déviants in French :rolleyes: :rolleyes: ) may be triggered if you read here:

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/diato-amateurs/le_diato.htm

 

This could be why the word invented sometimebackbysomemembersomewhere is perhaps the true literary solution - to "bellows" (this implies bi-directional which in itself today is also very PC (Politically Concertinet)or AC-DC (AccordionorConcertina-Diatonic-nonChromatic).

 

Hence: "bellows me and I will sing". French new word might be "Soufflet-ez-moi et..." etc etc.

 

But our Quebecoiserie may be concerned at imperative derivatives from band-onéons - perhaps they can advise.... :wub: :wub:

 

Despite the Académie française , you CAN make up new 'French' expressions which are not English, such as 'le footing' (go for a walk) or via English adoption: "culottes" If you take the word "go backwards" "reculez", and then add the diminutive element, you get "reculottez-vous" which means not "reverse a little" but: "Put your damn trousers back on!" :D :D

Edited by Kautilya
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So there sits my concertina, and it tells me to pick it up. It says to me "Squeeze me, I sing!" Or should that be press me? Or push me? How would you say this phrase in French, Spanish, German....

 

cool.gif

 

Ken

 

 

German: Quetsch mich - ich singe!

 

Quetschen=squeeze. The usual German nickname for bellows-driven free-reeders is "Quetsche", analogous to the English "squeeze-box". But in north Germany and I believe the Netherlands, the slang terms involve the words "trecken" or "trekken", which mean "to pull".

The correct German dictionary term for a diatonic accordion is "Ziehharmonika", where "Zieh-" = "pull".

 

Seems that nobody takes both bellows directions into account, but that different people (even speaking the same language) focus on a different direction. smile.gif

 

Cheers,

John

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in chinese: 请拉我,我唱歌!" pinyin: qing la wo, wo changge! pronunciation: "ching lah waw, waw chahng guh!"

 

please note, that it is VERY awkward sounding. i don't think it translates well into chinese. translated BACK into english it's, "please pull me, i sing songs." chinese people say "pull" when you talk about playing an accordion or violin. i can't think of another way to say it, while capturing the tone. it means what you want, but i don't think i chinese person would get it. they might stretch your face and expect a song, :lol:

 

edit:

perhaps a slightly better way might be, "你一拉我,我就唱歌" pinyin: ni yi la wo, wo jiu changge pronunciation: "nee ee lah waw, waw joe chahng guh." this one means, "as soon as you pull on me, i will sing right away"(you once pull me, i right-away sing song). this still is probably not how a chinese person would say the same idea, but they'll definitely get it and thing it's cute (well, they always think white people speaking chinese is cute :rolleyes:)

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in chinese: 请拉我,我唱歌!" pinyin: qing la wo, wo changge! pronunciation: "ching lah waw, waw chahng guh!"

 

please note, that it is VERY awkward sounding. i don't think it translates well into chinese. translated BACK into english it's, "please pull me, i sing songs." chinese people say "pull" when you talk about playing an accordion or violin. i can't think of another way to say it, while capturing the tone. it means what you want, but i don't think i chinese person would get it. they might stretch your face and expect a song, :lol:

 

edit:

perhaps a slightly better way might be, "你一拉我,我就唱歌" pinyin: ni yi la wo, wo jiu changge pronunciation: "nee ee lah waw, waw joe chahng guh." this one means, "as soon as you pull on me, i will sing right away"(you once pull me, i right-away sing song). this still is probably not how a chinese person would say the same idea, but they'll definitely get it and thing it's cute (well, they always think white people speaking chinese is cute :rolleyes:)

 

so i just re-read the original post. if the conversation is just between you and your concertina (without any judging chinese nearby), your concertina would definitely speak chinglish (chinese and english), and would thus understand the english idiom translated into chinese, B)

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[quote name

 

joe chahng guh." this one means,

 

Wouldnt the key u are playing in change the Chinese because it supposed to be "tonal"? I thought 'guh' meant something else :wub: :wub:

 

Well there's no keys, but there definitely are tones in Chinese. I left out the tones because I figured no one would care. 歌 is gē in mandarin, first tone. It means song and sounds similar to guh in english. 哥 is also pronounced gē as well and means older brother. There are dozens of words that are pronounced the same with the same and different tones.

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[quote name

 

joe chahng guh." this one means,

 

Wouldnt the key u are playing in change the Chinese because it supposed to be "tonal"? I thought 'guh' meant something else :wub: :wub:

 

Well there's no keys, but there definitely are tones in Chinese. I left out the tones because I figured no one would care. 歌 is gē in mandarin, first tone. It means song and sounds similar to guh in english. 哥 is also pronounced gē as well and means older brother. There are dozens of words that are pronounced the same with the same and different tones.

 

In spanish it would be "apriétame, que canto", empujar is the more literally translation to push, but apretar is i. e. pushing having the thing between the two hands, or a small thing in one hand, it think it means pushing when holding the thing.

One more word that could be used is "achúchame, que canto", but achuchar is i.e. when a person is between a lot of persons inside a bus, or when a person hug to another tightly.

In galician and portugués it could be, "apertame, que eu canto", with the meaning of pushing literally, "empurrame, que eu canto", but I think that it is more properly used apretar.

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