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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Saying similar to Chinese 安贫乐道: "To be content with poverty and strive for virtue"?
There is a saying in Chinese, 安贫乐道, which means something along the lines of "To be content with poverty and strive for virtue."
I'm looking for something similar in English, even if it's ...
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Word for when someone tries to make others hate each other
Is there a single word in English that describes when someone tries to make others hate each other or fight? So, for example, If person A and B are neighbors, so in this situation Person C tries to ...
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How to translate the German word "Mitmenschlich(keit)"
Both German and Dutch have two distinct words "Mitmensch" ("medemens") and "Mensch" ("mens"), and the derived adjectives "mitmenschlich" and "...
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What does this translated phrase convey "The heart refuses to obey."? [migrated]
Dil hai ki manta nahin
is a phrase from a popular Hindi song and movie of the same name. Literally translated, it means "The heart doesn't listen" or "The heart refuses to obey."
...
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3
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Meaning of "blunk"
Wordle accepts "blunk" as a correct word, but neither Google Translate nor ChatGPT give a translation.
ChatGPT:
If "blunk" is a valid choice in Wordle, then it might be an English ...
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Idiomatic expression for "this will cost $1000 as if a penny"
In Hungarian, one can say "ehhez legalább $1000 kell, mint egy fillér". It means that a task will be expensive - $1000 might be enough to start but it might be much more, that is, $1000 ...
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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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In the phrase "the scales have fallen from my eyes" why did they use the word "scales"?
It's an odd word there. I've never thought that I had "scales" on my eyes when I couldn't see. Why didn't they use something like "darkness" or "clouds"?
When I think of scales I think of Lady ...
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Etymology and Elizabethan English connotations of "sat at meat" (Mark 2:15, KJV)
I came across a King James (1611) translation of Mark 2:15:
And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: ...
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How are called the fouls made with the sole? Translation of ‘planchazo’
Need help for an English equivalent of this action, I didn't find anything:
planchazo (also plancha)
Adelantamiento frontal de la suela del pie, que constituye una infracción en varios deportes.
???
...
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Are there other proposed translations of "aelfheres" in Beowulf than a name?
Am looking at the online Beowulf site, and wonder about "aelfheres" that is translated as a name.
XXXVI
WIGlaf wæs haten, Weoxstanes sunu,
leoflic lindwiga, leod Scylfinga,
mæg ...
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What is the difference between "palazzo" and "palace"?
I have noticed that palazzo is used not only in Italian but in English too.
So what is the difference between palazzo, and palace (in English)?
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What is the English equivalent for "для особо одарённых"?
There is a steady expression in Russian: "для особо одарённых". It can be used in such context:
Повторяю для особо одарённых...
Straight translation is "I repeat for the gifted". But in general it ...
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Is there a word in English for the Portuguese term "saudades"?
The word "saudades" was the the centerpiece of the closing ceremonies of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
It describes a feeling of melancholy or nostalgia not easily translated to English. Its definition in ...
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How would you translate this Spanish saying "Sacar un clavo con otro clavo" to English?
Fellow English Speakers,
I've been trying to translate this common saying from Spanish to English:
Sacar un clavo con otro clavo.
However, I cannot find any translation that satisfies my curiosity, ...
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In "amount of data, collected ~", which is modified by 'collected~'? amount or data?
The fast-growing, tremendous amount of data, collected and stored in large and numerous data repositories, has far exceeded our human ability for comprehension without powerful tools.
(from Data ...
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The words to describe a slave's mentality
I am trying to translate a Chinese word 奴才 into English. Quite often it is translated to slave. But 奴才 is more about a person's mentality, e.g. obedient servant and being numb, timid, apathetic, and ...
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English equivalent of the Russian idiom "You are confusing sour with yellow"
There is an idiomatic expression in my native language: "You are confusing sour with yellow", which means something like that though lemons are sour and yellow, not every yellow thing is ...
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What’s the meaning of the "floating sheds"?
Boats rocked in the floating sheds of the yacht harbor.
Does "floating shed" refer to the cabin of the yacht?
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When did we stop translating proper names?
It used to be that one would just translate a proper name that was in another language into English when referring to that entity. For example, William the Conqueror, Christopher Columbus, King ...
CommunityBot
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How to correctly translate "управляющая" to English? Is "head maid" only appropriate translation?
Context:
Fictional world (with magic, slavery (not widely used)) and so on.
A woman is the estate manager for small estate in a city. She oversees other hired servants and serve estate owners directly....
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English Translation from the german word "IT Systemhaus"
I am new to this site. I hope I am on the right one, as it looks like it has more than just one for English.
What I am looking for is the correct translation of the German term "IT-Systemhaus.&...
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How to write a name of competition in an article? [duplicate]
Hi I am translating text from Polish to English. I would like to ask you about your thoughts on it:
A title of a newspaper is in Polish, do I need to add quotation marks or italics?
