# Long time no see/no hear



## Setwale_Charm

I am not sure whether a similar thread has not been opened before but I cannot find any trace of such so far.


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## Maja

In Serbian:
Dugo se nismo videli / čuli. (Cyrillic: Дуго се нисмо видели / чули.)


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## Whodunit

In German:

*Lange nicht gesehen!*

I don't think it works with "hear" in German, but one could say like it like this, which is very common, too:

*Lange nichts voneinander gehört!*


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## PuffyEagle33

Chinese!

好久不見！hao3 jiu3 bu2 jian4 <-long time no see


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## Flaminius

Right!  "Long time no see" is the English calque for the Chinese expression.

*Japanese:*
hisashiburi
久しぶり


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## jazyk

In Portuguese (Brazil especially):

(Nossa!) Quanto tempo!


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## Setwale_Charm

jazyk said:


> In Portuguese (Brazil especially):
> 
> (Nossa!) Quanto tempo!


 Together or either?


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## jazyk

_Nossa_ is used for emphasis.


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## Ilmo

In Finnish:
Long time no see: *Eipä ole nähty aikoihin*
Long time no hear: *Eipä ole oltu puheissa aikoihin*


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## vince

The phrase "Long time no see" may have originated from Cantonese.

In Cantonese, people say: 好耐冇見! (hou2 loi6 mou5 gin3)
literally: hou loi = very long
mou = no (for example, _mou chin_ = no money)
gin = see/meet (related to Mandarin _jian_)




PuffyEagle33 said:


> Chinese!
> 
> 好久不見！hao3 jiu3 bu2 jian4 <-long time no see



This phrase would not work in any register of spoken Cantonese, just letting you know.


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## ameana7

In Turkish, 

Long time no see: "Ne zamandır/kaç zamandır görüşmedik."
Long time no hear: "Ne zamandır/kaç zamandır haber yok."


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## linguist786

I think the closest we get to it in:

*Hindi/Urdu:*

"Bahaat der ke baad dekhaaye!"

*Gujarati:*

"Bo vaar paChi 
dekhaayaa tamay (polite)
/dekhaayo tu (informal, masculine)
/dekhaayee tu" (informal, feminine)

*French:*

"ça fait longtemps!"


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## betulina

I think in Catalan it would be, in a general sense, when it's been a long time we haven't seen soembody or heard from them: "*Quant (de) temps!*". 

I would say the same in Spanish: "*Cuánto tiempo!*"

I think in Basque it's "*aspaldiko!*".


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## cyanista

In Russian there is a jocular expression: "Сколько лет, сколько зим!" (How many years/summers, how many winters!)

You surely knew this, Setwale_Charm, but others may not.


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## Lugubert

linguist786 said:


> I think the closest we get to it in:
> 
> *Hindi/Urdu:*
> 
> "Bahaat der ke baad dekhaaye!"


I would have guessed "bahut", not "bahaat". Please explain.

In Swedish, we often use the English expression! In Swedish, there would be versions from "Det var länge sedan vi sågs sist" : "It was long-time since we met/saw one another last-time" to informally "De' va' länge se'n".


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## larosa

hungarian:
~no see
Rég nem találkoztunk! or Rég nem láttalak!
~no hear
Rég nem hallottam rólad/felőled.


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## Etcetera

cyanista said:


> In Russian there is a jocular expression: "Сколько лет, сколько зим!" (How many years/summers, how many winters!)


Давно не виделись also exists.


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## linguist786

Lugubert said:


> I would have guessed "bahut", not "bahaat". Please explain.
> 
> In Swedish, we often use the English expression! In Swedish, there would be versions from "Det var länge sedan vi sågs sist" : "It was long-time since we met/saw one another last-time" to informally "De' va' länge se'n".


"bahut" is the way it is _written _(from the Devanagari (for Hindi)/Arabic (for Urdu) script), but "bahaat" is the way most people _say_ it


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## Hakro

Having read all the posts above I can't be sure of the expressions (except for a few):
- are they just translations from English,
- are they really used in your language,
- are they out of grammar like the English expression,
- what could be a translation into English.

Please explain more!


