# Do you understand English?



## catlady60

Which expression does your native language have when you're frustrated with someone, especially a child, who habitually ignores and disobeys you? 

In English, we say, "Do you understand English"?, when we mean, "Quit acting up and and listen to what I have to tell you."


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## Tjahzi

_Förstår du inte svenska!? _


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## Yulan

Hello Catlady60,

In Italian I say "Parlo arabo forse?"

Though I am petty sure there are similar expressions referred to other languages, e.d., "Parlo cinese?" 

Ciao


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## Black4blue

In Turkish it is similar to English.
When someone doesn't understand or "doesn't want to understand" us, we say _Türkçe konuşuyorum!_ _(I'm speaking Turkish!)._


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## catlady60

Black4blue said:


> In Turkish it is similar to English.
> When someone doesn't understand or "doesn't want to understand" us, we say _Türkçe konuşuyorum!_ _(I'm speaking Turkish!)._


That's exactly what I'm talking about!  When someone doesn't *want to understand *what you're saying, we say, "Do you understand English"?, at least in the US.


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## rusita preciosa

(The thread title is misleading.)

In Russian we say the same thing, except we rephrase it so that this particular wording is only used in this situation: 
*Я тебе русским языком говорю!* /ya tebe russkim yazykom govoriu/ - literally, "I'm saying it to you with Russian language".


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## English Speaker

¿Entiendes Español?


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## Outsider

I think what I've heard most is:

_Estou falando/a falar chinês?_
Am I speaking Chinese?


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## English Speaker

Outsider said:


> I think what I've heard most is:
> 
> _Estou falando/a falar chinês?_
> Am I speaking Chinese?


 
That is Portuguese right?

In Spanish that phrase could be literally translated like this:
¿Estoy Hablando Chino?


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## olaszinho

Hello Catlady60,

In Italian I say "Parlo arabo forse?"

Though I am petty sure there are similar expressions referred to other languages, e.d., "Parlo cinese?" 

Ciao 

Are you sure? I would say: Capisci l'italiano o no? The expression "to speak Arabic or Chinese" is used when someone speaks double Dutch, that is incrutable gibberish


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## swift

rusita preciosa said:


> (The thread title is misleading.) *I concur. *
> 
> In Russian we say the same thing, except we rephrase it so that this particular wording is only used in this situation:
> *Я тебе русским языком говорю!* /ys tebe russkim yazykom govoriu/ - literally, "I'm asying it to you with Russian language".


In Costa Rica, people say "¿Estoy hablando en ruso (o: chino) o qué?/¿Será que yo hablo en ruso (o: chino)?"  → _Am I speaking Russian/Chinese or what? / Could it be that I'm speaking Russian/Chinese?_


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## rusita preciosa

swift said:


> In Costa Rica, people say "¿Estoy hablando en ruso (o: chino) o qué?/¿Será que yo hablo en ruso (o: chino)?"  → _Am I speaking Russian/Chinese or what? / Could it be that I'm speaking Russian/Chinese?_


 I was actually laughing when I read the posting by Black4Blue: in Russian in that situation we say "Am I speaking Trukish or what??"


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## apmoy70

In Greek:
«Καταλαβαίνεις ελληνικά;» 
katala'venis elini'ka?
"Do you understand Greek?"
or
«Ελληνικά μιλάω!»
elini'ka mi'lao!
"I speak Greek!"
or
«Αλαμπουρνέζικα* μιλάω και δεν καταλαβαίνεις;»
alambur'nezika mi'lao ce ðen katala'enis?
"Am I speaking/do I speak Alaburnese and you don't understand?"

*«Αλαμπουρνέζικα» (alambur'nezika _adv._) means roughly "gibberish". It either derives from:
1/ The Italian expression "alla burlesca" (in the manner of fun) + suffix «-ζικα» (-zika)-->_belonging to, originating in_ (mostly used for languages), or
2/ From Bernesque poetry, Francesco Berni's satirical poetry, far-famed in the 16th c. that gave the expression "alla Bernesca" (in the manner of Berni). Both explanations are plausible.

[c] is a voiceless palatal plosive
[ð] is a voiced dental non-sibilant fricative


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## sidonie83

"Tu comprends le français???!?" ou "je parle chinois ou quoi?!?"


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## wildan1

catlady60 said:


> Which expression does your native language have when you're frustrated with someone, especially a child, who habitually ignores and disobeys you?
> 
> In English, we say, "Do you understand English"?, when we mean, "Quit acting up and and listen to what I have to tell you."


When I am that frustrated, I usually would be more emphatic than that:

_Don't you understand plain English?!_


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## Natalisha

rusita preciosa said:


> (The thread title is misleading.)
> 
> In Russian we say the same thing, except we rephrase it so that this particular wording is only used in this situation:
> *Я тебе русским языком говорю!* /ya tebe russkim yazykom govoriu/ - literally, "I'm saying it to you with Russian language".


