# We don't speak English



## desichick07

Hi! A group I'm in is making shirts that say "we don't speak English...we speak science" and I'm trying to figure out how to say "we don't speak English" in Latin.

An online translator gave me "nos dico non Anglicum" but that sounds wrong. A friend of mine told me it's "ne dicemus Anglicum" which sounds right-ish. 

Is there a more appropriate verb that can be used? I know in Spanish "decir" means to say or to tell, but "hablar" means to speak a language. Is there a parallel verb to hablar in Latin? Or is decir correct?
And is it "Anglicum" or "Anglice" for English? 

Basically my question is how do you say "we don't speak English" in Latin?

ps. sorry if i do anything wrong, this is my first post


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## Flaminius

Hello Desi,

Welcome to the WordReference forums!  

The Latin verb for "to speak" has an irregular conjugation paradigm.  I am thinking of the most general _loquor_, _loqui_.

We don't speak English.
loquimur non anglice.

The subject pronoun is rarely used unless the speaker wants to contrast them with other possible subjects.  E.g., We don't speak but *they* do.

I hope this helped.


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## Kevin Beach

Flaminius said:


> Hello Desi,
> 
> Welcome to the WordReference forums!
> 
> The Latin verb for "to speak" has an irregular conjugation paradigm.  I am thinking of the most general _loquor_, _loqui_.
> 
> We don't speak English.
> loquimur non anglice.
> 
> The subject pronoun is rarely used unless the speaker wants to contrast them with other possible subjects.  E.g., We don't speak but *they* do.
> 
> I hope this helped.


Flaminius - why _anglice_? Is it an ablative?


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## Flaminius

Hi Kevin,

It's an adverb, just as much as _latine_ is.  Or do you think it is too later an invention to be authentic?


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## Kevin Beach

Flaminius said:


> Hi Kevin,
> 
> It's an adverb, just as much as _latine_ is.  Or do you think it is too later an invention to be authentic?


ummmmmm ..... we don't speak *Englishly* ..... ? It sounds like an early 21st century construction to me........ Can one use adverbs for languages?


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## Flaminius

The construction "language adverb + loqui" can be found in Classic Literature.  For example Cicero once wrote, "studeo latine tecum loqui, si modo tibi est otium et vis (Cic. Part. orat. 1, 1)."  My question is whether _anglice_ is a legitimate adjective that does not sound strange, like Englishly.


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## eb110262

Well, English didn't really exist in Cicero's time . If it had, I'm sure he would have been right in there...


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## Cagey

I favor Flaminius' _Anglice. _

It is the appropriate grammatical construction adapted to a more recent usage.  _Anglice_ tells us the _manner_ of the speaking.  (I wouldn't want the language in the accusative case, is if speaking were something that happened to the language.) In general, people who construct Latin neologisms for modern use still employ the classical constructions and morphology. 

(Cicero would have denied that he spoke _Britannice_, if he ever felt it necessary to make that clear.  However, as _eb110262 _points out, that would have been another language entirely.)


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## Flaminius

It may be just a nitpick, *Cagey*, but I am curious why you wrote _Anglice_ with capital A.


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## Kevin Beach

Well - I've learned something.  Thank you.

So, the adjective is anglicus -a -um, giving the adverb anglic-e?


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## Cagey

Flaminius said:


> It may be just a nitpick, *Cagey*, but I am curious why you wrote _Anglice_ with capital A.



I was immitating the capitalization in my dictionaries_: Lewis and Short_, and _Cassell'_s.  I see that the _Latin Library_ version of your Cicero quote is also capitalized.  Perhaps more up-to-date texts no longer do this; I don't have one at hand.  Are you seeing it in lower case?


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## Flaminius

I've seen no _anglice_ in printed materials but _latine_ in a publication from Germany.  I won't be surprised that different countries have different editing policies after respective conventions in the _linguae recentiores_.


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## Cagey

Kevin Beach said:


> So, the adjective is anglicus -a -um, giving the adverb anglic-e?



Right you are.


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## Probo

Heus: Malo dicere _britanice_ quam _anglice_. Anglicam linguam loquitur  populus "anglicus" apellatus qui ignotus erat in Romanorum tempore. Insula ubi habitabant antiqui Britanni et noui anglici Britania est. Num _britanicae_ uel _britanae _appellari possunt omnes linguae quas in hac insula locuti sunt antiqui aut loquuntur noui. itaque dicendum esse puto _Nescimus britanice _uel _britane loqui/ Non britane _uel _britanice loquimur._ Vt ualeatis.


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## franz rod

> Anglicam linguam loquitur  populus "anglicus" apellatus qui ignotus erat in Romanorum tempore


Non probatum scriptum quod Probus tractavissent mihi videtur.
Nam Tacitus -Reudigni deinde et Aviones et *Anglii* et Varini et Eudoses et Suardones et  Nuithones fluminibus aut silvis muniuntur -scripsit in "De origine ed situ Germanorum".


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## Probo

franz rod said:


> Tacitus -Reudigni deinde et Aviones et *Anglii* et Varini et Eudoses et Suardones et Nuithones fluminibus aut silvis muniuntur -scripsit in "De origine ed situ Germanorum".


 
 Heus iterum: Recte dicis. Errare humanum est. Gratias tibi ago. Vt ualeas.


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