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## PuffyEagle33

Yeah, it's mandarin, not spoken cantonese. But, u can still write it like that in cantonese cause canto has both colloquial (what u wrote好耐冇見) written and traditional written (mandarin 好久不見) ways 

Teochew (Yet _another _Chinese dialect- chaozhou hua!) hahaha... jing gu bor toi diuk le!! 



vince said:


> The phrase "Long time no see" may have originated from Cantonese.
> 
> In Cantonese, people say: 好耐冇見! (hou2 loi6 mou5 gin3)
> literally: hou loi = very long
> mou = no (for example, _mou chin_ = no money)
> gin = see/meet (related to Mandarin _jian_)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This phrase would not work in any register of spoken Cantonese, just letting you know.


 
btw any1 know this phrase in spanish? i've been wondering for some time... lol is it muy largo no lo veo?


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## Setwale_Charm

Flaminius said:


> Right! "Long time no see" is the English calque for the Chinese expression.
> 
> *Japanese:*
> hisashiburi
> 久しぶり


 
I remember it being something like "o-hisashiburi desu ne'. A semi-question "----, isn`t it", presumably.
I can also suggest another Russian version: *Сто/тысячу лет не виделись!*
And have no fear! That does not tell anybody anything about your age!!

 I wonder what is the Estonian for that?


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## linguist786

Just to add:

I said "ça fait longtemps!" for the French (this is normally what people say) but the full phrase, if we're being nitpicky , is:

"ça fait longtemps qu'on s'est pas vu"


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## Lemminkäinen

In Norwegian you say *lenge siden sist* which literally means "long (time, that is) since last".

It's normally used just like that, but you can also add *det er* (it's) in front of it - the full (implied) expression is *det er lenge siden sist vi møttes* - "it's been a long time since we last met"

It's also possible to use *var* (was) instead of *er* (is), which gives it a small semantical difference, plus, if you add *det er/var*, I think you'll usually use *var*:

1) *Lenge siden sist!*
2) *Det var lenge siden (sist)!*


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## elroy

Colloquial Palestinian Arabic:

زمان عنك! (_zamaan 'annak!)_


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## zaigucis

in Latvian: *sen neredzēts/ta *- long time no see


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## hye young

It's been a while! *오랜만이다!* (o ren man i da) - *Korean*


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## vince

PuffyEagle33 said:


> Yeah, it's mandarin, not spoken cantonese. But, u can still write it like that in cantonese cause canto has both colloquial (what u wrote好耐冇見) written and traditional written (mandarin 好久不見) ways


好久不見 is not grammatically Cantonese, even though you can pronounce each character in Cantonese pronunciation.

You haven't proved that "long time no see" comes from Mandarin rather than Cantonese: technically the Mandarin and Cantonese versions have approximately the same word-for-word English translation (though Mandarin 不 is technically closer to "not"/"don't" while Cantonese 冇 is closer to "no")



> Teochew (Yet _another _Chinese dialect- chaozhou hua!) hahaha... jing gu bor toi diuk le!!


How is that a dialect when it sounds nothing like the Mandarin one?

Teochew is not the same language as Mandarin, rather it is a dialect of the Min Nan language.



> btw any1 know this phrase in spanish? i've been wondering for some time... lol is it muy largo no lo veo?


Perhaps:
_hace mucho que no nos vemos_


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## kaleidoscope

vince said:


> Perhaps:
> _hace mucho que no nos vemos_


That would work, but I think the most commonly used way of saying it would be: "¡Cuánto tiempo!"

(and I noticed in a previous message that in Portuguese they also say: "Quanto tempo!")


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## remarotta

Anyone know this in Italian?


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## panjabigator

linguist786 said:


> "bahut" is the way it is _written _(from the Devanagari (for Hindi)/Arabic (for Urdu) script), but "bahaat" is the way most people _say_ it



I have never heard nor said /bahaat/. In Hindi I say /bahut/.  In Panjabi it is written as /bahut/ but sounds more like /baut/.

I don't agree with your translation Linguist
I would say for Hindi/Urdu /muddat huii baat nahii.n kiiye/.  The /kiiye/ is acting as a adjectival phrase, so the word /hue/ is implied and can be said afterwards.  This phrase means "It has been a long time since we have talked."

