Questions tagged [translation]
Determining English equivalents for words or phrases in other languages (that is, translation into English). We don't actually do translations: we can try and help you with your own translation. Please see the detailed tag info for guidance on what to ask.
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Idiomatic word or expression for a lazy and unmoral person who gets paid without working - Translation of Spanish ‘ñoqui’ [duplicate]
I'm not talking about the Italian dish. In Argentina, there's a well known expression for someone who doesn't go to work and only assists the last month's day to get paid: It's called a ñoqui. The ...
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Which is more common, "self-responsibility" or "personal responsibility"? (in the workplace)
I'm trying to figure out what the best translation is for the German word "Eigenverantwortung" in a workplace context. A literal translation would be self-responsibility but I've also seen ...
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Personification in translations ("sun" in particular): gender change issues
How are personifications that change the gender correctly handled if the target language is English?
The question arised when a colleague wanted to translate the following (German) sentence:
"Die ...
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Idiom for “pretending to like someone when you actually hate them”
I’m trying to translate a Vietnamese proverb into English, and I couldn’t find an idiom or proverb in English that provides an exact match with my Vietnamese one.
The Vietnamese one goes as follows: “...
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What is a more contemporary expelling of this excerpt from Turner? [closed]
The following quote is by Turner (1509 – 1568), and to me, the spelling is incomprehensible. If the passage is re-written using spelling rules closer to those rules used in the present day, then how ...
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Idiomatic expressions for falsity pt. 3: the guesser falsity - Translation of Spanish: ‘mandar fruta’
Introduction
According to correspondence theory, if you say or think something that does not correspond to reality then you have said something that is false. While this is an obvious concept learned ...
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Idiomatic expressions for falsity pt. 2: the sophist falsity - Translation of Spanish: ‘versear’ or ‘chamuyar’
Introduction
According to correspondence theory, if you say or think something that does not correspond to reality then you have said something that is false. While this is an obvious concept learned ...
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Idiomatic expressions for falsity: the misconception falsity - Translation of Spanish: ‘la re flasheé’
Introduction
According to correspondence theory, if you say or think something that does not correspond to reality then you have said something that is false. While this is an obvious concept learned ...
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Idiomatic word/expression for someone ‘who has no feeling for the game’ - Translation of Spanish ‘pechofrío’
I'm having trouble translating the expression pechofrío (pecho frío, ‘cold chest’) from Spanish—specially Argentinian Spanish, I don't know if it's used in other countries. It means:
s. masc. Persona ...
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Word for dangerous semi-knowledge, equivalent of German "gefährliches Halbwissen" [duplicate]
In German, there is a phrase like "dangerous semi-knowledge" gefährliches Halbwissen. Wiktionary definition:
a degree of superficial knowledge that becomes dangerous or deceptive because it ...
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Idiom for Spanish ‘no escupas para arriba’ (i.e., ‘be careful with the harm you do, it could come back at you’)
In Spanish, there's the expression ¡no escupas para arriba! (literally ‘don't spit upwards!’), which is used for example in counter-reprimanding or counter-criticizing purposes—although there are many ...
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The correct translation of Sıkbaç
There is an old dish in middle east culture. It is called as "Sıkbaç" in Turkish. It consists of lamb, vegetables, and various spices.
I have a translation work Turkish to English. DeepL ...
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Explaining how to translate spanish "Ya" (already vs just vs ...) [closed]
I asked my coworker to fix something in a program. When he fixed it, he replied with, "I already fixed it." -- this wasn't intentionally misleading, but was an incorrect translation of &...
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Idiom for frustrating someone else's plans by taking what the other person wanted in the first place
There's an idiom in Argentina translated roughly as "to sleep someone" (dormir a alguien), which is used when someone frustrates the plans of someone else by taking what the other person ...
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Idiom for being watched after your bad actions
There's an idiom in Argentina translated as "To be in the chapel". It means that you'll be closely watched for a period of time to be sure you won't repeat errors, bad actions or behaviors ...
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Would there be a way to make the joke "Ella es mi amiga vieja, disculpe, mi vieja amiga" work in English?
