My husband walked in to the kitchen the other day and asked, “Since your relatives are Greek, what phrase do they use if they don’t understand something? They wouldn’t say ‘It’s all Greek to me,’ would they?” “Good question,” I responded. Before I could do any research, a link appeared in my email like magic! Here, from Wikipedia, is a selection of phrases people use to indicate that they don’t understand something. If you want to see the full list, click here.
| Language | Phrase (translated) |
| English | It’s Greek to me. |
| Albanian | Do not speak Chinese. |
| Afrikaans | It’s Greek to me. |
| Arabic | Are you speaking Hindi? |
| Bulgarian | It’s like you’re talking Patagonian. |
| Cantonese | Is this ghost’s handwriting? (Referring to illegible handwriting.) |
| Croatian | These are to me the Spanish countryside. |
| Czech | This is a Spanish village to me. |
| Finnish | It’s all Hebrew. |
| French | It’s Chinese. |
| German | Note: The Germans have seven different phrases, including:
§ That sounds like Spanish to me. § Am I speaking Chinese? § It sounds like Polish reversed. |
| Greek | This strikes me as Chinese. |
| Hebrew | It is Chinese to me. |
| Latin | This is Greek; it can’t be read. |
| Mandarin | § It looks like hieroglyphics.
§ It sounds like the birds. |
| Persian | Am I speaking Turkish? |
| Portuguese | Note: Tying the Germans with seven phrases, the Portuguese translations include:
§ This is Chinese to me. § Are you speaking Greek? (Latin? Arabic?) § I can’t read Japanese. |
| Russian | That’s Chinese writing to me. |
| Spanish | This is in Chinese (or Aramaic). |
| Turkish | § I am French to the topic.
§ If I could understand, I’d be an Arab. |
Kara Church
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