And sometimes we say:
*Ты (вы) что, русского языка не понимаешь (понимаете)?* - Don't you understand Russian?


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## Selyd

In Ukrainian:
- *Ти що, не чуєш? *- Usual tone (You do not hear?)
- *Ти що, глухий? *- Usual tone (You by a deaf person?)
*- Тобі що, позакладало? *- Angry tone (To pawn ear)


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## Yulan

olaszinho said:


> Are you sure? I would say: Capisci l'italiano o no? The expression "to speak Arabic or Chinese" is used when someone speaks double Dutch, that is incrutable gibberish


 

Hello,

As fas as I am concerned, I do not say "Capisci l'italiano?", my interpretation is different: meaning "... you are supposed to understand Italian, so why don't you understand when I talk to you? Do I speak Arabic?"

As I said, that's my interpretation of Catlady's question: when I'm frustrated with someone, especially a child, who habitually ignores and disobeys me, I do say "Parlo arabo forse?" 

Of course, other Italians may say something different ...


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## Orlin

catlady60 said:


> Which expression does your native language have when you're frustrated with someone, especially a child, who habitually ignores and disobeys you?
> 
> In English, we say, "Do you understand English"?, when we mean, "Quit acting up and and listen to what I have to tell you."


 


Selyd said:


> In Ukrainian:
> - *Ти що, не чуєш? *- Usual tone (You do not hear?)
> - *Ти що, глухий? *- Usual tone (You by a deaf person?)
> *- Тобі що, позакладало? *- Angry tone (To pawn ear)


Bulgarian uses both models: _(Ти) български разбираш ли?_ = Do you understand Bulgarian? and _Не чуваш ли?/Глух ли си?_ = Don't you hear?/Are you deaf?


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## apsicle

In the Philippines we often say: 

a. Bingi ka ba? (Are you deaf?) 

b. Naintindihan mo? O gusto mong paluin kita? (Do you understand? or Do you want me to spank you?) 

The second one are often use by parents to scare off their kids to listen to them or else they will get spank.


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## nooij

In Dutch (in the Netherlands) we usually say "Praat ik Chinees (ofzo)?", which means "Do I speak Chinese (or something)?", but other languages can be used in the sentence instead of Chinese.


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## Roy776

In german we say
"Spreche ich Chinesisch?" (Do I speak Chinese?)
and a little more aggressive:
"Spreche ich Chinesisch, oder was?"


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## mataripis

In Tagalog:1.) Can you understand?  = Nakakaunawa/nakakaintindi ka ba?    2.) do you understand english? = nakakaunawa ka ba ng Ingles?


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## OneStroke

We have exactly the same expression in Cantonese.

你識唔識廣東話口架

The last two characters are one character, but it won't show up on most computers.

The expression is often followed by a witty comment, along the lines of 洗唔洗我講英文? Need I speak in English instead?


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## مر هر

in Brazil we say: "Estou falando grego, por acaso?"
or... "Am I speaking Greek by any chance?!"


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## ThomasK

Dutch: 
_- begrijpt u dan geen Nederlands ? 
- spreek ik Chinees of zo ? _


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## jana.bo99

Croatian: 
Razumijete li Hrvatski?
Razumeš li Hrvatski? ( to younger person or very close)

Slovenian: 
Ali razumete Slovenščino?
Ali razumeš Slovenščino? (to younger person)


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## 涼宮

In Spanish we tend to say: ¿Hablo chino o qué? or voy a tener que aprender chino a ver si así me entiendes. The latter is kinda common in Venezuela.


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## mataripis

In Tagalog: 1.) Naunawaan mo ba ang Inggles?


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## tFighterPilot

Hebrew (All from male to male):
Ata [lo] mevin ivrit?!? (do you [not] understand Hebrew?!?)
Ani medaber sinit?!? (am I speaking Chinese?!?)
Takshiv lema she'ani omer lekha (listen to what I'm saying to you)

Of course there can be many other options.


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## LilianaB

In Lithuanian you usually ask if the person speaks the language, not whether they understand it: Ar kalbate angliskai? (if you do not know the person) Ar kalbi angliskai? to a friend. Do you speak English. You could ask, do you understand English: Ar suprantete angliskai? Ar supranti angliskai? - to a friend.


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## arielipi

in hebrew, it varies with the degree of anger.
at(a)[f (m)] kheresh(et)[m (f)]!? - are you deaf?
at(a) lo shome'a(m)/shoma'at(f)? dont you hear?(=are you deaf)
ata makshiv - are you listening?
ata lo medaber ivrit? - dont you speak hebrew?
if youre frustrated and the person is listening to oyu it would be 'nuuuuuuu' - somewhat as a word to show that you are frustrated. also oof.


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## Aliahmad

Do you understand? or Do you want me to spank you?) 

In Urdo we often say (aap ko english ati hay?)or (aap english samijtay hain?


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