# You should be careful when you speak ...



## la6srm

Hi 

I wondered if the following could be translated:

*"You should be careful when you speak [English / French / etc], as you never know who might understand you"*

Context - when you hear 2 speaking a foreign language and they think that no one around them can understand them, when in fact you can, so you warn them... 

Thanks!


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## jazyk

In Portuguese:

Com _você_:
Tem de/(more informal: que) tomar cuidado quando fala português porque nunca se sabe quem pode entendê-lo/entendê-la/o pode entender/a pode entender.

Or:

Com _tu_:
Tens de (more informal: que) tomar cuidado quando falas português porque nunca se sabe quem pode entender-te/pode te entender/te pode entender.

Or:

Com vocês:
Têm de (more informal: que) tomar cuidado quando falam português porque nunca se sabe quem pode entendê-los/entendê-las/os pode entender/as pode entender.


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## heidita

Du solltest vorsichtig sein, wenn du Deutsch sprichst, denn man weiß nie, wer zuhört/ob dich eventuell jemand versteht.

It depends if you speak to the person in "Sie-form":

Sie sollten vorsichtig sein, wenn sie Deutsch sprechen......ob Sie eventuell jemand versteht.


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## Lemminkäinen

Norwegian:
*Du burde være forsiktig når du snakker norsk; du vet aldri hvem som kan forstå deg*

And let me give Russian a go as well (though it'll probably be wrong):
*Вы должны бы заботиться когда вы говорите по-русски, так как (or perhaps потому что?) вы никогда знаете кто, которий понимает вас. *

I'll try French too:*
Il faut d'être discret en parlant français, car vous ne savez jamais quand quelqu'un vous comprend.*

I don't even want to think about which of the latter two have the most mistakes!


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## ameana7

> I'll try French too:
> *Il faut être prudent en parlant français, car vous ne savez jamais quand quelqu'un vous comprend.*


 
I'm trying too.  

In Turkish;
 "Türkçe/İngilizce/... konuşurken dikkatli olmalısın, seni kimin anlayacağını bilemezsin." This is informal version; youcan say it to a friend.

Here is the formal version:

"Türkçe/İngilizce/... konuşurken dikkatli olmalısınız, sizi kimin anlayacağını bilemezsiniz."


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## elroy

Arabic:

عليك أن تحذر عند التكلم بالعربية، فليس بإمكانك أن تعلم من يقدر أن يفهمك
(_'alayka an taHthara 'inda 't-takallumi bil-'arabiyyati, falaysa bi'imkaanika an ta'lama man yaqdiru an yafhamaka_)


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## Ilmo

*Finnish:*

*Ole varovainen, kun puhut suomea, sillä et voi koskaan olla varma siitä, voiko joku ymmärtää puhettasi.*


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## Thomas1

In Polish:
Bądź uważny kiedy mówisz po [angielsku, etc.] bo nigdy nie wiadomo kto może cie zrozumieć.

This is not a literal translation but it sounds more palatable to me than a more literal rendering.

Tom


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## Ilmo

Thomas1 said:


> In Polish:
> Bądź uważny kiedy mówisz po [angielsku, etc.] bo nigdy nie wiadomo kto może cie zrozumieć.
> 
> Tom


 
Doesm't "angielsku" mean English?

The sentence ought to be, in your case, *"You should be careful when you speak Polish, as you never know who might understand you"*
that is, how would you warn your fellow countrymen about speaking your mother tongue abroad, because there might be around people who understand Polish.


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## keepsakes

你说(英文，等等)时候要注意，别人可能听的懂。
(simplified Chinese)

When you speak (English, etc.) you should be careful, others may understand.


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## Thomas1

Ilmo said:


> Doesm't "angielsku" mean English?
> 
> The sentence ought to be, in your case, *"You should be careful when you speak Polish, as you never know who might understand you"*
> that is, how would you warn your fellow countrymen about speaking your mother tongue abroad, because there might be around people who understand Polish.


Yes, it means _English._ I didn't think it was supposed to be the language the sentence is written in. The author worte _a language_ so that's why I used English here (and added _etc._). Anyway, thank you for pointing that out, Ilmo. If that's the case here it should read:

_Bądź uważny kiedy mówisz po *polsku* bo nigdy nie wiadomo kto może cię zrozumieć._



Regards,
Tom


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## Bazhena

Russian:
More general translation:
Будьте осторожны, разговаривая по-русски, ведь вы никогда не знаете, кто может вас понять.
 
Translation, that reflects the context described by la6srm:
Будьте осторожны, разговаривая между собой по-русски, ведь вы никогда не знаете, кто из окружающих может вас понять.


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## betulina

In Catalan (you plural):

"Hauríeu d'anar amb compte quan parleu en català, perquè no se sap mai qui us pot entendre."


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## heidita

En español.

Debes tener cuidado cuando hables en español ya que nunca se sabe quien te escucha/quien te va a entender/si alguien te puede entender.


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## avalon2004

Another two possibilites for Spanish, using the tú form of address (most likely with this sort of thing):

*Hay que tener cuidado cuando hables en español porque nunca sabes quien puede entenderte.*
or
*Tienes que tener cuidado cuando converses en español puesto que nunca sabes si alguien puede comprenderte.*

A Greek version would be something along the lines of:
*Πρέπει να είσαι προσεκτικός όταν μιλάς στα Ελληνικά γιατί ποτέ δεν ξέρεις ποιον μπορεί να σε καταλάβει *_[prépi na íse prosektikós ótan milás sta eliniká yatí poté dhe gzéris pyon borí na se katalávi]_

Note: If specifically referring to a woman, you would say *πρέπει να είσαι προσεκτική*_ [prosektikí]_


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## linguist786

*Urdu:*

Aap ko hoshyaar rehnaa chahiye jab aap Urdu bole is liye ke aap ko kabhi maa'luum nahiiN kon aap ko samajhle.

