I am not a movie theater
It all started innocently enough. A university friend was sitting in his
French class, the teacher going around the room asking questions, and when
it was his turn he responded Je ne suis pas un cinéma.
What can I say, the phrase took on a life of its own, and we decided to
learn it in as many languages as possible.
The best followup story comes from a Spanish colleague. Back in Spain
during a vacation, he found himself doing touristy things. He was wearing
jeans and sneakers one day (not your typical Spanish attire), when a French
couple walked up to him and asked (in French) if he spoke French. Un
peu, he replied ("a little bit"); but of course he didn't really speak
French. They talk at him for a couple minutes, he nods appreciatively, and
finally they stop talking, point at a map and look at him expectantly. At
which point he utters these immortal words....
Translations in several languages (send me more!):
| Afrikaans
| Ek is nie 'n bioskoop nie.
|
| Brazilian Portuguese
| Eu no sou um cinema.
|
| Dutch
| Ik ben geen filmzaal.
|
| English
| I am not a movie theater.
|
| Esperanto
| Mi ne estas kinejo.
|
| Finnish
| En ole elokuvateatteri.
|
| French
| Je ne suis pas un cinéma.
|
| German
| Ich bin kein kino.
|
| Hebrew
| Ani lo kolno'a
|
| Hindi
| Ma cinema na hiha.
|
| Hungarian
| Nem vagyok mozi.
|
| Indonesian
| Gue bukan bioskop.
|
| Irish
| Ní pictiúrlann mé
|
| Japanese
| Ore wa eigakan ja nai yo.
|
| Karo (Indonesian dialect)
| Labo aku ingan ndedah.
|
| Lao
| Khoi baw pen seenemar
|
| Latin
| Theatrum mobilitum picturae non sum.
|
| Mandarin
| Wŏ bz shl di`nymngyuăn
|
| Portuguese
| Não sou um cinema.
|
Russian 
| Ya ni kinoteatr.
|
| Spanish
| Yo no soy un cine.
|
| Swedish
| Jag är inte en biograf.
|
| Tagalog (Filipino)
| Hindi ako cinehan.
|
| Welsh
| Dydw i ddim sinema.
|
You might also find edification in the the hovercraft page and the Human Languages Page
mwm@cs.cmu.edu