# We Speak Poker



## pseudoego

Hello World, Indeed!
I am trying to translate the phrase "We speak Poker" into as many languages as is humanly possible.  I have tried the machine translations, and I run into problems with the word "poker."  Many translator devices assume it refers to the iron object used to "poke" wood in a stove or fireplace.

I would greatly appreciate assistance in communicating the concept in as many languages as possible.

I am trying to convey the idea that the game of Poker is becoming a universal  language...or at least a common vehicle for communication.

So, where I am visiting currently, it is not uncommon to see signs stating "Se Habla Espanol." I believe that "Hablamos Poker," conveys the meaning I am looking for better than "Se Habla Poker," for example.

I do not just want to indicate that "Poker is spoken," but also wish to indicate an active process of interaction...Poker is being spoken - and "You can assume that you will be accepted here - because We Speak Poker - we understand what it is all about and why you like it."

I think some languages may relate better to their local equivalent of "We are speaking Poker," while some may relate better to "We Speak Poker."

I would appreciate any discussion on which would be the best expression.

Currently, I have:

Italian: Parliamo Poker
German: Wir Sprechen Poker
Dutch: Wij Spreken Poker
Spanish:Hablamos Poker
French: Nous Parlons Poker
Japanese: 私達は 火かき棒  を話す  

Portugese:  Nos Falamos poker ?  or just Falamos Poker?

Korean: 우리는 부지깽이를 말한다  we speak poker

Finnish: me haastaa poker  
       Arabic:  نتكلم البوكر  we speak poker 

Danish: vi indtale  poker

Norwegian:   vi snakke poker



  Polish:   mówimy Poker

Swedish: vi tala poker


   Russian: мы говорим покер    мы говорим Poker


 Czech:    my mluvit Poker

Turkish: biz konuşmak poker

Thank you for any languages you care to add to my list, as well as any
feedback and discussion about the grammar of what I am trying to say.


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## Outsider

pseudoego said:


> Portugese:  Nos Falamos poker ?  or just Falamos Poker?


_Falamos póquer_ is more natural. However, this translation seems too literal for your purposes. It might be better to use one of the following:

_Falamos a língua do póquer.
_"We speak the language of poker."

_Sabemos a língua do póquer.
_"We know the language of poker."

_Entendemos o póquer.
_"We understand poker."

Unless you are trying to come up with a slogan for advertising, for instance, and are counting on the surprise effect of your unusual construction. Still, _Falamos póquer_ does not work quite as good as "We speak poker", IMHO.


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## badgrammar

Another attempt at Turkish (wait for corrections!)

Poker konuşuyoruz!
Or:
Poker bilyoruz!

The first one goes more with the word play of "to speak", while the second is more basically, "to know".


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## Ilmo

*Finnish:*

Puhumme pokeria (we speak poker)

Täällä puhutaan pokeria (poker is spoken)

In Finnish, there are no problems whatsoever at making other persons conceive that "pokeri" is a language than can be spoken. (Note! We are used to add an "i" at the end of the word.)


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## Chazzwozzer

badgrammar said:


> Another attempt at Turkish (wait for corrections!)
> 
> Poker konuşuyoruz!
> Or:
> Poker bilyoruz!
> 
> The first one goes more with the word play of "to speak", while the second is more basically, "to know".


The translation given in the first post is completely incorrect, badgrammar's version is right. It sounds better in simple present tense, however. (_*konuşuruz *_and _*biliriz*_)

Well, if I had to make up such phrase in Turkish, I'd rather say: *"Pokerden anlarız."* (We understand poker.) or *"Poker bizim işimizdir." *(Poker is our business.)


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## Whodunit

Hi Pseudo-Ego,

First of all, we don't encourage electronic translators at all, however they might work for very short sentences. You could enter "We speak XXXYYY," if you don't want it to translate "Poker" literally. Nevertheless, you must pay attention to the correct spelling of "Poker" in the respective language. In order to check this, you can use Wikipedia. 

There are some spelling mistakes in your translations I'd like to point out before someone more competent can perfect it. 



pseudoego said:


> Italian: Parliamo poker.
> German: Wir sprechen Poker.
> Dutch: Wij spreken Poker.
> Spanish: Hablamos póquer.
> French: Nous parlons poker. _I'd say "le poker."_
> Japanese: 私達は火かき棒を話す｡ _I think "ポーカー" is more common than_ _"__火かき棒"_
> Portuguese: Nos falamos pôquer ? or just Falamos pôquer? _already answered_
> Korean: 우리는 부지깽이를 말한다
> Finnish: Me haastaa poker.
> Arabic: .نتكلم البوكر
> Danish: Vi indtale poker.
> Norwegian: Vi snakke poker.
> Polish: Mówimy poker. _(case?)_
> Swedish: Vi talar poker.
> Russian: Мы говорим покер./Мы говорим Poker. I'd choose the former
> 
> Czech: My mluvíme poker. (case?)
> Turkish: Biz konuşmak poker.


 
In German, I'd say "Poker ist unsere Sprache" (Poker is our language) or "Unsere Sprache ist Poker" (Our language is Poker). The former emphasizes the fact that it is indeed Poker we speak, the latter is rather neutral.