There is a Spanish joke,
Ella es mi amiga vieja, disculpe, mi vieja amiga.
The joke basically says, "She is my friend that is old, excuse me, my old friend", making fun of the person's age....
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How can I improve my translation of Beowulf's first few lines?
Now, we Spear-Danes have long heard
of glorious kings and heroic deeds;
of how Scyld Sceaf·sen seized many
a frightened warrior from the very mead benches
of the foe in many lands. Found abandoned, a ...
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3
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Is there a popular expression in English equivalent of Russian "water wears away a stone"?
Is there a popular English expression equivalent to this Russian proverb? It translates to:
Water wears away a stone.
And has the meaning that, step by step, eventually we (it) will get there (reach ...
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What is an English equivalent of 'Colorín, Colorado, este cuento se ha acabado,' a phrase used at the end of stories?
Colorín, Colorado, este cuento se ha acabado is a Spanish phrase used to indicate that a story has reached its end. The first part is just nonsense, the second part means 'this story is over.'
We use ...
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A word for upper bounding a mathematical expression that turns out not to be tight enough to be of use
In my own native tongue (Hebrew) when I have some mathematical expression that is complicated and I try to upper bound it with a simpler expression but then I find out that the gap between the two is ...
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colonial heritage vs. colonial legacy
I'm trying to find the best translation for the German phrase "koloniales Erbe" as applied to a former colonial power, e.g. as used in the title of this conference. Both "colonial ...
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An English equivalent to the Spanish phrase «Me pasó a un amigo»?
In Spanish we sometimes say something like «Me pasó a un amigo». For example, you could be telling someone to be careful when doing something because otherwise something bad and possibly embarrassing ...
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What's the English equivalent of the Italian 'sputare nel piatto dove si mangia'?
There's an Italian expression, 'sputare nel piatto dove si mangia', that literally means 'to spit on the plate where you eat', but really means:
to have an attitude of contempt, of strong criticism ...
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Designation for the behaviour of a person that acts in a club-like manner
I would like to find a proper term for designating club behaviour, that is, when people of some team/club are favorable to anything associated with their team simply because it is their team and ...
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Word, term or phrase for idioms, proverbs, figure-of-speech that lose their true meaning due to being from a different time or due to translation? [duplicate]
In various language literature, there could be idioms, proverbs, figure-of-speech that lose their true meaning because
it meant something in a different time period
Or
it was being translated from ...
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How to Translate the "Killing" in this Context?
This is a clipping from a director's memoir(source: A Life: An Autobiography by Elia Kazan) which I once cited in another question, recording an actor's affair.
When we got back to Munich for the ...
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"Literary inquisition" or "speech crime" Or is there a better term?
The wiki said it is Literary Inquisition
It refers to official persecution of intellectuals for their writings in China ...
the rulers deliberately extracted words or phrases from intellectual's ...
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What noun phrase can be used to describe a couple that has registered their marriage?
In my native language there is a noun phrase for 'legally-married couple'. I wonder if there is something similar in the English language. I have looked up the following phrases, but they all seemed ...
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Is there a word to describe someone who is procrastinating, perplexed and demotivated?
I am looking for English equivalent word for a Tamil word "மலைப்பு".
Here is the Tamil saying I am trying to translate to English,
களைத்தவனோடு கூட வேலைக்கு செல்லலாம் அனால் மலைத்தவனோடு ...
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What is the English equivalent for Russian idiom "jump into the last car of the departing train"?
There is a saying in Russian
To jump into the last car of the departing train
This basically means to use an opportunity at the last moment, to finally decide to do something right before it is too ...
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How do you mark English words originally used by a non-native author in an English translation?
An artist has written memoirs in his native language with some English words and phrases scattered here and there (some might even have spelling / grammar mistakes). His memoirs are translated into ...
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Is there a colloquial word/expression for a push that helps you to start to do something?
To specify my request, I should say that I mean something I can use in a normal conversation, but not in the academic field.
There's such an expression in the Russian language, which sounds like "...
