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How To Ask For A Game In Other Languages
    Keywords: Culture & History

For English-speaking Go players who anticipate meeting other players who don't share a language, it can be useful to know how to ask for a game. Here are the most idiomatic (by consensus of SL patrons) phrases in various languages to ask someone for a game of Go, a likely affirmative response, and thanking the opponent after the game. Please help fill in the blanks and correct errors (or discuss below).

Chinese (Mandarin): Asking: "下棋吗?" ("xia4 qi2 ma") ("Play a game?")
Response: "好。" ("hao3") ("Okay.")
Thanks: "谢谢!" ("xie4xie4") ("Thank you!")

Chinese (Cantonese): Asking: "" ("")
Response: "" ("")
Thanks: "" ("")

Japanese: Asking: "<surname>-san, uchimasen ka?" ("Mr/Mrs <surname>, would you like to play?")
Response: "Hai." ("Yes.")
Thanks: "Arigatou" ("Thank you")

Korean: Asking: "Badouk hal-kka-yo?" ("Shall we play badouk?")
Response: "Ye." ("Yes.")
Thanks: "Ko-map-sseum-ni-da." ("Thank you." (very polite; ko-ma-weo-yo would be less formal))

Vietnamese: Asking: "" ("")
Response: "" ("")
Thanks: "" ("")

Polish: Asking: "Zagramy?" ("Shall we play?")
Response: "Tak" ("Yes")
Thanks: "Dziekuje" ("Thank you")

French: Asking: "Une partie?" ("A game?")
Response: "Pourquoi pas?" ("Why not?")
Thanks: "Merci pour la partie" ("Thanks for the game")

German: Asking: "Hast du Lust eine Partie zu spielen?" ("Would you like to play a game?")
Response: "Gerne" ("I would like to")
Thanks: "Danke schoen" ("Thank you kindly") "Danke fuer das Spiel ("Thanks for the game")

Dutch: Asking: "Wil je een partij(tje) spelen?" ("Would you like to play a game?")
Response: "Ja" ("Yes")
Thanks: "Bedankt" ("Thanks")

Finnish: Asking: "Pelataanko?" ("Shall we play?")
Response: "" ("")
Thanks: "Kiitos pelistä" ("Thanks for the game")

Galician: Asking: "¿Xogamos unha partida?" ("Shall we play a game?")
Response: "Sí, claro" ("Yes, of course")
Thanks: "Gracias pola partida" ("Thanks for the game")

Italian: Asking: "Facciamo una partita?" ("Shall we play a game?")
Response: "Sì, perché no?!" ("Yes, why not?!")
Thanks: "Grazie" "Prego (grazie a te)" ("Thank you" "You're welcome (thanks to you)")

Portuguese: Asking: "Jogamos?" ("A game?")
Response: "" ("")
Thanks: "" ("")

Spanish: Asking: "¿Jugamos?" ("A game?")
Response: "Sí, claro" ("Yes, of course")
Thanks: "Gracias por la partida" ("Thanks for the game")

Czech: Asking: "Zahrajeme si?" ("")
Response: "" ("")
Thanks: "" ("")


Scartol: Can someone provide translations into the three Asian languages (Japanese, Chinese, Korean) the phrase "Do you want to play"? It would be nice to be able to communicate on IGS without expecting others to speak English. (Maybe other languages too? In French, it's "Voulez-vous jouer?")

MrKoala: "Une partie ?" would also do it in French. (Lit. means "A game ?") The phrase is not as informal as it may seem, and will do in 97.3 percent of the cases. (I hate nine-ish numbers like 90% and 99% ;-) ) However, one thing to note is that the person will rarely accept with a "oui" ("yes") but more often with something like "Pourquoi pas ?" ("Why not ?") or "pkwa pa" ("y not" :) ). At the end of the game, you might want to thank your opponent for playing with you with a respectful "Merci pour la partie." ("Thank you for the game") or a "Merci à vous" ("Thank YOU") if he was quicker than you :).

Bill: In Japanese, "--- san, yarimasen ka?" will do nicely. :-) (Omitting the name is a bit abrupt.)

Nando: A japanese friend of mine told me to be careful with this, since this sentence is context-dependant. Before saying that, just make sure you're connected to some online Go server, or standing in front of a Goban. Or else, it could lead to misunderstandings, since it more or less translates to "would you like to 'do' it". As a more explicit alternative, he proposed something like "--- san, uchimasenka?".

Bill: Hehe. That's true. But the question concerned asking on a go server (IGS).
"Uchimasen ka?" is more specific to game playing, but if things are not clear from context, mentioning go is a good idea: "Go o yarimasen ka?" or "Go o uchimasen ka?" One possible meaning for "uchimasen ka" is "Would you like to hit me?" ;-)

Nando: Aha, I see :-) (my friend didn't tell me about this one)
O well, I guess I'll keep it simple : I just won't try to say something in a language I don't know at all :D

splice: Small note: In japanese, it is called "igo", not just Go. So, "igo o yarimasen ka" or "igo o uchimasen ka" should be correct.

Bill: Smaller note: When I was living in Japan, if I said, "igo", to non-go players, they did not understand. It's like referring to chess as "Caissa" in the U. S. When I explained what I meant, they would say, "A! O-go desu ka?" ;-)

splice: Minuscule note: That's very weird. My japanese teacher (native) didn't know what go was until I explained what the game looked like, etc, then she went "Ahh, igo! Sou desu ne.". I guess it might be a regional thing? No idea. Heck, get japanese input working and use the kanji, there won't be any confusion there :)

Dieter: "Wil je een partij(tje) spelen ?" or "Zin in een spelletje ?" is Dutch.

Scartol: These were taken from Alta Vista's Babel Fish ([ext] http://babelfish.altavista.com/), using the phrase "Do you want to play?" Anyone with more sophisticated command of the languages is encouraged to make adjustments.

Spanish: Usted desea jugar?

Italian: Desiderate giocare?
AvatarDJFlux Geee.. This is Italian as found in cheap phrase-books... :-)))
Using the plural second person as formal addressing was obligatory during the fascism (1922-1943) and you may still find it in some remote country villages... Today correct formal Italian uses the singular third: Vuole giocare?. Informal (singular second): Vuoi giocare?.
A phrase such as: Facciamo una partita? is sufficiently neutral to be used on both occasion. It is also what I would use in my go club.

Portuguese: Você quer jogar? Dieter: Most translation services on the net actually focus on Brasilian Portuguese, which can be said to differ from Portuguese as much as US English does from UK English. Jogamos? or Um jogo ? will do or , more formally, O senhor (A senhora) quer jogar ?.

Finnish: "Pelataanko?" Translates to "Shall we play?" (Yes, your perception is correct: politeness is not a part of the language. Mentioning names is also considered strange.) After the game you might want to say "Kiitos", or "Kiitos pelistä", which mean "Thank you" or "Thank you for the game", respectively.

German: "Hast du Lust eine Partie zu spielen?" (informal), "Möchten Sie (mit mir) eine Partie spielen?" (formal)

Jesusin: In Spanish simply "¿Jugamos?" (informal) will be ok. The go community is quite friendly so IMHO more formality is not needed.

Illich: "Zahrajeme si?" or "Chcete hrát?" in Czech ;)

Chinese (Mandarin)

unkx80: Quite a number of ways to express them, I only gave a short version. I expect the Cantonese version to be similar when written.



This is a copy of the living page "How To Ask For A Game In Other Languages" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2003 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.