Emperor Charles V on languages

Dude Who Knows   Thu Oct 12, 2006 12:52 am GMT
This reminds me of an old joke which goes something like:

In Heaven... the English are the police, the French are the chefs, the Germans are the engineers, the Swiss are the bankers, and the Italians are the lovers.

In Hell... the Germans are the police, the English are the chefs, the French are the engineers, the Italians are the bankers, and the Swiss are the lovers.
greg   Thu Oct 12, 2006 9:30 am GMT
Je pense que si c'est *VRAIMENT* l'enfer que tu cherches, ce serait plutôt : « les Français sont les banquiers » et « les Italiens sont les ingénieurs ».


Les Italiens sont en fait de très bon banquiers et les Français font d'excellents ingénieurs...
a.p.a.m.   Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:54 pm GMT
Dude who knows, I've heard a similar saying, but just a little bit different. "Europe would work perfectly if the French were the chefs, the Germans were the mechanics, the Italians were the lovers, and everything was run by the British. Europe would be a disaster if the French were the mechanics, the Germans were the chefs, the British were the lovers, and everything was to be run by the Italians." Pretty funny. I think there's some truth in that statement.
Sergio   Thu Oct 12, 2006 3:42 pm GMT
estimado greg,

Una pregunta (no me lo tomes a pedantería, por favor) de alguien que está estudiando francés:
>Les Italiens sont en fait de très bon banquiers

¿no sería "bons" en simetría con "buenos" en español?
fab   Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:49 pm GMT
Si, c'est bien "bons", au pluriel !
greg   Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:04 am GMT
Oui ! Désolé : c'est une faute d'étourderie —> il faut un <s> à l'adjectif car il s'accorde en nombre avec le nom — <banquiers> — qu'il qualifie !


Merci pour ta vigilance, Sergio ! ☺
A   Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:17 pm GMT
What charles origianlly said was Con mi caballo hablo en alemán,con las damas de la Corte italiano,para los asuntos de hombres en francés,pero para hablar con Dios el español. Wich translates into With my horse I speak in German, with the ladies of the Italian Court, for the subjects of French men, but to speak with God the Spanish.
santiago   Sun Dec 10, 2006 11:03 pm GMT
^ it should read ^

"with my horse I speak in German, with the ladies of the court, Italian, for the subjects of men, in French, but to speak with God, Spanish"

y es la verdad, no?
Andrés   Mon Dec 11, 2006 1:59 am GMT
¡Si, es verdad!

El español es también buena para hablar a las señoras....