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## suslik

In Estonian u could say:
me räägime pokkerit (we speak Poker)

but actually it seems kinda weird to say like this,
so maybe better way to say: meie keel on pokker (our language is Poker)


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## pseudoego

badgrammar said:


> Another attempt at Turkish (wait for corrections!)
> 
> Poker konuşuyoruz!
> Or:
> Poker bilyoruz!
> 
> The first one goes more with the word play of "to speak", while the second is more basically, "to know".



Thank you for taking the time to assist!


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## pseudoego

Ilmo said:


> *Finnish:*
> 
> Puhumme pokeria (we speak poker)
> 
> Täällä puhutaan pokeria (poker is spoken)
> 
> In Finnish, there are no problems whatsoever at making other persons conceive that "pokeri" is a language than can be spoken. (Note! We are used to add an "i" at the end of the word.)



Hi Ilmo: Thanks. It sounds like the "i" at the end of the word is like "-ish" in English, British, Danish, Finnish, Pokerish?


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## pseudoego

Chazzwozzer said:


> The translation given in the first post is completely incorrect, badgrammar's version is right. It sounds better in simple present tense, however. (_*konuşuruz *_and _*biliriz*_)
> 
> Well, if I had to make up such phrase in Turkish, I'd rather say: *"Pokerden anlarız."* (We understand poker.) or *"Poker bizim işimizdir." *(Poker is our business.)



Thanks, Chazzwozzer:
Which tense was badgrammar's version in?


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## pseudoego

Thanks for your observations, Whodunit.


Whodunit said:


> Hi Pseudo-Ego,
> 
> First of all, we don't encourage electronic translators at all, however they might work for very short sentences. You could enter "We speak XXXYYY," if you don't want it to translate "Poker" literally.



That is the process I used; however, such translators appear to sometimes have difficulty even with small sentences, it would appear.





Whodunit said:


> In German, I'd say "Poker ist unsere Sprache" (Poker is our language) or "Unsere Sprache ist Poker" (Our language is Poker). The former emphasizes the fact that it is indeed Poker we speak, the latter is rather neutral.



Thanks, and what would "Wir sprechen Poker" mean to the average reader?


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## Thomas1

Hi, 

If you're trying to say _we speak poker language_,


pseudoego said:


> [...]
> Polish: mówimy Poker
> [...]


it is not the best choice to convey this message in Polish (it means: we say Poker).

I think I'd say:
_Posługujemny się/Mówimy żargonem pokerzystów._
We use/speak poker players' cant/jargon.
or
_Posługujemny się/Mówimy językiem pokerzystów._
We use/speak poker players' language.
But I prefer the former one.


Tom


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## pseudoego

Whodunit said:


> Japanese: 私達は火かき棒を話す｡ _I think "ポーカー" is more common than_ _"__火かき棒"_



Hi Whodunit: I do not understand the symbols, and therefore do not understand your suggestion...could you implement your recommendation in a complete phrase using Japanese script, please?


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## pseudoego

suslik said:


> In Estonian u could say:
> me räägime pokkerit (we speak Poker)
> 
> but actually it seems kinda weird to say like this,
> so maybe better way to say: meie keel on pokker (our language is Poker)



Hi Suslik:

Yes, it seems weird to say it in English, initially....but as Outsider noted, there is a "surprise" element to it that adds value as a "slogan."

I am trying to replicate the slogan in as many languages as possible.


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## cyanista

> Russian: мы говорим покер


I know, brevity is the soul of wit but unfortunately you can't keep this phrase nice and short in Russian. Мы говорим покер would just mean _we say "Poker"_. I'd use "Мы говорим на языке покера", which means _we speak the language of Poker. _It's probably the most natural (thanks for the idea, Outsider ).


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## Thomas1

Actually, when I come to think of it we could aslo say in Polish:
_Mówimy językiem pokera_
We speak the language of poker.


Tom


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## pseudoego

Thomas1 said:


> Hi,
> 
> If you're trying to say _we speak poker language_,
> 
> it is not the best choice to convey this message in Polish (it means: we say Poker).
> 
> I think I'd say:
> _Posługujemny się/Mówimy żargonem pokerzystów._
> We use/speak poker players' cant/jargon.
> or
> _Posługujemny się/Mówimy językiem pokerzystów._
> We use/speak poker players' language.
> But I prefer the former one.
> 
> 
> Tom



Hi Tom: Thanks for the suggestions.
They seem to require a lot more characters and script.

Ilmo noted the convention in his language of adding an "i" to the end of Poker to indicate it is a language to be spoken.

Is there a similar convention in Polish? what about -ski? "Pokerski"?? "Pokeri"?

You seem to be saying that "mówimy" means "we say" and in order to state "We speak" one has to expand it to "_Posługujemny się/Mówimy_".

Doesn't "_Mówimy Angielski" _work for saying "We speak English"?

Thanks for your clarifications.


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## pseudoego

cyanista said:


> I know, brevity is the soul of wit but unfortunately you can't keep this phrase nice and short in Russian. Мы говорим покер would just mean _we say "Poker"_. I'd use "Мы говорим на языке покера", which means _we speak the language of Poker. _It's probably the most natural (thanks for the idea, Outsider ).



HI Cyanista:

My posts seem to be lacking both wit and brevity!

