Foreign Idioms

From Tedblog.com:
"40 brilliant idioms that simply can’t be translated literally"

It’s a piece of cake. You can’t put lipstick on a pig. Why add fuel to the fire? Idioms are those phrases that mean more than the sum of their words. As our Open Translation Project volunteers translate TED Talks into 105 languages, they’re often challenged to translate English idioms into their language. Which made us wonder: what are their favorite idioms in their own tongue?
Below, we asked translators to share their favorite idioms and how they would translate literally. The results are laugh-out-loud funny.

From German translator Johanna Pichler:

The idiom: Tomaten auf den Augen haben.Literal translation: “You have tomatoes on your eyes.”
What it means: “You are not seeing what everyone else can see. It refers to real objects, though — not abstract meanings.”

The idiom: Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof.Literal translation: “I only understand the train station.”
What it means: “I don’t understand a thing about what that person is saying.’”

The idiom: Die Katze im Sack kaufen.Literal translation: “To buy a cat in a sack.”
What it means: That a buyer purchased something without inspecting it first.
Other languages this idiom exists in: We hear from translators that this is an idiom in Swedish, Polish, Latvian and Norwegian. In English, the phrase is “buying a pig in poke,” but English speakers do also  “let the cat out of the bag,” which means to reveal something that’s supposed to be secret.

From Latvian translator Ilze Garda and Kristaps Kadikis:

The idiom: Pūst pīlītes.Literal translation: “To blow little ducks.”
What it means: “It means to talk nonsense or to lie.”
Other language connections: In Croatian, when someone is obviously lying to someone, you say that they are “throwing cream into their eyes (bacati kajmak u oči).”

The idiom: Ej bekot.
Literal translation: “‘Go pick mushrooms,’ or, more specifically, ‘Go pick mushrooms!'”
What it means: “Go away and/or leave me alone.”

From French translator Patrick Brault: 

The idiom: Avaler des couleuvres.Literal translation: “To swallow grass snakes.”
What it means: “It means being so insulted that you’re not able to reply.” 

The idiom: Sauter du coq à l’âne.Literal translation: “To jump from the cock to the donkey.”
What it means: “It means to keep changing topics without logic in a conversation.” 

The idiom: Se regarder en chiens de faïence.Literal translation: “To look at each other like earthenware dogs.”
What it means: “Basically, to look at each other coldly, with distrust.” 

The idiom: Les carottes sont cuites!Literal translation: “The carrots are cooked!”
What it means: “The situation can’t be changed.”
Other language connections: It’s bit like the phrase, “It’s no use crying over spilt milk,” in English.

From Russian translator Aliaksandr Autayeu:

The idiom: Галопом по ЕвропамLiteral translation: “Galloping across Europe.”
What it means: “To do something hastily, haphazardly.”

The idiom: На воре и шапка горитLiteral translation: “The thief has a burning hat.”
What it means: “He has an uneasy conscience that betrays itself.”

The idiom: Хоть кол на голове тешиLiteral translation: “You can sharpen with an ax on top of this head.”
What it means: “He’s a very stubborn person.”

The idiom: брать/взять себя в рукиLiteral translation: “To take oneself in one’s hands.”
What it means: “It means ‘to pull yourself together.’”
Other languages this idiom exists in: Translators tell us that there is a German version of this idiom too: “Sich zusammenreißen,” which translates literally as “to tear oneself together.” And in Polish, the same idea is expressed by the phrase, “we take ourselves into our fist (wziąć się w garść).” 

From Polish translator Kinga Skorupska:

The idiom: Słoń nastąpił ci na ucho?Literal translation: “Did an elephant stomp on your ear?”
What it means: “You have no ear for music.”
Other languages this idiom exists in: Our translators tell us that in Croatian, there’s also a connection made between elephants and musical ability in the phrase, “You sing like an elephant farted in your ear (Pjevaš kao da ti je slon prdnuo u uho.).” But in the Latvian version, it’s a bear who stomps on your ear.

The idiom: Bułka z masłem.Literal translation: “It’s a roll with butter.”
What it means: “It’s really easy.”

The idiom: Z choinki się urwałaś?Literal translation: “Did you fall from a Christmas tree?”
What it means: “You are not well informed, and it shows.”

From Kazakh translator Askhat Yerkimbay:

The idiom: Сенің арқаңда күн көріп жүрмін
Literal translation: “I see the sun on your back.”
What it means: “Thank you for being you. I am alive because of your help.”

From Croatian translator Ivan Stamenkovic:

The idiom: Doće maca na vratancaLiteral translation: “The pussy cat will come to the tiny door.”
What it means: “Essentially, ‘What goes around comes around.’”

The idiom: Da vidimo čija majka crnu vunu predeLiteral translation: “We see whose mother is spinning black wool.”
What it means: “It’s like being the black sheep in the family.” 

The idiom: Muda LabudovaLiteral translation: “Balls of a swan.”
What it means: “It means something that’s impossible.”

The idiom: Mi o vukuLiteral translation: “To talk about the wolf.”
What it means: “It’s similar to ‘speak of the devil.’”
Other language connections: In Polish, “O wilku mowa” is the equivalent.

From Dutch translator Valerie Boor:

The idiom: Iets met de Franse slag doenLiteral translation: “Doing something with the French whiplash.”
What it means: “This apparently comes from riding terminology. It means doing something hastily.” 

The idiom: Iets voor een appel en een ei kopenLiteral translation: “Buying something for an apple and an egg.”
What it means: “It means you bought it very cheaply.”
Other language connections: Spanish translator Camille Martínez points out out that when something is expensive in English, you pay two body parts for it (“it cost me an arm and a leg”), whereas in Spanish you only pay one — either a kidney (“me costó un riñón”) or an eye (“me costó un ojo de la cara”).

 

^ It was interesting to see how a different group of people see things. ^

 

 

http://blog.ted.com/2015/01/20/40-idioms-that-cant-be-translated-literally/