The name of ...
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In Persian there is word for "A smile that taste bitter"; is there a word for it in English? [duplicate]
In Persian we have a word to describe this conflicting state:
"facing a situation that makes one smile even though it's not a good situation, and it might even have negative effect on them."
...
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Proverb: "have fate without destiny"
I was looking for an English equivalent of the Chinese proverb (有缘无分) which describes couples who meet but who do not for whatever reason stay together.
My friend (native speaker, no Chinese ...
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What's the English equivalent to the German "Manufaktur"?
I'm looking for the English equivalent to the German word Manufaktur.
Basically, a Manufaktur is just a factory, but in German it is assigned with "premium" and "hand-made". The term comes up as a ...
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English version of a Marathi expression that describes someone taking credit for someone else's work ('Aaiji chya Jivavar Baiji Udar') [duplicate]
There is a Marathi saying,
Aaiji chya Jivavar Baiji Udar
which means, roughly,
At the expense of a mother-in-law's efforts, the daughter-in-law can show off her generosity.
It comes from the image ...
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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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What do you call the layout that organizes the decorative moldings and ornamental features of a building?
In french it's called Modénature.
Is there an equivalent in English ?
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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 ...
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Word or expression for guys who slept with the same woman(prostitute)?
Embarrassingly, in Korean, there is a slang word for this kind of relationship between guys.
Might be translated as, "the husband of my wife's sister but only by the hole" ?
I don't know how can I ...
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Word for someone who studies to become a teacher
A friend of mine is currently writing her thesis in teaching methodology of mathematics. We are searching for an appropriate translation for the German word 'Lehramtsstudierender'. This is a person ...
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'Horeca', the commercial sector around selling food and beverages: is it English? Alternatives?
In Dutch there's a quite commonly used word that denotes the commercial sector around selling food and beverages for immediate (or near-immediate, e.g. take-out meals) consumption: horeca. (This ...
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Translation for German word "Kür" as in "Pflicht und Kür"
I am trying to find a crisp translation of the German phrase "Pflicht und Kür. deepl.com yields "Duty and freestyle" as translation for "Pflicht und Kür" which irritated me.
In my (business) context "...
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looking for a correct/ idiomatic phrase
Context: A recent meeting between Chinese and American Foreign affairs bosses in Munich.
Original:
双方就开展人文交流，便利人员往来交换了意见。王毅敦促美方停止无端滋扰盘查中国公民，多做有利于增进两国人民相互了解的事情，并送美方一句古话：“勿以恶小而为之，勿以善小而不为。
During their ...
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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 ...
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What do you call the habit of looking into smartphone while walking?
The habit of looking into and texting on a smartphone is becoming a prevailing social phenomena in Japan these days. We call this habit “歩きスマホ – aruki sumaho – using a smart-phone while walking” in ...
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How would you name the different types of periods? ~ Translating ‘punto seguido’, ‘punto y aparte’ and ‘punto final’
In Spanish, we have different names for the different types of periods:
If the period is inside a paragraph, it's called punto seguido.
If the period ends a paragraph, it's called punto y aparte.
If ...
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Idiomatic expression for "putting off a task until a disaster strikes" [duplicate]
In Russian language there is a proverb "Пока гром не грянет, мужик не перекрестится".
Literal translation would be something like this: the peasant will not cross himself before it begins to ...
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Word equivalent to "prestation" in French in the administrative field
I'm searching for an English word which could have the same meaning than the word "prestation" in french, in the sense of "some service (paid or not) that has been executed by an ...
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Translation of German "Es wird nichts so heiß gegessen, wie es gekocht wird"
A German speaker wrote:
As the German saying goes: You never eat the food as hot as it is
cooked.
This is a literal translation of the proverb, "Es wird nichts so heiß gegessen, wie es gekocht ...
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What's the equivalent idiomatic English expression for "verba volant, scripta manent"?
The Latin proverb Verba volant, scripta manent which literally it means "spoken words fly away, written words remain" is quite commonly used in Italian.
This phrase seems to come from a ...
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English version of Hindi proverb 'Ek kaan se suno aur dusre kaan se nikaal do' ('listen with one ear and purge from the other')
There is a Hindi proverb that goes 'Ek kaan se suno aur dusre kaan se nikaal do'.
I would like to know its idiomatic English equivalent. It literally translates to 'listen with one ear and purge from ...
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Does English have a version of "pouring water on a goose"?
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/verkan
Det där har lika mycket verkan som att hälla vatten på en gås.
That has as much effect as pouring water on a goose.
It means that something is futile or ...
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What do you call it when your unit does physical exercise as punishment because one soldier did something wrong?
I served in the Russian military and we weren't allowed to use our phones when we were on duty. So whenever someone was noticed using their phone, the whole unit had to do push-ups, squats, etc.
In ...
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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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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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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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0
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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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