I am curious about the distinctions in the use of "Мы говорим..."

"Мы говорим покер" just means we say poker, but with 
"Мы говорим на языке покера" the same words seem to mean "We speak..."???

There is no way to convert "Poker" into a word meaning it is a language?

Like Dane = Danish, Sweden=Swedish...etc.?

Pseudoego


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## cyanista

pseudoego said:


> HI Cyanista:
> 
> My posts seem to be lacking both wit and brevity!
> 
> I am curious about the distinctions in the use of "Мы говорим..."
> 
> "Мы говорим покер" just means we say poker, but with
> "Мы говорим на языке покера" the same words seem to mean "We speak..."???
> 
> There is no way to convert "Poker" into a word meaning it is a language?
> 
> Like Dane = Danish, Sweden=Swedish...etc.?
> 
> Pseudoego


You're absolutely right, pseudoego, говорить (this is the infinitive) may mean both 'say' and 'speak'. There is a special verb+adverb construction to express the idea of speaking this or that language. To speak English is говорить по-английски, to speak Chinese is говорить по-китайски and so on. This is a productive pattern, i.e. you can translate to speak Klingon as "говорить по-клингонски".  So, theoretically, you _could_ invent an adverb corresponding to "Poker" and write "Мы говорим по-покерски".  But, quite honestly, I wouldn't use it unless I wanted to completely puzzle my audience or make them burst with laughter.


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## Flaminius

who said:
			
		

> Japanese: 私達は火かき棒を話す｡ _I think "ポーカー" is more common than_ _"__火かき棒"_


火かき棒 is a fire-kindling stick.    For the card game, ポーカー is the only possibility.



pseudoego said:


> Hi Whodunit: I do not understand the symbols, and therefore do not understand your suggestion...could you implement your recommendation in a complete phrase using Japanese script, please?


You can replace 火かき棒 with ポーカー even if you don't understand the characters.

However, correcting that is still a wooden phrasing.  I'd say;
ポーカーで話してます。


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## pseudoego

cyanista said:


> "Мы говорим по-покерски".  But, quite honestly, I wouldn't use it unless I wanted to completely puzzle my audience or make them burst with laughter.



But, Cyanista...would not puzzling my audience or making them laugh motivate them to find out more about what I had to say?

So, as a slogan...would it not be functional? or would it just cause a loss of credibility?


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## pseudoego

Flaminius said:


> 火かき棒 is a fire-kindling stick.    For the card game, ポーカー is the only possibility.
> 
> 
> You can replace 火かき棒 with ポーカー even if you don't understand the characters.
> 
> However, correcting that is still a wooden phrasing.  I'd say;
> ポーカーで話してます。



Thanks for the clarification, Flaminius.

Mindlessly just replacing characters and words has caused a number of problems in this project.  Sometimes replacing one word with another requires changes in the other words.  This is why I asked for the complete phrase.

Would you tell me, please, what is your interpretation of the phrase you suggested? :  ポーカーで話してます   

I would like to have a bit of understanding what is being said, and how.


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## gao_yixing

I haven't understood what this sentence means exactly. But let me try:
Chinese:我们都打牌。
打牌 means playing poker.


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## pseudoego

gao_yixing said:


> I haven't understood what this sentence means exactly. But let me try:
> Chinese:我们都打牌。
> 打牌 means playing poker.



According to my translation machine, 
我们都打牌。 means "We all play cards."

Is that close to being accurate?


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## daoxunchang

Hi, pseudoego, I don't quite understand your sentence, either. Are you trying to say something like the "jargons" in poker playing, the game with those paper cards, would carry you around the world?


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## Maarten

Whodunit said:


> There are some spelling mistakes in your translations I'd like to point out before someone more competent can perfect it.


Wow, do you speak all this languages ?



Whodunit said:


> Dutch: Wij spreken Poker.


Then you also have to write poker in lower case.



Whodunit said:


> German: Wir sprechen Poker.


I'd say that you can also write it in upper case, like in the English version. Maybe the same applies to other languages. (if you are using Windows)


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## cyanista

pseudoego said:


> But, Cyanista...would not puzzling my audience or making them laugh motivate them to find out more about what I had to say?
> 
> So, as a slogan...would it not be functional? or would it just cause a loss of credibility?



I'm sorry, it just doesn't work. Unlike in English, it sounds unnatural, forced, badly translated or a lame attempt to be original. The prevalent reaction would probably be: "They speak WHAT???"


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## Flaminius

pseudoego said:


> Would you tell me, please, what is your interpretation of the phrase you suggested? :  ポーカーで話してます


This is phonologically represented;
pōkā-de hanashite masu.
Poker-WITH speaking weAre.

Gross: We are speaking in poker.


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## DrWatson

pseudoego said:


> Hi Ilmo: Thanks. It sounds like the "i" at the end of the word is like "-ish" in English, British, Danish, Finnish, Pokerish?



