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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?")
Chinese (Cantonese): Asking: "" ("")
Japanese: Asking: "<surname>-san, uchimasen ka?" ("Mr/Mrs <surname>, would you like to play?")
Korean: Asking: "Badouk hal-kka-yo?" ("Shall we play badouk?")
Vietnamese: Asking: "" ("")
Polish: Asking: "Zagramy?" ("Shall we play?")
French: Asking: "Une partie?" ("A game?")
German: Asking: "Hast du Lust eine Partie zu spielen?" ("Would you like to play a game?")
Dutch: Asking: "Wil je een partij(tje) spelen?" ("Would you like to play a game?")
Finnish: Asking: "Pelataanko?" ("Shall we play?")
Galician: Asking: "¿Xogamos unha partida?" ("Shall we play a game?")
Italian: Asking: "Facciamo una partita?" ("Shall we play a game?")
Portuguese: Asking: "Jogamos?" ("A game?")
Spanish: Asking: "¿Jugamos?" ("A game?")
Czech: Asking: "Zahrajeme si?" ("")
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).
Nando: Aha, I see :-) (my friend didn't tell me about this one) 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 (
Spanish: Usted desea jugar?
Italian: Desiderate giocare?
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. ![]() |