Determining English equivalents for words or phrases in other languages.
104
votes
14answers
10k views
Do most languages need more space than English?
I saw the following statement on User Experience:
Supporting multiple languages can break the user interface, because most languages need more space than english
This seems to be a gross ...
33
votes
10answers
2k views
“To shoot out of cannon into sparrows”
In Russian we have idiom/saying "To shoot out of cannon into sparrows" (literal translation) which is used to convey an idea of applying too drastic measures to small problems. I believe there should ...
24
votes
9answers
1k views
“Saving on the parrot's chocolate is futile”
In Catalan there is an expression "ser la xocolata del lloro" that can be translated as "saving by not giving chocolate to the parrot is futile", conveying the meaning that when a household wants to ...
18
votes
9answers
1k views
How can I translate the words for the two types of bathrooms found in Russia into English?
I work in real estate, and sometimes I have to translate respective inscriptions from my native Russian into English. I get stuck in some cases where not only linguistic, but cultural differences have ...
17
votes
4answers
821 views
Word for “distance in time”
I need the correct English word for the German expression (zeitlicher) Abstand. Abstand means "distance", and zeitlich means "in time".
The "distance" between building maintenance dates is about ...
15
votes
24answers
2k views
Favourite untranslatables [closed]
What are your favourite words and idioms in other languages that don't have good, succinct equivalents in English?
(The issue of whether there is, or could be, a sentence on one language whose ...
15
votes
6answers
1k views
Friendlier way to express you paid for a person's drink/dinner and expect it to be paid back
In Dutch we have the word voorschieten. In English it translates — according to Google Translate — to "advance, lend, disburse". The Dutch word voorschieten is used in an informal setting between ...
14
votes
4answers
571 views
What is the translation of the French word “erre”?
In French, there is a word erre which is the residual speed of a train, a ship or a car (or whatever is moving and needs propulsion).
For example, if you see a red light in your car, you stop ...
14
votes
4answers
534 views
Best word for Spanish “integral”
In Spanish there's a word "integral" which, when used as an adjective, means something like "it includes everything".
When we say "servicio integral" we mean that the service includes all aspects ...
14
votes
7answers
741 views
English equivalent of a Kannada proverb
The saying goes like "ಬಡವನ ಸಿಟ್ಟು ದವಡೆಗೆ ಮೂಲ".
When roughly translated to English it means:
A poor man's anger only hurts his jaw [due to all the grinding of teeth in the process].
How to ...
12
votes
8answers
1k views
Are there sentences in languages which use grammatical gender that lose meaning when translated into English?
English nouns which don't denote people or animals with natural gender do not (apart from a few rare examples) use grammatical gender. So for example, "table" is always an "it" in English, whereas it ...
11
votes
4answers
458 views
Are English language books translated to contemporary English? [closed]
Were Shakespeare books translated to contemporary English? Which version is more common? Is there a rule to choose which books will have its language updated? Are poems updated too?
From which year I ...
10
votes
12answers
1k views
Is there a single noun in English for “jerry-rigged”?
"Gambiarra" in Brazilian Portuguese means a device, solution, or means to an end made impromptu, usually in a sloppy way and lacking care. I was wondering if there was a single word in English for ...
10
votes
10answers
477 views
Equivalent expression to Spanish “cutting by the healthy part”
What would be an equivalent expression to the Spanish "cortar por lo sano", probably something like "cutting by the healthy part", to convey the idea that to solve a problem from spreading, like ...
10
votes
8answers
406 views
English term for pre-thinker?
I was searching for an English translation for the German Vordenker. Basically a person, often a scientist, who began or further significantly developed a new concept or theory by contributing ...
10
votes
4answers
528 views
Minimum and maximum age of “guy”
Guy has pretty much the same meaning as the German counterpart Kerl.
There is the progression of age in the sequence child, teenager, adolescent, (young) fellow, guy, old man/guy (?), senior.
But ...
10
votes
6answers
413 views
Finding a suitable English translation of “An old donkey pulls all the weight all alone”
A Hungarian colleague of mine just impressed upon me the idiom
An old donkey pulls all the weight all alone.