This is not the case. Most of the time in Finnish (when the name of the language is not different from the name of the country, eg _Finland_ -> _Finnish_; _Germany_ -> _German_ etc), the language is indicated by nothing else but using a lower case letter at the beginning of the country's name, eg *Suomi* (Finland) -> *suomi* (Finnish) or *Saksa* (Germany) -> *saksa *(German). The "i" in the end is many times added to loanwords that end with a consonant, like poker -> *pokeri*, packet -> *paketti*, sugar -> (Swedish: socker) -> *sokeri*


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## Whodunit

daoxunchang said:


> Hi, pseudoego, I don't quite understand your sentence, either. Are you trying to say something like the "jargons" in poker playing, the game with those paper cards, would carry you around the world?


 
It means that we converse in the language of Poker. It's meant figuratively, just like "we speak (in the language of) football," which is said to not be understood by women, and so on ...

The version suggested "我们都打牌" is not accurate, because it simply means "We all play cards." Here's my suggestion, although this may be 100% wrong; however, it should give you the idea of what Pseudoego is looking for:

我们都扑克。



Maarten said:


> Wow, do you speak all this languages ?


 
No, but I often know how a language should look like. 



> Then you also have to write poker in lower case.


 
According to Wikipedia, Poker is written with a capital letter in Dutch.



> I'd say that you can also write it in upper case, like in the English version. Maybe the same applies to other languages. (if you are using Windows)


 
No you can't. Adjectives, verbs, particles, ... everything except for nouns and proper names are spelled in all lower case letters in German - even as a headline.


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## Chazzwozzer

pseudoego said:


> Thanks, Chazzwozzer:
> Which tense was badgrammar's version in?


It was in present continuous tense.


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## badgrammar

It's the only tense I know how to "conjugate"


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## Maja

In Serbian:

Mi govorimo pokerski (jezik). 
Ми говоримо покерски (језик).


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## Maarten

Whodunit said:


> According to Wikipedia, Poker is written with a capital letter in Dutch.


It's only written in capital letters in the headline, beginning of sentences and links to other articles.


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## pseudoego

daoxunchang said:


> Hi, pseudoego, I don't quite understand your sentence, either. Are you trying to say something like the "jargons" in poker playing, the game with those paper cards, would carry you around the world?


 
Hi Daoxunchang:

I will try to answer your question in a later post.


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## pseudoego

cyanista said:


> I'm sorry, it just doesn't work. Unlike in English, it sounds unnatural, forced, badly translated or a lame attempt to be original. The prevalent reaction would probably be: "They speak WHAT???"


 

Hi Cyanista:

Perhaps Russian people will get used to it in the future. 
Evidentally Poker is to become a state sponsored sport in Russia!

 check out: wwwDOTtherussiajournalDOTcom/node/4951


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## Chazzwozzer

badgrammar said:


> It's the only tense I know how to "conjugate"


So it's about time you studied other forms!  See this page. I suggest, for now, you study only *"bildirme"* column of *gelecek zaman* (future tense), *şimdiki zaman* (present continuous tense),* geniş zaman *(simple present tense) and *geçmiş zaman* (past tense).


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## pseudoego

Hello everyone!

Thank you so much for your help so far.

I will post my updated list below.
Please feel free to make suggestions for editing.
Please feel free to add your language to the list.

If your language has a script that is different from English, and you also know of a way to write your language using English letters, please also include the alternative spelling.

I really do want to hear from as many countries/languages as possible.

In response to a couple of people's requests for clarification:

Imagine that Poker is now considered a universal language, like *Esperanto*. "We speak Esperanto."

It has very few words: Bet, Call, Check, Raise, All-in, Fold.

Everybody in the world understands what it means when somebody pushes all his/her chips/money into the middle of the table!

"We speak Poker" means that we are capable of conversing in the language of the Poker world, but it also means that you can hear the language being spoken and used in this location, and you will be comfortable here.

It is like a sign in a window in a store or an office "We speak Dutch,"
or "We speak German," or "We speak Russian" or "Se habla Espanol."

I am *not* looking for "Poker is our language."
That is not what I mean.
I could have a sign in my window stating "We speak French," but French is not our language...the sign only means that you can use the language here.

I am not looking for "We understand Poker." 
I want to signify that we are actually *using* the language actively, not just that we can figure out what you mean when you talk.

Again, the idea is to assume that "Poker" is now considered to be a world with its own language.

I want people to know that when you come here, you will be able to speak "Poker" with other people.

If somebody were to ask what you do when you visit this place/this store, you can tell them: "We speak Poker."

So, "We speak Poker" refers to a capacity, and also an activity, and it tells you what you can expect to find when you come inside the store.

In English, we often use this kind of idiom to indicate that a subject matter has a culture that is unique. Like "We speak Football," or "We speak Golf," or "We speak Geek"!

We also have an expression: "Now you are speaking *my* language," which means we are now conversing about a subject which I find interesting and which I know something about - so I can relate to it better than what we were talking about before.

Also, in English, we may use a nationality's name as an adjective, but leave out the noun....so the adjective becomes a noun.

For example, "We are eating French tonight" does not mean we will be eating a French person! It just means we will be eating French food.

I suppose that I could have made it say "We speak Pokerish."
However, that is not really the same, and it does not have the same effect.

It is a sign, a symbol, a slogan.

It may not be grammatically correct, it may not sound familiar or proper.
That is OK.

I still want to know how would you say "We speak Poker" if Poker were a real language, just like you would say "We speak English."

