Once Upon A Time

[fam]

Once Upon A Time

Hi, all,I'm in need of knowing how non-English language speakers say "Once Upon A Time." How they begin stories, legends, fairy tales, essentially. There are so many wonderful speakers of other languages here, that I thought it the best place to ask.If I correctly remember my German (and I'm not sure I do), there it's "Es war einmal."Please correct me if I'm wrong.I need the words in the "regular" alphabet--i.e., not Chinese characters or Russian or Greek, if possible. Please identify any accents, tildes, or other such marks if they don't show up here.Thanks so much for all your help.Happy New Year to all!FAM

 

[thaes]

In Finnish, it's "Olipa kerran". If translated directly to English, that'd be "There was once", so that's pretty much the same as it's in German.

 

[Vattier]

Dawno, dawno temu... (literally: "a long, long time ago" but we use it more often as: Pewnego razu... which is literally translated)It was Polish if somebody didn't know

 

[ifayra]

"Es war einmal... " is correct for German tales

 

[Gamewidow]

Il était une fois... in french

 

[mcavelin]

in czech republic we replace Once upon a time with a phraze "Bylo nebylo..." (direct translations can be something like: Once there was, once there wasn't... - it sounds stupid but in czech it has its own beauty) ;D

 

[username_2071380]

In English, it's the first thing a politician or lawyer says when they open their mouths.~ Roxy

 

[username_2069971]

Давным-давно... (Davnim davno...)

 

[fam]

Thank you all for the help! I really appreciate it.If anyone knows any other "Once Upon A Time", please add it.And Outcast, which language is that? All I know are the ones with the western European alphabet.I think I may have my heroine speak some Polish, so I may be back for some translations. I'm also thinking that she ought to be playing The Witcher.Thanks again! And Happy New Year!FAM

 

[Vattier]

And Outcast, which language is that? All I know are the ones with the western European alphabet.

:wall:In what language could Outcast write? Let me think... Russian?

I think I may have my heroine speak some Polish, so I may be back for some translations. I'm also thinking that she ought to be playing The Witcher.

I'll gladly help

 

[hokyung]

I was all set to reply and then realised I could not for the life of me remember any fairytales or how they start. Let alone in Dutch I'll have a go, but if there's anyone else here who speaks Dutch on a more regularly than I do (it's been over 4 years since I last spoke nothing but Dutch every day), please feel free to correct me Generally, it'll start with something along the lines of: Er was eens, lang geleden (literally but grammatically correctly translated " once, a long time ago, there was "). The other way around, " once upon a time " literally translated to Dutch is " Ooit ".

 

[didi510]

"Era uma vez..." in Portuguese

 

[username_2069971]

Yes, in Russian And this is in Ukrainian it is Давним-давно - the same pronouncing

 

[cassandra31eee]

Mia fora ki enan kero... (Μια φορά κι

 

[fam]

Thanks, you all, once again. A friend of mine who teaches Spanish added this: "Hubiera que hubiese . . " , literally "There was that there was"Vatt`ghern, I'm probably going to take you up on that in a few months, after I get the story really started. I knew this group would be a wealth of information!Cheers,FAM

 

[nandusso]

(Italian)"C'era una volta" -->literally "Once upon a time there was"bye

 

[Eriash]

Haha nice one!You can also try to post pronunciation somehow

 

[nandusso]

Ehmm... well.. the pronunciation... it's better you ask to your italian friends! ;D..anywayC' as chate as Eirera as actionu as bluesna as actionvo as offlta as action bye

 

[fam]

Thanks for the Italian, Nandusso. I was thinking last night that I needed that language.Thanks again,FAM

 

[Gamewidow]

Now i am not 100% sure of this one, but i *think* this is the equivalent in Bahasa Indonesia (Standard Indonesian): Pernah suatu ketika...