The phrase itself isn't a common English idiom (not to my knowledge, anyway). I think ...
10
votes
3answers
683 views
Is there an idiom that conveys the meaning of the French “mi figue mi raisin”?
The French idiom “mi figue, mi raisin” (literally: “half fig, half grape”) refers to someone or something that is neither entirely good, nor entirely bad. I guess the meaning of the expression can be ...
10
votes
3answers
166 views
How should a person holding a foreign military rank be addressed?
While researching how to call a person that holds a rank at a foreign (non English speaking) military, I came to very confusing results:
Wikipedia is not consistent on the issue:
it sometimes gives ...
9
votes
3answers
425 views
How do you tell when you're reading a poor translation?
John Ciardi, in his foreword to his translation of Dante's Divine Comedy, observes that any translation is, at best, a failure. He means it is impossible to convey the depth and levels of meaning of ...
8
votes
13answers
820 views
Does English have words to describe the lowest rank member of society? [closed]
For example, in Indonesia we have "rakyat". In English we may have citizen but the word actually has power connotation rather than powerless connotation.
Another word is peasant. But that seems to ...
7
votes
3answers
466 views
Is there the gerund of the verb “can”?
I would like translate a Portuguese phrase into English:
Esta técnica é bem poderosa, podendo ser extendida para várias outras questões.
In English I got:
This technique is very powerful and ...
7
votes
10answers
381 views
Equivalent of sarcastic song “non ti preoccupare, l'importante è partecipare” among Italian football supporters
Is there an equivalent in English or American sports culture of the sarcastic song that originated among Italian football supporters, that they sing to the losing opposition team? It's like this:
...
7
votes
6answers
427 views
What do British and American post boxes say when they don't want any advertising?
Advertising leaflets shoved en masse into mail boxes are one of the banes of modern society.
In Germany, putting a note saying "Bitte keine Werbung" ("No advertising please") on your box protects ...
7
votes
2answers
128 views
How to say “bolillero”?
In lottery games or bingo games, sometimes an object like this is used:
What is the name of this? In Spanish we call it bolillero but I didn’t find the definition in Enlgish.
7
votes
1answer
110 views
English equivalent of Catalan expression “fer la senyora” for moving heavy furniture
There is an expression in Catalan:
Fer la senyora
Which would be translated as moving it "like a lady" defined as the action of moving a heavy piece of furniture (e.g. a wardrobe) that involves ...
7
votes
3answers
3k views
How do you mark a translator's note?
Inside a piece of text, I have a word in another language. I'd like to keep it that way, and add a translator's note with the translation to English. What is the common practice of doing that?
I'd ...
7
votes
4answers
310 views
What is the English equivalent to the Japanese word 学者バカ, “Scholar’s fool”?
I’m interested in the words “instant omniscience,” which Calvin Trillin, a former editor for Time magazine, used in a New Yorker magazine article (March 20) entitled "Time Edit":
“There were some ...
7
votes
3answers
183 views
Measurements without a dimension (raw number)
I'm translating some documents to English which deal with some measurements. Most of the measurements have a unit dimension (length is in meters, weight is in kilograms, etc) but some of them do not ...
5
votes
3answers
453 views
Ironic phrase like Russian’s “no, didn’t hear”
Here’s a bit of dialogue which I literally translated from Russian:
― You should get a girlfriend!
― Girlfriend? Didn’t hear. . . .
The idea of the answer is to self-ironically point out ...
5
votes
3answers
476 views
Is there an English equivalent for the Swedish expression “the droplet that caused the beaker to overflow”?
In Swedish, the expression "det var droppen som fick bägaren att rinna över", directly translated to "the droplet that caused the beaker to overflow", is used to express that enough is enough. Is ...
5
votes
3answers
254 views
English translation for the different parts of a course as found in French schools/universities
What would be the transposition to the US school/university system of the French expressions:
“cours” (that is lecture, listening to the teacher)
“travaux dirigés” (lit. directed works, students ...
5
votes
1answer
95 views
Equivalent for Dutch commode?