(The above is formal. change the aap to tum if you want the informal version) 

*Hindi:*

Aap ko hoshyaar rehnaa chahiye jab aap Hindi bole kyuN ke aap ko kabhi pataa nahiiN kon aap ko samajhle.

(The above is formal. change the aap to tum if you want the informal version) 

*Gujarati:*

Tamnay hoshyaar revu joye jyaare tamay Gujarati bolo kaaraN ke tamnay khabar nai kon tamnay samjhii jaai.

(The above is formal. change the tamnay/tamay to tanay/tu respectively if you want the informal version)


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## panjabigator

*Panjabi*
/tuhanuu~n dhyaan rakhnaa chahidaa je tusii.n pa.njaabii vich bolo kion ki pataa nahii.n kaun tuhanuu~n samajhle.n/


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## Kraus

In *Italian *(free translation):

Dovresti stare attento quando parli italiano, perché non è detto che nessuno ti capisca.
(literally: dovresti stare attento quando parli italiano, perché non si sa mai chi potrebbe capirti)


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## gao_yixing

keepsakes said:


> 你说(英文，等等)时候要注意，别人可能听的懂。
> (simplified Chinese)
> 
> When you speak (English, etc.) you should be careful, others may understand.


Maybe the following would be better:
当你说（英语）时可要留个神，说不定别人就听得懂。


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## parakseno

Romanian:

"*You should be careful when you speak [English / French / etc], as you never know who might understand you*"
Ar trebui să fii atent* când vorbeşti (engleza, franceza, etc.), pentru că niciodată nu ştii cine ar putea să înţeleagă (ce spui).

Note:
*"atent" is masculine singular. For feminine sing. one should use "atentă", masculine plural (and generic plural - a group of men and women) "atenţi", feminine plural "atente". Also in the case of plural the verb changes from "fii" to "fiţi" (eg: să fiţi atenţi).


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## DeBarcelona

Another catalan version (this is impersonal).

Cal anar amb compte quan es parla català car mai no se sap qui el pot entendre.

(The subject is the action itself. Literally: to be careful is necessary when catalan is spoken...)

or another, which is impersonal too:

Hom ha d'anar amb compte quan parla català car mai no se sap qui el pot entendre.

(The subject is an impersonal pronoun: "hom" means the same as the french "on" or the german "man").


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## J.F. de TROYES

En Français:

" Vous devriez faire attention quand vous parlez Anglais (Français), car on ne sait jamais qui pourrait vous comprendre."

or with a slightly different meaning, but sounding better: "...., car, on ne sait jamais, mais quelq'un pourrait vous comprendre."


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## Maja

"You should be careful when you speak [English / French / etc], as you never know who might understand you"
*
"Trebalo bi da paziš (vodiš računa) kada pričaš** (govoriš**) srpski (na srpskom) jer nikada ne znaš ko te može razumeti!"*

formal: 
*"Trebalo bi da pazite (vodite računa) kada pričate **(govorite) **srpski **(na srpskom) jer nikada ne znate ko vas može razumeti!"*​


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## panjabigator

DeBarcelona said:


> Another catalan version (this is impersonal).
> 
> Cal anar amb compte quan es parla català car mai no se sap qui el pot entendre.
> 
> (The subject is the action itself. Literally: to be careful is necessary when catalan is spoken...)
> 
> or another, which is impersonal too:
> 
> Hom ha d'anar amb compte quan parla català car mai no se sap qui el pot entendre.
> 
> (The subject is an impersonal pronoun: "hom" means the same as the french "on" or the german "man").



What is cal mean here?  Encara no ho he escoltat.


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## DeBarcelona

"cal" is literally "is necessary" but with this verb, the subject goes after, especially when it is a verb.

So to say "it is necessary to go" you say "cal marxar". It would sound strange to say "marxar cal". You can use it with nouns too: "2 men are needed", "calen 2 homes". The infinitive is "caldre". This verb exists in occitan too.


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## panjabigator

And what is the equivalent in Castellano?  Mods, I appologize about going off topic, and if you prefer, can you move the relevant posts to a new thread in Catalan?


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## DeBarcelona

There is no exact word for spanish. There are different solutions: ser necesario, hacer falta, deber.

You mean to start a new thread? What should the topic be?


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## Frank06

Hi,


la6srm said:


> *"You should be careful when you speak [English / French / etc], as you never know who might understand you"*




As in most languages, there is a whole range of possibilities in *Dutch*

Lit: Je bent best voorzichtig wanneer je Nederlands praat, omdat je nooit weet wie jou kan begrijpen.
[2nd part, less literal: Je weet nooit wie er meeluistert.]

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian*: Vigyázz, ha magyarul beszélsz, mert sosem lehet tudni, ki érti. (of course there are many possibilities)


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## 810senior

Japanese: 英語を話す際は（周りが英語を理解できるかどうか）気をつかうべきだ。 (when you speak English, whether people around you might understand, you ought to be careful) in the literal language.


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## ilocas2

Czech:

Měli byste si dávat pozor, když mluvíte česky, protože nikdy nevíte, kdo vám může rozumět.


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## franknagy

Hungarian warning:
"Aki nem tud arabusul, ne beszéljen arabusul!"
= "Who does not know Arabic that shall not speak Arabic."


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## ularkusut

Indonesia
Hati-hati berbicara menggunakan bahasa Indonesia, kita tidak tahu siapa yang mengerti bahasa kita


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