You must have got tired of cliches like Greek tragedies.
One of the new words we have had to learn is Grexit, meaning Greece’s exit from the Eurozone (though they have not yet started talking about leaving the European Union).
A prophetic sign at Athens airport the day before the referendum (courtesy of Dr Sunil Mukhi):
The European Union consists of 27 countries-refresh your memory here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_state_of_the_European_Union
And there are 20 or more official languages-which would be apparent when you see a passport or other important document from there. It goes without saying that translators have a field day translating every official communication into every other language. The UN manages with a handful of official languages.
We now see what Grexit (or rather “Greece leaves Eurozone”) translates into, courtesy of Google Translate. (“Greece exits” does not seem to convey the meaning as well as “Greece leaves”)
English: Greece leaves Eurozone
Bulgarian: Гърция напуска еврозоната
Croatian: Grčka napusti eurozonu
Danish: Grækenland forlader eurozonen
Dutch: Griekenland verlaat de eurozone
Estonian: Kreeka lahkub eurotsoonis
Finnish: Kreikka jättää euroalueen
French: Grèce quitte la zone euro
German: Griechenland lässt Eurozone
Greek: Ελλάδα αφήνει Ευρωζώνη
Hungarian: Görögország elhagyja eurózóna
Irish Gaelic: An Ghréig duilleoga Limistéar an Euro
Italian: Grecia lascia Eurozona
Latvian: Grieķija atstāj eirozonai
Lithuanian: Graikija palieka euro zoną
Maltese: Il-Greċja weraq Eurozone
Polish: Grecja opuszcza strefę euro
Portuguese: Grécia sai da Zona Euro
Romanian: Grecia părăsește zona euro
Slovak: Grécko opustí eurozóny
Slovenian: Grčija zapusti evroobmočje
Spanish: Grecia sale de la zona euro
Swedish: Grekland lämnar euroområdet
And the mother language:
Latin: Greece relinquit Eurozone
Google Translate also covers a few sub-national languages such as Catalan and Welsh, though they haven’t got round to Flemish and Scots Gaelic so far.
The above translations would seem to cover most of the population of the current EU. Note that Serbia, Macedonia and Norway are not in the EU yet. Cyprus should be covered by Greek.
What short and snappy equivalents of Grexit can we expect? In Estonian it might be Kreelah (though this might be too close to Tarzan’s battle cry). In French it could be Grèqui, and in Italian Grelas. The Irish would have a particularly bad time shortening it. The German language has a tendency to make long single words, but for the moment it could be Grieläs. The Germans are in fact also fond of short forms. In the former East Germany people were scared of the Vopos and still more terrified by the Grepos, i.e.
People’s Police: Volkspolizei: Vopo
Border Police: Grenzpolizei: Grepo
Now let us see what Google Translate does with Indian languages for the same phrase. See for yourself how (in)effective it is.
গ্রীস ইউরো ছেড়ে
ગ્રીસ યુરોઝોનના નહીં
ग्रीस यूरोजोन के पत्ते (particularly amusing)
ಗ್ರೀಸ್ ಯೂರೋಜೋನ್ ಎಲೆಗಳು
ഗ്രീസ് യൂറോ ഇലകൾ
ग्रीस Eurozone पाने
ग्रीस यूरोजोन छोडेर
ਗ੍ਰੀਸ ਯੂਰੋ ਨੂੰ ਛੱਡਦੀ ਹੈ
கிரேக்கம் யூரோப்பகுதியில் விட்டு
గ్రీస్ విడిపోతుందన్న ఆకులు
یونان یوروزون چھوڑ دیتا ہے
For once, the Bengali translation is slightly better than the one in Hindi. Probably you will find more amusement in the other languages. I wonder why the Tamil version is much longer than the others.
abn397 