In Holland we use commode to indicate a dressing table or lowboy specifically for changing diapers and dressing a baby:
The commode is usually ditched after the babies have grown out the diapers. ...
5
votes
4answers
229 views
What would be a colloquial word for using public transport for free?
My English roommate and I were just having a conversation about what colloquial word(verb) you would use if you used public transport for free. In German we have the term "schwarzfahren." The ...
5
votes
4answers
954 views
Difference between “purpose” and “goal”
What does this sentence from Star Trek: The Alternative Factor mean?
Jim, madness has no purpose ... or reason ... but it may have a
goal.
As far as I know purpose and goal are synonyms. How ...
5
votes
5answers
197 views
Reflexive possessive pronoun
Is there a single word (similar to Russian свой for those familiar with Russian) which I could put into this sentence?
By tomorrow, one of us will see the money in __ account.
meaning that
...
4
votes
3answers
137 views
English for French word “équivalence”, in an academic context
I'm looking for the English word for the French "équivalence", in an academic context. It is used when one has followed a course with material that is sufficient for another course, and as such, the ...
4
votes
5answers
233 views
Is there an English idiom “in threes and fives” to describe arriving, gathering, or leaving of people in a pair, trio, or group in succession?
We say ‘san-san-go-go – 三三五五’ in Japanese to describe the status of people coming, arriving, gathering, going, or leaving in a pair, trio, or group in succession in such a way, People gathered in the ...
4
votes
1answer
304 views
Word that means window or door
There's the Italian word serramento which means "a window or a door", used in this way for example:
Our company produces [serramenti] in aluminium.
Is there an equivalent word or expression ...
4
votes
3answers
236 views
Translation of Soccer term: disarm
I'm looking for the translation of the soccer term that in Portuguese we use as "disarm". It is the action of taking the ball from the opponent player or when the player with the ball attempts to ...
4
votes
2answers
2k views
What does “lost sales” mean?
What does "lost sales" mean in the sentence below?
The most important quality cost, lost sales, is often omitted from quality cost reports.
4
votes
4answers
176 views
Give someone advice in advance with good intent?
There is a word for this in Hungarian (my native language) 'útravaló' which literally means something like "things to be used on your journey". I couldn't find a translation yet in any dictionary. ...
4
votes
4answers
214 views
What can I call the two possible directions on a line (as a category)?
In English, a vector is said to have two properties: a length and a direction. The possible directions correspond to half-lines out of the origin (so that, eg, up and down are different directions). ...
4
votes
2answers
201 views
Is “Men Socks” correct?
Just would like to know if saying "Men Socks" is correct?
It needs to mean "socks for men". By searching on google I could see that men's socks is more used.
If you speak portuguese, I was ...
4
votes
3answers
290 views
Thanks or no thanks
I'm currently translating an article of Joel Spolsky's which is called Thanks or No thanks and I'm a bit confused about the meaning of the title.
The only two possible meanings that I could guess ...
3
votes
2answers
140 views
“This paper” vs “That paper” in an abstract
I'm writing an absctract for a paper.
In Portuguese we write esse trabalho (that paper) to indicate that the paper is near the person that we are adressing.
We use este trabalho (this paper) to ...
3
votes
7answers
3k views
What are the different nuances of “passing with distinction” in a CV?
I am in the middle of translating my (German) CV to English.
In the German/Austrian school system, there is the notion of passing ...
... "mit gutem Erfolg" (which is better than average, yet not ...
3
votes
2answers
185 views
What word or phrase expresses shortly detaining a suspect on the street and then letting him/her go?
Today, a Dutch paper published a little research triggered by a politician outing the English phrase (abbreviated) "65 percent of them have been detained by the police at least once."
I think, and ...
3
votes
1answer
250 views
Is there a hidden meaning of “swinging the club”?
Does "swinging the club" have another meaning outside the world of golf ?
3
votes
1answer
76 views
“Leakage” in context
I have been reading a text about spotting lies by analysis of voice, gestures, etc., and cannot understand the word leakage in this sentence:
... clues of emotions... These are what provide ...