If you cannot overlook the fact that Poker is not a real language, and therefore you think your translation sounds "stupid" or "lame" or ridiculous....well, that is OK! 

I want you to pretend that it *is* a real language.

When Nike (the shoemaker) published their famous commercial,
"Just do it." people did not understand it right away, either.

Anyways, thanks for all of the input and feedback so far, I really hope to get more.

*Here is the revised list*...please add - or correct - whatever you can.

Arabic: نتكلم لغة البوكر
Chinese? 我们都扑克。
Czech: My mluvíme poker. 
Danish: Vi indtale poker.
Dutch: Wij spreken Poker.
Estonian: me räägime pokkerit, meie keel on pokker 
Finnish: Puhumme pokeria 
French: Nous parlons le poker.
German: Wir sprechen Poker, Poker ist unsere Sprache
Italian: Parliamo poker.
Japanese: ポーカーで話してます
Korean: 우리는 부지깽이를 말한다 
Norwegian: Vi snakke poker.
Polish: Mówimy poker, _Mówimy językiem pokera_
Portuguese: Falamos pôquer
Russian: Мы говорим на языке покера (English spelling?)
Serbian: Mi govorimo pokerski (jezik). 
Spanish: Hablamos póquer.
Swedish: Vi talar poker.
Tagalog: Nagsasalita kami ng Pusóy
Turkish: poker konuşuruz
Vietnamese: Chúng *ta* nói kiểu Pô ke 

Ukrainian?
Other languages???


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## Flaminius

> Japanese: 我们都扑克。


This is the Chinese version suggested by Whodunit.  For the Japanese one, see #28.


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## doman

Vietnamese:

We speak Poker.

Chúng *tôi* nói kiểu Pô ke (we = I + my people)
Chúng *ta* nói kiểu Pô ke (we = I + all of you)


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## elroy

I'm not Tom, but I can (try to) answer some of your questions about Polish:





pseudoego said:


> Is there a similar convention in Polish? what about -ski? "Pokerski"?? "Pokeri"?


 I am not sure of the answer to this question, but my guess would be "no."


> You seem to be saying that "mówimy" means "we say" and in order to state "We speak" one has to expand it to "_Posługujemny się/Mówimy_".


 The verb "mówić" can mean _either_ "to say" or "to speak" - depending on the context. Notice that Tom's suggestion included _both_ "mówimy" and "posługujemny się." The slash indicates that you can use either, not that you have to use both.


> Doesn't "_Mówimy Angielski" _work for saying "We speak English"?


 No, that does not work at all. You would have to say "Mówimy *po angielsku*."

***
Now, for the Arabic:

Unsurprisingly, نتكلم البوكر sounds very odd in Arabic, and it makes little sense.

But it can be remedied by adding just one word:

نتكلم لغة البوكر - _We speak the language of poker_.


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## mylasalle

In Tagalog, it would translate to...

"Nagsasalita kami ng Pusóy."

The idiom hasn't found its place in the Tagalog language though. So making that expression to Filipinos will be most likely met with a quizzical stare.


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## Outsider

pseudoego said:


> In response to a couple of people's requests for clarification:
> 
> Imagine that Poker is now considered a universal language, like *Esperanto*. "We speak Esperanto."
> 
> [...]
> 
> In English, we often use this kind of idiom to indicate that a subject matter has a culture that is unique. Like "We speak Football," or "We speak Golf," or "We speak Geek"!
> 
> [...]
> 
> I want you to pretend that it *is* a real language.
> 
> [...]
> 
> Portuguese: Falamos p*ó*quer


I understood your intention, but what you may not have understood is that other languages are not as flexible on this point as English. As Cyanista said, in many other languages "I speak poker" would tend to sound:



cyanista said:


> [...] unnatural, forced, badly translated or a lame attempt to be original. The prevalent reaction would probably be: "They speak WHAT???"


Concerning Portuguese, my first reaction is to say the same, that it does not work. However, since this is for a slogan, it might pass. I suppose the awkwardness of the phrase may be related to the fact that poker is not as popular in Portuguese-speaking countries as it is in English-speaking countries. So people would be slow to make the connection, and might miss the play on words. But if, for instance, the phrase appeared in a billboard along with some picture of people playing poker, there should be no problem.


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## Chazzwozzer

I, again, suggest that you use* "Poker bizim işimizdir."* or *"Pokerden anlarız."* That's because *"Poker konuşuruz."*, as in your revised list, makes no sense unless you think in English, though the sentence is grammatically OK.


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## pseudoego

Maja said:


> In Serbian:
> 
> Mi govorimo pokerski (jezik).
> Ми говоримо покерски (језик).


 
Thank you, Maja.

Is it necessary to include the word (jezik) in brackets, in exactly the same way you did?

Does including that word specify that it is a language that is being referenced?


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## pseudoego

Thank you for some interesting discussion and comments.



> Unsurprisingly, نتكلم البوكر sounds very odd in Arabic, and it makes little sense.


 


> what you may not have understood is that other languages are not as flexible on this point as English.


 



> So people would be slow to make the connection, and might miss the play on words.


 



> makes no sense unless you think in English, though the sentence is grammatically OK.


 



> unnatural, forced, badly translated or a lame attempt to be original. The prevalent reaction would probably be: "They speak WHAT???"


