It seems Spanish to me

The saying “It seems Spanish to me” means that something seems incomprehensible or strange to someone. It may come from the time when Charles V , who had been King of Spain since 1516 , also became German Emperor in 1519. Until then, the Spanish court ceremony was little known in Germany or at the German court and was sometimes felt to be unheard of.

The following literary evidence can be found in the Simplicissimus : " With this gentleman everything struck me as repulsive and almost Spanish ... "

The Spanish counterpart to this idiom is “esto me suena a chino”  - “that seems Chinese to me”, which is used less often than the German version. You can also find the variant "es como si me hablaran en chino".

In English the saying is “That's Greek to Me” - “It seems Greek to me” . However, this does not mean that something seems strange to you, but that you don't understand anything (which corresponds more to the German “I understand only train station”). The English version is from the Middle Ages and was used by William Shakespeare in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar :

but those that understood him smiled at one another and

shook their heads; but, for my own part, it was Greek to me

The English saying probably originated from a direct translation of the Latin saying "Graecum est, non legitur"  - "It is Greek, therefore it is illegible" . This idiom was used by monks in the Middle Ages when there was little knowledge of Greek among them.

In Middle High German there is a literary evidence in Hartmann von Aue's verse epic " Gregorius " (end of the 12th century). There the abbot, by whom the young Gregorius was raised to be a monk, rejects his vividly expressed desire for knighthood with the words: "I understand creepy as wol" (= "I don't understand you, you could just as easily speak Greek to me") ).

In other languages

language	sentence	pronunciation	Target language
Arabic	. يتحدث باللغة الصينية	Yataḥaddaṯ bil-luġat aṣ-Ṣīnīya jataħadːaθ bilːuɣat asˤːiːniːja	Chinese
Arabic	. يحكي كرشوني	Yaḥkī Karšūnī jaħkiː karʃuːniː	Garschuni
Bulgarian	Все едно ми говориш на китайски.	fse ed'nɔ mi gɔ'vɔriʃ na ki'tajski	Chinese
Chabacano	Aleman ese comigo.		German
Danish	Det rene volapyk.	də renə volapʏk	Volapük
German	It seems Spanish to me.		Spanish
German	This is a Bohemian village to me .		Bohemian
English	It's double Dutch.	ɪts ˈdʌb (ə) l dʌtʃ	Dutch
English	That's Greek to me.	ðæts griːk tʊ miː	Greek
Esperanto	Tio estas Volapukaĵo.	ˈTio ˈestas ˌvolapuˈkaʒo	Volapük
Finnish	Täyttä hepreaa.	tæytːæ hepreɑː	Hebrew
French	C'est you chinois.	sɛ dy ʃi.nwa	Chinese
Modern Greek	Αυτά μου φαίνονται κινέζικα.	afˈta mu ˈfenonde kiˈnezika	Chinese
Hebrew	זה סינית בשבילי	ze sinit biʃvili	Chinese
Standard Chinese	看起来 像 天书。 看起來 像 天書。	Kàn qǐlái xiàng tiānshū	"Book from Heaven" (Refers to an unknown writing system.)
Standard Chinese	听起来 像 鸟语。 聽起來 像 鳥語。	Tīng qǐlái xiàng niǎoyǔ	Birdsong (Unknown phonology.)
Standard Chinese	看起来 像 火星 文。 看起來 像 火星 文。	Kàn qǐlái xiàng huǒxīngwén	Language from Mars .
Icelandic	Mér kemur þetta spánskt fyrir sjónir.	mjεːr cʰεːmʏr θehta spaunstʰ for sjouːnɪr	Spanish
Italian	Per me questo è arabo / aramaico / ostrogoto	per'me ˈkkwesto ɛ ˈarabo / ara'maiko / ostro'gɔto	Arabic , Aramaic , Ostrogothic
Japanese	ち ん ぷ ん か ん ぷ ん	chimpun kampun	Chinese
Yiddish	ס'איז תּרגום־לשון צו מיר	sɪz targumloʃn tsu miɐ	Aramaic
Cantonese	呢 啲 喺 雞腸 呀。	Nē dī hái gāi chèuhng ā.	"Sounds from the intestine", in terms of English
Catalan	Això està en xinès.	əˈʃɔ sˈta n ʃiˈnɛs	Chinese
Croatian	To su za mene španska sela.	ˈTô su za ˈměne ˈʂpǎːnska ˈsêla	Spanish
Latin	Graecum est; non legitur	'graikum est non' legitur	Greek
Latvian	Tā man ir ķīniešu ābece	taː man ir kiːnieʃu aːbetse	Chinese
Lithuanian	Tai man kaip kinų kalba.	taɪ mɐn kaɪp kinuˑ kɐlba	Chinese
Dutch	This is Chinees voor mij.	dat ɪs ʃineːs vɔr mɛi	Chinese
Lower Saxon	Dat takes care of me spaansch vor.	dat kymt miː spoːnʃ føɐ	Spanish
Norwegian	He thinks gresk for meg.	də ær holds greːsk for mɛi	Greek
Persian	انگار ژاپنی حرف می زنه	ɛŋɔˈriː dɑrɛ ˈʒaponiː ħærf mɪ‿zænɛː	Japanese
Polish	To dla mnie chińszczyzna.	to dla mɲe xʲiɲʃtʃɪzna	Chinese
Portuguese	Isto é chinês / grego para mim.	istu ɛ ʃines pɐrɐ mĩ	Chinese / Greek
Romanian	Eşti Turc?	əʃti ˈt̪yɾk	Turkish
Russian	Это для меня китайская грамота.	ˈƐtə dlʲa meˈɲa kɪˈtaɪskəjə ˈgramətə	Chinese
Swedish	Det är rena grekiskan.	de æ reːnɑ greːkɪskɑn	Greek
Serbian	То су за мене шпанска села. To su za mene španska sela.	to su za mɛnɛ ʃpaŋska sɛla	Spanish
Serbian	Ко да кинески причаш. Ko da kineski pričaš.		Chinese
Sinhala	Melo Huththak Therennae.
Slovak	To je pre mňa španielska dedina.	to je pre mnʲa ʃpanʲielska dʲedʲina	Spanish
Slovenian	To mi je španska vas	to mi je ʃpanska vas	Spanish
Spanish	Esto me suena a chino.	ˈEsto me suena a ˈtʃino	Chinese
Czech	To je per mě španělská vesnice.		Spanish
Turkish	Konuya Fransız kaldım	konuja fɾansɯz kaldɯm	French
Ukrainian	Це для мене китайська грамота.	tsɛ dlʲɐ 'mɛne kɪ'tɑjsʲkɐ' ɦrɑmo̞tɐ	Chinese
Hungarian	Ez nekem kínai.	ɛz nɛkɛm kiːnɒɪ	Chinese

literature

• Duden 12, quotes and sayings. Mannheim 2002