@Sarsey as I understand it, the phrase came from the Austro-Hungarian empire, as slavic languages are so different from German that it was a way of saying it was some incomprehensible language. Basically like saying "It's like being in a town that speaks Czech, not German, so I don't understand a word." Of course, it works the other way round, as the Slavic word for German ("Niemcy") meant "nonsense talkers".
I actually appreciate how "I only understand 'train station'" changes the focus: instead of saying "they are speaking nonsense" it says "I do not understand, my vocabulary is nigh nonexistent in that language."
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@Sarsey as I understand it, the phrase came from the Austro-Hungarian empire, as slavic languages are so different from German that it was a way of saying it was some incomprehensible language. Basically like saying "It's like being in a town that speaks Czech, not German, so I don't understand a word." Of course, it works the other way round, as the Slavic word for German ("Niemcy") meant "nonsense talkers".
I actually appreciate how "I only understand 'train station'" changes the focus: instead of saying "they are speaking nonsense" it says "I do not understand, my vocabulary is nigh nonexistent in that language."