Hi,

The following website carries the "top four" traveller phrases in a variety of languages - including Romansh:

http://www.travelphrases.info/languages/romansch.htm

And here they are:

1) Nua è mia chombra? ( Where is my room? )

2) Nua è la splagia? ( Where is the beach? )

3) Nua è la bar? ( Where is the bar? )

4) Na ma tutgai betg là! ( Don't touch me there! )

Cheers,
Nick

Might be more useful than you imagine. My uncle, who was a Romansh speaker from the Grisons, emigrated to the USA with one of his brothers as a young man. At the end of his life he was executive head of room service at the Plaza in New York.

Many, many others from his region emigrated to work in the hotel and restaurant trade. You might find some still in a beach resort somewhere.

But then Romansh, like so many other minor languages of Europe, has been in decline for decades. It has 35,000 fluent speakers. Its survival is probably dependant on governmental subsidy. http://www.centerladin.ch/85+M52087573ab0.0.html
And even there is economic reality: http://uniset.ca/naty/hebdo_allemand.htm
My uncle married another Swiss but they spoke only English to their daughter, more's the pity.

Please note that there are five main Romansh dialects in Switzerland alone and a few more in Southern Tyrol. They differ so much that, for instance, people from the lower Engadine have a hard time understanding a radio annoucer from the Surselva (Anterior Rhine Valley), less than 60 kilometers apart, as the crow flies.

I do not even know what kind of dialect those extremely useful sentences are. They definitely can't be used in the Engadine. Maybe it's Rumantsch Grischun, the synthetic lingua franca introduced in the 'eighties to enable the Grisons and the Federation to print laws that can be read by all native Romansh speakers.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzz

dont zzzzz that, thats interesting somehow.

2) Nua è la splagia? ( Where is the beach? )

I like this one. Sounds a bit like, Is there no splashing?

Being able to ask where the beach is in Romansh seems indeed as useful as enquiring about the location of the nearest ski resort in the middle of the Sahara desert. I hope -but I acknowledge this might be wishful thinking- that situations where phrase n°4 would be used are equally rare.

Let that stupid language die already.

Pot, Kettle. Kettle, Pot.

Simon, if you spoke that "stupid language," you'd soon realize that its 35,000 to 45,000 native speakers share a much richer and far more active literary scene than Swiss German with several million native speakers.

You obviousely don't have the slightest clue what you are talking about. If you had lived in the Romansh speaking area of Switzerland for a long time as I did, you would... The Romansh language is part of the Swiss culture, if it would be eradicated, an important part of our culture would die. Viva il rumantsch!

I've got an album of Beatles songs sung in Rumansch.

It's a beautiful language.

I still stand by my "zzzzzzzzz" post above, however.

Back on topic: Does Bahasa Melayu have a word for snow?

Maybe ,maybe not ,I don`t know Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Ah, it's great to be back on topic. The Bahasa Malaysia for "snow" is "salji". Just so you know ...

And by the way, salji supposedly has (very rarely) fallen on Mt Kinabalu in Sabah.

Yeah ok, but then just get on with it. If you like the language that much then surely all those millions spent on that heart bypass are wasted anyway, because people won't let it die ? I must admit though that I just dislike the language with a passion because I had to watch "Sandmändli" in Rumantsch when I was 4. Appreciate your groans, but don't take it too seriously please.
Record a few tapes with the language and then let it die in peace.

This one you mean simon jö, wie härzig !!!

Oh teh ironing