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 does "worm of yellow convicts" mean?
I am working on the translation of this story by Stephen Crane, "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets", and in the very beginning he describes a fight which everyone around stops to watch. This is ...
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2
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Question about word order for emphasis [closed]
I am a student of the English language, and also Psychology. If I were to translate Rational Emotional Behavioral Therapy, should the emphasis (the first and most important word) be on Behavioral, ...
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2
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What can "ranges" mean in this context?
"The castle’s three gift shops sell a wide range of high quality gifts, books and souvenirs including exclusive Edinburgh Castle ranges"
I need to translate a travel guide of the Edinburgh ...
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2
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"Abstract away from": disregarding details in effort to reach higher general and overarching notion of something
I am a native Danish speaker. The Danish definition of the verb abstract translates to "disregarding the subordinate details in an effort to build a general, overarching notion of something"....
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1
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What does "case" mean on a museum guide? [closed]
"First, head to Room 51 on Level 3 and find Case 4."
This appears on a guide to visit The British Museum. This guide is designed for children and it is full of activities, pictures and there ...
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1
answer
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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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13
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Is there a figurative term equivalent to the German idiom "Fingerübung"?
Just recently I was wondering on how to best translate the figurative German word 'Fingerübung'
In particular I am referring to the second meaning in the authorative German dictionary duden1, which
...
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2
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Correct use of the term “Taxa de Natalidade” [closed]
I have received the answer from my teacher saying that the term “Fertility Rate” is not suitable for the context.
The context is this,
The increase in life expectancy, concomitantly with a decreased ...
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1
answer
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Love of Home and Friends—like the ridge behind a Bunker! (Meaning)
I'm translating a fable by George Ade called "The Fable of the Visitor Who Got a Lot for Three Dollars." In the following extract, the phrenologist is telling his customer how he is based on ...
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3
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What is the best translation for the German word "Bündler", meaning an intermediary merchant for agricultural goods and produce?
I'm looking for a good translation of the German word "Bündler" which in our context is an intermediary merchant for agricultural goods and produce.
DeepL offered me the word "bundler&...
2
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0
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In need of accurate translations for "discount" [closed]
I’m writing a program for point of sales work. Thus, in my code, I need to
name things (in English) related to concerns like "Store", "Sales",
"Price", etc.
I’m now ...
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4
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Idioms and other expressions that point to the farm / countryiside origins of a person that now lives in an urban setting
I have to translate an idiom in Spanish, "pelo de la dehesa", which refers to a person who lives in an urban setting but who still has elements of their rural origins. The author who used ...
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1
answer
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Is there a verb for "thinking someone deserved what he got"?
Note that i am not talking about this in the sense of "he deserved what he got", but rather, "i THINK he deserved it".
Basically, when you see someone with a nice car, or when you ...
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3
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Should I use "the" in the phrase "the check-in for a flight", in this context?
I have this sentence in Russian I need to translate into English:
"Звучит объявление о регистрации на рейс Кабул - Гонконг."
The best I can come up with is this:
"An announcement rings ...
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Equivalent of Catalan 'Gent jove pa tou' or 'Young people soft bread' referring to being too young for certain tasks
Is there an equivalent in English to the following Catalan expression?
'Gent jove, pa tou', literally 'Young people, soft bread', referring to the fact that young people are too inexperienced to be ...
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1
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Translate the sentence
I can't figure out the problem with the boy in this sentence.
I looked up the phrase "tear off" in the dictionary, but when it goes with "except about two inches around", I found ...
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2
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What is the most common equivalent name for “handal”, a very bitter fruit?
What is the most common name of a very bitter fruit, a word that is the equivalent of handal (also spelled “handhal”)?
On Wikipedia, I found several names for this melon-like fruit: bitter apple, ...
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1
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A literary idiom/expression that means someone is worthless or express about this imagery ( he is not equal to stitch on the sole)
I have to translate a poem from Arabic into English, so I need an equivalent expression to Arabic imagery.
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3
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How to translate "Facéties de Descendre" from French in the context of a board game? [closed]
I'd like to translate a card from a French board game. In particular, I'm interested about one of the names of the abilities. Now, I'm not a native English speaker, but I'm pretty sure that the ...
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2
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Relaunch or Raise [closed]
I'm French and I would like to translate "Relancer un client".
This expression is used, for example, when an invoice has been sent to a customer, but no payment has been received after the ...
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0
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Squints (AE)- similar to the German word ‚Fachidiot‘? [closed]
Is the word ‚squints‘ similar to the German word ‚Fachidiot‘?
It‘s often used from Agent Booth (Series Bones) when he speaks about the scientists.
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"son of fish knows how to swim" meaning and usage
What the saying "son of fish knows how to swim" actually means? does it contain positive or negative connotation? Thank you!
user392595
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a word for an academic text translation
I am translating an academic study on manuscripts. In the source language, there is a word that requires a one-word translation for the idea of both reading and interpreting. I haven’t yet found any ...
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0
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What is an idiom meaning 'destroy with a hand tool' in English?
I thought of "The politicians are taking a sledgehammer to England" but I don't know if it's correct to mean "The politicians are destroying England". In the source language it's ...
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2
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On vs over (is using "on" wrong here?)
I know the difference. I know over in this case means that the thing covers all or almost all of the other thing, and on simply means that the thing is on part of the surface of the other thing. But, ...
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1
answer
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Looking for an appropriate English name to replace my Chinese name [closed]
Background:
I am Chinese, and after living abroad from China for several years, I realize that I need an English name anyway. I’ve seen too many confused faces looking at my Chinese name.
My Chinese ...
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1
answer
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What is difference between targeted protein degrader and protein-targeted degrader?