 



> The idiom hasn't found its place in the Tagalog language though. So making that expression to Filipinos will be most likely met with a quizzical stare.


 
From what I remember of my undergraduate linguistics course, languages are dynamic, living things. 

It is not languages which are flexible, nor is it words which "make sense"...it is people who are flexible, and people who make sense out of words, and it is people who impose meanings on symbols.

People bring meaning to words, not vice versa.

New ways of speaking constantly emerge and evolve - as languages evolve - as people evolve.

*-----------------------------------------*

Imagine I am an Anthropologist.
I have returned from 10 years of research in a remote region, where I and my team "discovered" a previously unknown "tribe."
Nobody has ever heard of this tribe before.
They call themselves "Glork" and they report that "Glork" is the word for the language they speak, also.

I have many friends among the Glork people.

A newspaper reporter asks me "How do you communicate with those people?"

I answer: "When we are together, *we speak Glork*."

How would you translate the newspaper report, quoting me as saying:
".....*we speak Glork*."?

Now, saying that - and hearing it - sounds strange and foreign to my eyes and ears. "Glork" is not a typical construction in English...at least not for me.

Other people would give me strange looks if I announced "I speak Glork."
It would not make sense to many people if I asked them "Do you speak Glork?"

That is fine.

I am asking: if you were translating my words, how would you translate my statement: "We speak Glork."?

It really does not matter if you have never heard of that language, or if you have never heard of anybody named Glork....I have stated that they exist.

Those are the words that are in the transcript of the interview.
How would you translate them?

Do you translate the words literally, exactly as they were spoken?  Or...

is there a difference between what translators do, and what interpreters do...

I think I was unclear about what I was asking in my original post.
Was I asking for a literal translation, or was I asking for an interpretation of what is the best way to communicate the same meaning in another language?

Do I want people to tell me how to say what **I was thinking** or do I want people to tell me how to say what **they would be thinking**?

Some people have told me that I should not bother trying to communicate what *I was thinking* in their language, because it would not make sense.

Perhaps there exists *no way* to replicate what I was thinking in certain other languages...this is part of the essence of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.

The existence of the Glork people - and the Glork language - does not depend on whether any other civilized society has heard of them, nor does it matter whether anybody else understands what "Glork" means...to most other people in the world Glork is "gibberish."

How would you translate: "We speak Glork."?

And, finally, how would you - following the same conventions for translating speech about a language you have never heard of before -
translate the phrase:

"We speak Poker." ?

I appreciate the warnings that it will sound stupid or weird, or lame.

I cannot control what other people think of what I have to say. 

They will construct it in whatever manner has relevance to them...or they will laugh...or they will ignore it, blankly.


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## daoxunchang

So, just one phrase or word that has the potentiality, however little it may be, to be accepted? Then it must fit into the "general" word construction rule: (Chinese) 我们讲扑克语


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## Whodunit

Thinking about your intention, I agree that "*Wir sprechen Poker*" is possible in German, even though "Poker ist unsere Sprache" (or "Unsere Sprache ist Poker") sounds better. 

In Latin one would say (knowing that the Romans didn't know that card play):

_(Lingua) Poker loquimur._


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## Chazzwozzer

Languages in Turkish end with either *ce/ca/çe/ça suffixes* or *...dili. *Türkçe, İngilizce, Almanca, Baskça; Türk dli, İngiliz dili, Alman dili, Bask dili...

So, that's what makes *"Poker konuşuruz." *sounds odd and awkward to my native ears. If you say* "Poker dilini konuşuruz."* or *"Pokerce konuşuruz."* that will sound quite catchy and a bit humorous to my ears, as if there's a language called poker.


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## pseudoego

Whodunit said:


> Thinking about your intention, I agree that "*Wir sprechen Poker*" is possible in German, even though "Poker ist unsere Sprache" (or "Unsere Sprache ist Poker") sounds better.
> 
> In Latin one would say (knowing that the Romans didn't know that card play):
> 
> _(Lingua) Poker loquimur._


 
Thank you, you have anticipated one of my questions: what it would look like in Latin.


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## pseudoego

Chazzwozzer said:


> Languages in Turkish end with either *ce/ca/çe/ça suffixes* or *...dili. *Türkçe, İngilizce, Almanca, Baskça; Türk dli, İngiliz dili, Alman dili, Bask dili...
> 
> So, that's what makes *"Poker konuşuruz." *sounds odd and awkward to my native ears. If you say* "Poker dilini konuşuruz."* or *"Pokerce konuşuruz."* that will sound quite catchy and a bit humorous to my ears, as if there's a language called poker.


 
Thank you, Chazzwozzer...for going the extra mile and explaining the problem.

"*Pokerce* *konuşuruz" it is!*


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## RabidFox

pseudoego said:


> If you cannot overlook the fact that Poker is not a real language, and therefore you think your translation sounds "stupid" or "lame" or ridiculous....well, that is OK!
> 
> I want you to pretend that it *is* a real language.
> 
> When Nike (the shoemaker) published their famous commercial,
> "Just do it." people did not understand it right away, either.



I can understand what the others mean when they say that using "Pokerish" would sound odd or absurd. It sounds weird even in English. You have to understand that what may sound alright in English can sound odd or incorrect in another language. I would use the translations that the native speakers give you.