Another way for Hindi/Urdu would be: /baDe dino.n ke baad dikhai de rahe hai.n/.  Literally, "you are making yourself seen after many days."  

Another way would be /baDe dino.n ke baad nazar aa rahe hai.n/.  "You are visible after so many days (of not being visible).

In Panjabi:
/muddat hoyii gall nahii.n kiite/
or
/baDe dinaa.n baad dis rahe ho/ 
or
/baDe dinaa.n baad nazar aa rahe ho/

I have only provided the formal forms of these phrases.


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## Thomas1

In *Polish *we say:
_Dawno się nie widzieliśmy. _(Long time no see)
Another ways to say so:
_Kopę lat. _(I think most likely to be used)
_Szmat czasu._


Tom


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## mimi2

In Vietnamese:
-* Long time no see: Đã lâu không gặp.*
*- Long time no hear: Đã lâu không có tin tức gì.*


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## tanzhang

In Tagalog: 

Ang tagal na tayong hindi nagkikita - It has been a long time since we haven't seen each other.

Tagal - Take a long time
Tayo - we/ us
hindi - no/ not
Kita - See


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## tanzhang

IN Tagalog:

Rinig - for hear

It has been a long time I haven't heard from you - Ang tagal na hindi pa tayo nagkarinigan.

or ang tagal na tayong hindi nagkakarinigan.


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## Venezuelan_sweetie

In Spanish:





betulina said:


> "*Cuánto tiempo!*"





vince said:


> _hace mucho que no nos vemos_


Grammar in these and some other similar sentences is almost non-existent...
The original idea is something like: "Hace (hacía) mucho/tanto tiempo que no nos vemos (veíamos)", therefore many shorter versions can be found.

That sentence, in English, would be something like: "It has (had) been so long/such a long time that we don't see each other (haven't seen each other) (or, "since we last met").

What I should say, is:
- _Cuánto tiempo (sin verte)!_ => So long (without seeing you)!
- _Hacía tanto tiempo (sin verte)!_ => It had been so long (without seeing you)!
- _Siglos sin verte! _=> Centuries/Ages without seeing you!

But I almost invariably wind up saying: "Estás tan viejo/a!" => "You look so old!"


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## macta123

In Hindi :
Bahut dino(n) sey dikhayee nahi diye!
 OR
 Id ka chand ho gayey ho!

In Malayalam:
Ko.R.ey kaalam ayil.O kaNDaT.uh!


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## jaxineau

vince said:


> 好久不見 is not grammatically Cantonese, even though you can pronounce each character in Cantonese pronunciation.
> 
> You haven't proved that "long time no see" comes from Mandarin rather than Cantonese: technically the Mandarin and Cantonese versions have approximately the same word-for-word English translation (though Mandarin 不 is technically closer to "not"/"don't" while Cantonese 冇 is closer to "no")
> 
> How is that a dialect when it sounds nothing like the Mandarin one?
> 
> Teochew is not the same language as Mandarin, rather it is a dialect of the Min Nan language.
> 
> Perhaps:
> _hace mucho que no nos vemos_


 
I can confirm that 好久不見 is the correct way to say long time no see in Mandarin. 不 means both no and not, much like the Cantonese 唔. Mandarin and Cantonese have similarities, but they are still different dialects. For example, you don't say 早安 but 早晨 in Cantonese if you want to say good morning. That is just one of many differences that exist between the two.

As to Teochew not being a dialect of Chinese, I think that is not true. Is Min Nan not in China. They may not pronounce the language in the same way but the common written characters are still shared. Chinese is just an umbrella term for all the dialects that is spoken in China. Just like English, which includes the variations among the commonwealth countries and the States. Even in Britain itself there are so many different accents. They are still English though.


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## panjabigator

macta123 said:


> In Hindi :
> Bahut dino(n) sey dikhayee nahi diye!
> OR
> Id ka chand ho gayey ho!
> 
> In Malayalam:
> Ko.R.ey kaalam ayil.O kaNDaT.uh!




Is the /iid kaa chaa.nd/ well known in India to everyone or just Muslims?


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