My question is: Does the position of the word "Targeted" change the meaning of these phrases: targeted protein degrader and protein-targeted degrader?
Also, please explain what is the meaning of the ...
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What do you call the art of 'proper' bearing? (French 'maintien')
An aristocrat, model, steward… will learn about walking, sitting, behaving, etc. according to a certain etiquette.
I am not talking about protocol, conversation and etiquette in general - just the ...
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What is "plurisecular"? Can't find this word's meaning, only translations
Here's a quote from Robert Hurley's translation of Michel Foucault's History of Sexuality arguing for the historical importance of the anonymous author of My Secret Life:
...he was the most direct ...
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1
answer
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How would a native speaker react to the proverbial phrase: "Life is lethal"?
Would it sound completely wrong?
Would it be understood humoristically?
Would "deadly" be better?
It's an attempt to translate the humoristic German sentence:
Das Leben ist tödlich.
I often ...
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0
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Word for "mid-sized wild mammalian land animal," equivalent to Sanskrit "mṛga."
I am looking for an English translation for the Sanskrit word mṛga. This word refers to wild animals that are somewhat below the top of the food chain. The archetypical mṛga is a deer. They are ...
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English equivalent to the Swedish idiom "A dear child has many names"
In Sweden we have a saying that — literally translated — corresponds to “A dear child has many names” (“Kärt barn har många namn”).
The meaning is pretty straightforward: popular things can have a ...
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Phenomenon, when a phrase (lit. trans. into English from other regional language) has obvious mistake(s) and still uncorrectable due to popularity
Let me layout an example to make the situation, described in question more clear:
There is a popular road in a city of Gujarat, India whose name when literally translated into English means "Horse ...
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1
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Enforce NOT to pronounce sh in a word [closed]
I have a word in the Arabic language that is transliterated into Mushib in English. It means Verbose. I need to enforce the pronunciation of this word to be Mus-Hib (Without pronouncing the sh sound)
...
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Different forms of addressing parents
In my language there is an older form in which you use kinship term in the middle of a sentence, in which normally you would use "you". Here's how this would look translated to English
Normal -> "Dad,...
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1
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"Scientists and poets" — translation of the Russian phrase
In Russian, we have a phrase, which divides people on two categores - left brain and right brain. This is "physicists and lyricists" (физики и лирики). The first better work with maths ...
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English equivalent for 'hungry of eyes', which describes someone who takes more food than they can eat
There is an Urdu idiom, آنکھوں کا بھوکا, which literally translates to hungry of eyes.
It's used to describe someone who takes more food than they can eat- someone's who's greedy.
For example, we ...
user384953
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5
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Phrase for "Night Haystacker"
I want a proverb, a metaphor, or a figure of speech about someone who collects non-selectively and carries a heavy load that hurts him. He wants to quickly unload it. In Arabic, we say a night ...
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Industry sources meaning [duplicate]
I don't really understand the meaning of the term: "Industry sources" in this text. please aware me.
"Details of the agreement have yet to be made public, but industry sources have said ...
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2
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How to translate "rapporto bancario"?
In Italian, we use "rapporto bancario" as a generic word for any "banking relationship" you have with your bank, like a banking account, a mortgage, a loan, you name it.
Is "banking relationship" a ...
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Can we use "next of kin" for things as a metaphor?
Wheat has been man's next of kin.
Does this sentence make sense to native English speakers??
It's supposed to be a simile, meaning wheat is like family to humans.
It's a translated sentence from a ...
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0
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English word to best represent the Dutch double A / [a] sound
My Dutch name is Maarten which has a double A inside of it, pronounced simply as [a]. It is often misspelled as Marteen. I guess that most persons will remember my name as Martin but with a double ...
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0
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Mixing future tense with present tense to describe events in the future
I am translating a song from Russian to English. Original lyrics have a dreamy mood and shift (russian) tense from future to present, back and forth.
This is an example that I made up, not the actual ...
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6
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What do we call the spike in the cap of an ointment/cream tube?
I'm translating a text about an antifungal cream sold in aluminum tubes. The plastic cap of each tube has a spike in it used to break the foil/seal in the neck of the tube.
I'm not sure what these ...
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2
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What do you call the sets of window bars that are used to protect the window and are opened to the outside?
I was proofreading a translation and came across the sentence:
The externally accessible windows are fitted with lockable, outswing metal grids.
What the translator meant really was this (on ...
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3
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What do we call a company that provides the services that were outsourced?
If my company outsources some manufacturing site (pharmaceutical plant) auditing functions to a third-party company, what is the most generic term for that company? I found outsourcing provider, is ...
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What sounds more natural and clear - "to set free potential" or "to release potential"?
I tried to translate a phrase but found it difficult to choose proper words. What version of my phrase looks (sounds) better?
A leader is a person who has set free his potential of a leader
A leader ...
0
votes
1
answer
415
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"he has almost nothing" or "he hasn't almost anything"?
So, I'm helping a friend of mine who has just started learning English.
He wants to say "He has almost nothing to eat in his cupboards" using the negative form. Is "he hasn't almost anything to eat ...
1
vote
1
answer
104
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How can "lebensphasenorientierte Personalpolitik" be translated to English?
In German, "lebensphasenorientierte Personalpolitik" describes a human resource policy that adapts to the life stages of employees, and enables a work-life balance.
Is there an equivalent English ...
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0
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A phrase comparable to 'In the house of the blacksmith, wooden knives' [duplicate]
In Spanish, we have a phrase..
En casa de herrero, cuchillos de palo.
Literally,
In the house of the blacksmith, wooden knives.
The meaning is probably clear, but some examples:
A math ...
