| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] > | Off topic: The most infuriating word to translate from your source language(s) Thread poster: Deborah do Carmo
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Rosa Enciso 
Germany
Local time: 08:36
Member
German to Spanish
+ ...
| About constipado: a true story | Jul 26, 2007 |
When I was a child, my parents were invited to a party with very distinguished people and told me afterwards this anecdote:
A French lady asked a Spanish guest: "Comment-allez vous?" The man answered: "Je suis un peu constipé". He ment, of course, that he had a cold.
You can imagine the reaction of the lady.
| | | | Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:36
Russian to English
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In memoriam | Sanmar
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:36
Dutch to English
| Allochtoon/Autochtoon | Jul 26, 2007 |
Native/Non-native (foreigner)? Problem is that in Dutch Allochtoon refers to non-white immigrants only. In the UK this is seen as a rather un-PC way of putting it!
| | | | | The French remedy | Jul 26, 2007 |
Rosa Enciso wrote:
When I was a child, my parents were invited to a party with very distinguished people and told me afterwards this anecdote:
A French lady asked a Spanish guest: "Comment-allez vous?" The man answered: "Je suis un peu constipé". He ment, of course, that he had a cold.
You can imagine the reaction of the lady.
I'm surprised she didn't immediately recommend a suppository. That's what the French prescribe for everything (including colds - really).
Jenny.
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avsie (X)
Local time: 08:36
English to French
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| Allochtoontje | Jul 26, 2007 |
Sanmar wrote:
Native/Non-native (foreigner)? Problem is that in Dutch Allochtoon refers to non-white immigrants only. In the UK this is seen as a rather un-PC way of putting it!
The real definition is anyone who is not born in the Netherlands or who has at least one parent of non-Dutch origins. Regardless of their color or their actual country of origin. That's the PC definition, that is...
Allochtoontje and proud of it!
Oh and I've got another word, that I have just seen appear in the translation I'm working on at the moment: enable!
[Edited at 2007-07-26 15:13]
| | | | Christine Schmit (X)
Luxembourg
German to French
+ ...
Leistung would be on top of my list for German.
| | | | Todd Field
United States
Local time: 00:36
Member
Portuguese to English
| PT-PT has lots | Jul 26, 2007 |
Very interesting thread! I do agree with the "valorizar" thing.
I stumble across many words in European PT that are tricky to render in English, or which can go one of many ways:
dever (must? should? will?)
entidade
eventual/eventualmente
assegurar
operazionalizar/operazionalização
explorar/exploração
realidade
contexto
evolução
âmbito
aposta
My personal worst enemy is the "1° , 2°, 3° gr... See more Very interesting thread! I do agree with the "valorizar" thing.
I stumble across many words in European PT that are tricky to render in English, or which can go one of many ways:
dever (must? should? will?)
entidade
eventual/eventualmente
assegurar
operazionalizar/operazionalização
explorar/exploração
realidade
contexto
evolução
âmbito
aposta
My personal worst enemy is the "1° , 2°, 3° graus" of the "linha recta/linha colateral" to describe concepts of kinship. Drives me nuts every time.
But this sort of thing is precisely what keeps us in business, I guess.
Todd ▲ Collapse
| | | | Deborah do Carmo
Portugal
Local time: 07:36
Dutch to English
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TOPIC STARTER | Tell me about it. | Jul 26, 2007 |
Todd Field wrote:
Very interesting thread! I do agree with the "valorizar" thing.
I stumble across many words in European PT that are tricky to render in English, or which can go one of many ways:
dever (must? should? will?)
entidade
eventual/eventualmente
assegurar
operazionalizar/operazionalização
explorar/exploração
realidade
contexto
evolução
âmbito
aposta
My personal worst enemy is the "1° , 2°, 3° graus" of the "linha recta/linha colateral" to describe concepts of kinship. Drives me nuts every time.
But this sort of thing is precisely what keeps us in business, I guess.
Todd
Hi there,
You won't believe how many of these you mention, and which give me exactly the same headaches in PT, come up in Dutch too.
I often find it easier in my head to go from PT to its contextual equivalent in Dutch and use one of the tried and trusted solutions from those resources, which are far superior to what we have to work with in PT.
But that said, having been fortunate enough to read some of your work, I can't imagine anything stumping you. As far as PT»EN business translations are concerned, they're in a class of their own.
Keep well
Debs
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| Technical and Management terms....En into Es | Jul 26, 2007 |
Management / Administration
Manager / Director / Administrator
Device
Multitasking
Improvement/ Betterment
Capital/ Critical / Major
Significant / Important
Negligible
Elegible
Change, modify, amend,
due, proper, suitable, appropriate, correct,
accurate, faithful, true, good,
actual, real, current, valid
effective, efficient, <... See more Management / Administration
Manager / Director / Administrator
Device
Multitasking
Improvement/ Betterment
Capital/ Critical / Major
Significant / Important
Negligible
Elegible
Change, modify, amend,
due, proper, suitable, appropriate, correct,
accurate, faithful, true, good,
actual, real, current, valid
effective, efficient,
and many others I can't think of now ))))))))
Regards,
Y ▲ Collapse
| | | | | the difference | Jul 26, 2007 |
Williamson wrote:
How would Russian translator translate the word "translator" : perivodsjik. And "interpreter"? : ...
The difference is slight, but You say:
- "ustnyj perevodchik" for 'interpreter',
- "pis'mennyj perevodchik" for 'translator'.
All the best
Ale
| | | | | Leistung et al. | Jul 26, 2007 |
Christine Schmit wrote:
Leistung would be on top of my list for German.
Leistung, Aufwand and Gestaltung are all b*tches of words in German. At least into Eng.
(Edited to correct spelling error)
[Edited at 2007-07-26 23:18]
| | | | | item and reliable | Jul 28, 2007 |
I need to carefully look at the context to find the "item"'s peers and extract its name from the group.
As for "reliable", as it goes from a chair to an anatomy course, I have to "identify" the fundamental quality that makes the difference.
This "makes the difference" that smoothly conveys my idea into English is also a "challenge" when translated into Romanian.
I also confirm "valoriser" (that is mainly used as a noun in Romanian) is an "issue" when trans... See more I need to carefully look at the context to find the "item"'s peers and extract its name from the group.
As for "reliable", as it goes from a chair to an anatomy course, I have to "identify" the fundamental quality that makes the difference.
This "makes the difference" that smoothly conveys my idea into English is also a "challenge" when translated into Romanian.
I also confirm "valoriser" (that is mainly used as a noun in Romanian) is an "issue" when translating into English. Another RO>EN problem is "a asigura", which can be provide, assure, reassure, cover, satisfy, secure, underwrite, gain and some other I guess. The nightmare is that sometimes they come together...
[Edited at 2007-07-28 10:01] ▲ Collapse
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| Capability & Appropriateness... | Jul 28, 2007 |
... are words that make me wince every time I see them. Terrible.
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the word I don't like most of all.
| | | | Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 09:36
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
has multiple meaning both in German and Finnish.
"Design" has multiple meaning both in English and German. They need careful consideration when translating into Finnish.
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