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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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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2
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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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My question is about lists of words in a sentence
I came across an example of a translator position description, and I got confused about the meaning of the word "Research". Is this word related to the word "copy" or is it ...
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How do I say that I am not yet thirty years old?
I want to translate the following Spanish sentence into English:
Tengo menos de treinta años.
By the way the speaker of this Spanish sentence means that he/she is not yet thirty years old. I think ...
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Word for a festival of mourning (or a festival of commemoration of a sorrowful event or incident)
In Persian, we have a word 'جشنواره' (Jashn-Vareh) [in which Jashn means Celebration and Vareh indicates some type of gathering] that its English translation is Festival. Conversely, we have another ...
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To clutch in a gear changing context
I'm a portuguese speaker and we have a slang verb, "debrear", which means to step, all the way to the floor, on the clutch pedal, or, motorcycle-wise, to pull the clutch lever all the way in....
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From whose perspective the author is saying in the following fragment
I am trying to translate the short story by J. M. Coetzee but can't understand how exactly to interpret the sentence in the second paragraph. The story narrates about a young boy who finds a strange ...
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"Hang" used as "decorate"
I'm reading the book "Roadside Picnic" which was originally written in Russian. In one part of the book, the translator writes:
Those egghead scientists were making progress. They've got ...
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Closest equivalent to the Chinese jocular use of 职业病 (occupational disease): job creates habits that manifest inappropriately outside work
The Chinese expression 职业病 (zhi ye bing, occupational disease), when used seriously, just means occupational disease, e.g. lung problems caused by working in a chemical factory.
But there is also a ...
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Comma when translating a single word e.g. "A gato ("cat" in Spanish) is a fluffy feline."
Would you put a comma in there? And why?
A gato ("cat" in Spanish) is a fluffy feline.
A gato ("cat," in Spanish) is a fluffy feline.
A gato ("cat", in Spanish) is a ...
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Does 'moonlighting' mean 'illegal work'?
I was looking for the translation of the German word 'Schwarzarbeit' (black work) that means working illegally, without written contract, in order to avoid labour laws and taxation.
The Google ...
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Quotes/italics/both/other on mid-sentence translation
Please consider my sentence:
So, as I paid out my $4.50, I simply said to them, “Y valían cada centavo de ello”, meaning “And they were worth every penny of it.”
The Y valian… phrase is italicized ...
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Translating "wessen-dessen" sentences [closed]
I'm struggling a bit with the translation of the German "wessen...dessen..."
To clarify, here's the full German sentence, which is not idiomatic at all, it's just phrased to sound like it is:...
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Wrestling with someone "chest to chest"?
I am looking for an expression which would enhance the idea of wrestling. This is a text I am translating from another language (Greek) where the expression (ἀντιπαλαίω στῆθος με στῆθος) means ...
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Is there an equivalent to the assertive/polite expression "je me permets de ..." in English?
Is there an equivalent to the expression "je me permets de ..." in English?
I think this expression has two usages:
to convey an assertive tone:
Je me permets de vous rappeler que la date ...
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What is the English equivalent to the proverb "Somebody finds his soup not thick enough, and somebody finds his pearls too small"
What's the equivalent to the Russian proverb "Somebody finds his soup not thick enough, and somebody finds his pearls too small"("Кому суп не густ, кому жемчуг мелок")?
It means a ...
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What is a background check? [closed]
I wanna understand the meaning of the background check? Like I don’t know how to do one or even get one. I really want to know the purpose of a background check.
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Translate "Lengua Bífida" to English [closed]
I am trying to translate "Lengua Bífida" from Spanish to English.
The text "Lengua bífida" in Spanish expresses that someone has a tempting form of talking, normally in a bad way.
...
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Does William Shakespeare use the double negative in the speech below to yield a different meaning, or is it just for emphasis? (Merchant of Venice) [closed]
....So can I give no reason, nor I will not,
More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing...
~ Shylock answering to the Duke in the court
In the above extract from Merchant of Venice - Act IV, ...
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Rhyming answers with implicit irritation to the words like "where", "who", "well", etc
Are there any rhyming words with which one answers to or comments the words like "where", "who", "how" or "so" and "well" or "like" (which ...
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What is the equivalent of the Russian "Masha-rasteryasha" (Masha who loses things)?
Is there any equivalent for the Russian expression "Маша-растеряша" ("Masha-rasteryasha") in English? Its word-for-word translation is "Masha (a girl's name) who always loses ...
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Long sentence between "make" and adjective
Consider the text below, which is an attempt of translation from Italian.
This is needed in order to make all the editorial processes the
manuscript will undergo transparent.
The boldface words show ...
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Choosing between oblivion, forgetfulness, and forgetting
I am trying to figure out what is the right word related to forgetting in this quote by Blasco Ibáñez:
Tenemos dos fuerzas que nos ayudan a vivir: el olvido y la esperanza.
which translated in ...
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What is the antonym for OK?
I am trying to translate a web application, where if a specific condition is met it is necessary to write
x < y : OK
whereas, if not, one writes:
x < y : KO
This is a short message meaning that ...
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What is the English idiomatic equivalent to the Russian “бряцать регалиями” (to “rattle one’s medals”)?
The expression contains two words:
бряцать – to rattle
регалиями – stems from regalia, but more like medals here
The figurative meaning is to show off one’s life experience. I.e., in an argument, ...
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Modern usage of the word 'hearken'
I'm doing some translation work and would like to use the word 'hearken' as the original piece (Chinese) has a religious and traditional feel to it.
Question:
Would the sentence,
"Such an ...
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English equivalent of the German suffix '-weise'
In German, if we want to formulate that we conduct the same procedure for a number of items that are all of one kind, we can use the suffix "-weise".
So for example, if we want to say that ...
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Which idiom corresponds to the Hungarian expression translated 'as if they have agreed ahead of time – although we know that they didn't'?
The Hungarian phrase 'mintha összebeszéltek volna' means 'as if they have agreed ahead of time – although we know that they didn't". How would this appear in English?
Edit: example. Imagine four ...
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What is the meaning of sub-second-level in this context?
We use the term data acquisition to refer to a process of collecting
and storing raw sub-second-level smartphone measurements for
the purpose of human activity recognition.
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Perforability - a correct term similar to Russian "перфорированность", meaning "relative area of a surface occupied by pores"
I'm looking for the correct translation of the Russian term "перфорированность" and find the "perforability" but don't know, is it correct?
From the physical point of view "...
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What are the English terms for the Dutch words "kooktraject" and "smelttraject"
If a material has a melting temperature range instead of a melting point, then the dedicated Dutch word "smelttraject" applies. Similarly, "kooktraject" indicates a boiling ...