As for the whole Glork thing, imagine if I were to say "I Glork speak". That would sound like a caveman speaking in English. Different languages have different grammatical structure, and different interpretations of different "words". For example, in Spanish, one can say "Oozing Love" and that makes perfect sense to a Spanish person. If I said that in English, it would sound strange.


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## coconutpalm

Really, I can't think of any solid Chinese expressions for this, though Daoxunchang's the closest.


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## daoxunchang

What about this one:我们说/讲扑克话. ? I personally think it very funny. Maybe a little facetious. But it might turn out to be serious when people are speaking this as a "language"


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## pseudoego

RabidFox said:


> I can understand what the others mean when they say that using "Pokerish" would sound odd or absurd. It sounds weird even in English. You have to understand that what may sound alright in English can sound odd or incorrect in another language. I would use the translations that the native speakers give you.
> 
> As for the whole Glork thing, imagine if I were to say "I Glork speak". That would sound like a caveman speaking in English. Different languages have different grammatical structure, and different interpretations of different "words". For example, in Spanish, one can say "Oozing Love" and that makes perfect sense to a Spanish person. If I said that in English, it would sound strange.


 
I do'nt think we're talking about merely the syntax of a phrase, as in "I speak Glork." vs. "I Glork speak."

I specifically asked for the syntax to sound exactly the same as if one were talking about *any* language. 

And that is *all* I asked for. Just suspend disbelief and pretend it is a real "language."  I think some people were being "sidetracked" by their preconception that Poker is supposed to be a card game, not a language.

Now, as far as "Oozing love," goes - it does not sound strange to me, but rather romantic...and reflects reality rather well.


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## pseudoego

daoxunchang said:


> What about this one:我们说/讲扑克话. ? I personally think it very funny. Maybe a little facetious. But it might turn out to be serious when people are speaking this as a "language"


 
Hi Daoxunchang:

Would you please be so kind as to offer a translation of what it means?


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## Whodunit

pseudoego said:


> Hi Daoxunchang:
> 
> Would you please be so kind as to offer a translation of what it means?


 
She offered two versions. The first (我们说扑克话) reads "wo3 men5 shuo1 pu1 ke4 hua4" meaning "We speak the Poker language" and the other one (我们讲扑克话) sounds like "wo3 men5 jiang3 pu1 ke4 hua4" which means "We talk in the Poker language."


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## Thomas1

pseudoego said:


> Hi Tom: Thanks for the suggestions.
> They seem to require a lot more characters and script.
> 
> Ilmo noted the convention in his language of adding an "i" to the end of Poker to indicate it is a language to be spoken.
> 
> Is there a similar convention in Polish? what about -ski? "Pokerski"?? "Pokeri"?
> 
> You seem to be saying that "mówimy" means "we say" and in order to state "We speak" one has to expand it to "_Posługujemny się/Mówimy_".
> 
> Doesn't "_Mówimy Angielski" _work for saying "We speak English"?
> 
> Thanks for your clarifications.


 


elroy said:


> I'm not Tom, but I can (try to) answer some of your questions about Polish: I am not sure of the answer to this question, but my guess would be "no."
> The verb "mówić" can mean _either_ "to say" or "to speak" - depending on the context. Notice that Tom's suggestion included _both_ "mówimy" and "posługujemny się." The slash indicates that you can use either, not that you have to use both.
> No, that does not work at all. You would have to say "Mówimy *po angielsku*."
> 
> [...]


Elroy's comments are correct.

Technically, you could say _Mówimy po pokersku._ but it sounds awful*, the pattern seems to work for languages but not for cants.

From the suggestions I gave you, I'd pick:
_Posługujemy się żargonem pokerzystów._
We make use of the jargon of poker players.
or another that's occurred to me:
_Używamy żargonu pokerzystów._
We use the jargon of poker players.

I can't make up my mind as to which one sounds better, though. 

These are my preferences, and I don't want to imply that there's something wrong with the others because that's not true. Please, don't hesitate to ask should you have any further enquiries. 


*It could be used by the initiatied in some circles where it was mutually accepted, but alas it still sounds awry.


Tom


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## RabidFox

pseudoego said:


> I do'nt think we're talking about merely the syntax of a phrase, as in "I speak Glork." vs. "I Glork speak."
> 
> I specifically asked for the syntax to sound exactly the same as if one were talking about *any* language.
> 
> And that is *all* I asked for. Just suspend disbelief and pretend it is a real "language."  I think some people were being "sidetracked" by their preconception that Poker is supposed to be a card game, not a language.
> 
> Now, as far as "Oozing love," goes - it does not sound strange to me, but rather romantic...and reflects reality rather well.



I understand what you are trying to convey by saying "We speak Poker". All I meant to imply is that syntax as well as general interpretations can vary greatly from language to language. 

The "Oozing Love" reference was simply an example.


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## daoxunchang

pseudoego said:


> Hi Daoxunchang:
> 
> Would you please be so kind as to offer a translation of what it means?