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Do adjectival prepositional phrases introduced by "with" have a specific name/type (translation of "complément circonstanciel d'accompagnement")?
How do you analyze/translate a "complément circonstanciel d'accompagnement" or can you further specify the type of adjectival prepositional phrase introduced by with (or which has) this is? ...
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English slang for "bochar"
I'm looking for some possible slangy words that are equivalent to this Ríoplatense term:
bochar
No aprobar a alguien tras haber rendido un examen o cursado una asignatura.
"lo bocharon en ...
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What could be the translation of «Cantinflear»?
"Cantinflear" = Cacophony
I have been studying English for almost a year now, and much of it has been making semantic comparisons with Spanish.
Similar verb refers to the act of giving a ...
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Meaning of “a dizzard”
I’m working on translation of an American novel, dating back to the late 19th - early 20th centuries, and the main character came from a local little Vermont town.
The author describes him as “old ...
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What does "bang" mean in this phrase?
The sentence:
I thought you said you was innocent, Carl? That you don't bang?
I'm playing a game that this word appears, and I want to know in a gang context what does that word mean, can someone ...
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English equivalent of a scornful Hindi expression, 'the rope got burnt, but the force did not'
There is a sarcastic Hindi proverb that goes like this:
रस्सी जल गई पर बल नहीं गया
Rassi (rope) jal gayi (got burnt) par (but) bal (literally: strength/force) nahi (not) gaya.
The rope got burnt, but ...
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Word for "temporarily fix an issue with makeshift equipment waiting for a permanent solution" (Italian: tamponare)
What's an English word/verb for
"temporarily fix an issue with makeshift equipment waiting for a permanent solution"?
In Italian, we use tamponare (same as to dab in English) for this usage.
...
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Accepting suffering happens more in life than reducing it [closed]
"Accepting suffering happens more in life than reducing it."
— Ahsanul Irfan
Does this quote make sense?
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The country that became independent is no more
"The country that became independent is no more."
— Ahsanul Irfan
I have translated this quote from Bangla language. Does the english version make sense?
What it means is that "The ...
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Is there an English word for "Kundenbekämpfung" (customer combatting)
Is there a better translation for the German word "Kundenbekämpfung" than "customer combatting" ?
I looked up synomys and translations of the noun "Bekämpfung", but ...
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How do you name the phenomenon of being single at a late age?
Specifically, a woman who is single at a late age.
"Late bachelorette", "late singleness"... It doesn't sound right.
Is there a way to describe it as an adjective and also as a ...
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What is the English equivalent of the French word "consigne" in English (in the classroom context)?
What is the English equivalent of the French word "consigne"? I am referring here to the classroom context, so in phrases such as "consigne de l'exercice". See also the picture at ...
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Is there a specific verb to say "my shoes are hurting me"?
In my native Romanian there is an expression that literally means "my shoes are beating me" when they hurt, and thus are producing pain, abrasion of the skin and calluses (mă bat pantofii). ...
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Which kind of love is "defeated love"?
In the end of J. M. Coetzee's short story "Nietverloren" a narrator complains about how South Africa changed, and there happens the following dialogue:
“You sound bitter.”
“The bitterness ...
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Which preposition should be used in this translation? "Analysis… through/with/by neural networks"
I am not a native English speaker, so I have a quick question.
I have to translate my thesis' title into English.
This is the German sentence:
Analyse und Anomalieerkennung elektrischer Verbraucher ...
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What is a word for "determine oneself" [closed]
There is a Greek verb (αὐτοκαθορίζομαι) that I constantly translate as determine oneself and which proof readers constantly replace with other irrelevant verbs that they think fit the context. The ...
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English equivalent of the Farsi expression "if it is decided to get the drunks, they will have to get everyone who is in the city"
I'm looking for an English equivalent of this beautiful, succinct Farsi saying, گر حکم شود که مست گیرند, which roughly means:
If it is decided to get the drunks, they will have to get everyone who is ...
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What is the term for someone who requests a copy of a document?
I would like to know if there is an accepted English noun or short phrase for the person who asks for a copy of an official document. In this case, I'm dealing with the translation of an academic ...
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