Sorry, I should have explained a little. But it's even hard to make it clear to myself why I find my version funny. Having thought about this for one day, I finally find a possible explanation. Here is it:
I used to say 讲什么八国话呢 , lit. What eight-country language are you speaking?! when I was young, and I think it was said by people in my hometown, too,--- in our local dialects, we actually say 讲gang3么mo事si4八国话哦o4, but the sound comes out at the front part of your mouth, not from the back--- but somehow I've never said or heard this now. Strange...
Well, it's used to express one's impatience at the stupidity of others' words or, more commonly, used in a joking way to negate others' opinions.
Since it's so far a local expression for me, I said I am not sure whether others will find it funny, too.
However, the combination of 扑克 and 话 itself is already funny to my ears.
And last, thanks for Whodunit's help


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## teentitans

Istorya ko poker (I speak poker.) --> Visayan dialect
Ang sinabi ko poker ( I said poker)--> Filipino version


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## Malevo

I`ve been looking for the greek "we speak poker" in this thread, and couldn`t find it.


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## samanthalee

When I first saw this thread, I had no idea what the Chinese equivalence should be as Pseudoego said here that he is not looking for "Poker is our language.", so the most natural way to say it in Chinese "扑克是我们的共同语" is out.

Other suggested forms in Chinese given so far do not sound natural to the Chinese ears. Today the answer just hits me. We can say "我们以扑克交流" (wǒ mén yǐ pū kè jiāo liú). Literally translated to English, it'll be "We interact/communicate through poker." Is this acceptable to you, Pseudoego?


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## ramen

pseudoego said:


> [...]
> 
> *Here is the revised list*...please add - or correct - whatever you can.
> 
> [...]
> 
> Korean: 우리는 부지깽이를 말한다
> 
> [...]


 
I'm not a native speaker, but I feel compelled to point out that, as you suspected, a 부지깽이 is _a poker_ (the thing you stoke the fire with). The word for _poker_ (the game) is 포커. However, as others have already said in this thread, I dare say that the concept of speaking 포커 as if it were a language would sound quite unnatural to a native speaker. Although you would prefer not to, personally I suspect that the only way you could convey the closest idea to this without confusion would be to circumlocute with something like _Our language is poker_ (우리 말은 포커이다, or perhaps 포커는 우리 말), but that is something that a native speaker would probably be best to comment on ... If you were talking about, say, the name of a shop, things like 포커나라, 포커피아 or 포커세계 would probably be natural choices to a native speaker. Otherwise, in all its strangeness, literally it would be something like 우리는 포커를 말합니다. Rather than the reader enjoying this sentence's novelty, I fear blank looks is all this would evoke. I know it's been said earlier, but in spite of languages' adaptability, translating things as literally as possible does not necessarily also translate the same playfulness, novelty or gimic.


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## pseudoego

Malevo said:


> I`ve been looking for the greek "we speak poker" in this thread, and couldn`t find it.


 
Please add it, if you know it.


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## pseudoego

samanthalee said:


> When I first saw this thread, I had no idea what the Chinese equivalence should be as Pseudoego said here that he is not looking for "Poker is our language.", so the most natural way to say it in Chinese "扑克是我们的共同语" is out.
> 
> Other suggested forms in Chinese given so far do not sound natural to the Chinese ears. Today the answer just hits me. We can say "我们以扑克交流" (wǒ mén yǐ pū kè jiāo liú). Literally translated to English, it'll be "We interact/communicate through poker." Is this acceptable to you, Pseudoego?


 

Thank you for your suggestion, samanthalee.


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## Malevo

pseudoego said:


> Please add it, if you know it.


 
No, I don`t know it. But I`ve thought about Μιλάω πόκερ. But I am not quite certain.


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## Outsider

I've just thought of another way to say it in Portuguese, _Fala-se póquer_. It means the same as the first version I suggested.


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## pseudoego

Outsider said:


> I've just thought of another way to say it in Portuguese, _Fala-se póquer_. It means the same as the first version I suggested.


 
Outsider: Your PM messages are over the limit.


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## Malevo

I am malevo and i must clarify something. First of all, I  misunderstood the subject of this thread thinkinf wrongly that you guys were  refering to  "speak poker" when instead it was  "to play" poker. So I apologize. I don`t know why i misunderstood. So the greek for "I play poker" is 
*παίζω **πόκερ.* I must thank Anthodocheio for her help. And this is also an answer to your pvt, Pseudoego.


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## Malevo

I am malevo and i must clarify something. First of all, I  misunderstood the subject of this thread thinking wrongly that you guys were  refering to  "speak poker" when instead it was  "to play" poker. So I apologize. I don`t know why i misunderstood. So the greek for "I play poker" is 
*παίζω **πόκερ.* I must thank Anthodocheio for her help. And this is also an answer to your pvt, Pseudoego.


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## Nizo

If you're trying to convery that the game of poker is becoming a universal language, why not express it in _la internacia lingvo_ Esperanto? 
*NI PAROLAS POKERE!*


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## tilt

I realise I'm a bit late, but I wanted to say *Nous parlons le poker* is incorrect in French, unless you consider poker as a language.
_*We speak poker*_ translates in *Nous parlons poker*, like initially suggested by Pseudoego.


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## בעל-חלומות

In Hebrew it is: אנחנו מדברים פוקרית - we speak poker. 

But if this is for a sign that you want to put somehwere, it would sound better as: פה מדברים פוקרית - here (we) speak poker.


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