Idioms in foreign languages - and their translations

For some reason I didn't notice this topic till now... late, I know

Anyway I've got so much to say!

The German "Ich habe die Nase voll" - I've got a noseful (usually of something/someone) is "Ik heb er de neus vol van" in Dutch, so very similar.
"English equivalents apart from "fed up" would be "I've had it up to here" (indicating eye level with hands)". You can say that in dutch too: "het zit me tot hier" (and also indicating eye level with hands)

Then I've got to add the dutch version to the two somethings in one something:
"To kill two birds with one stone"
"Zwei Fliege mit einem Schuss shiessen"/"Zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen"
"Matar dois cohelhos com uma tacada só"
"Matar dos pájaros de un tiro"
"Twee vliegen in één klap slaan"

Someone wrote this one:
"s/he who digs a whole for another, will himself fall into it!!!!"
That is exactly the same in dutch:
"wie een kuil graaft voor een ander, valt er zelf in" (Most people only say 'wie een kuil graaft voor een ander... and everyone knows it's some sort of a warning)

TechnoGuyRob,
where exactly are you from?
You wrote: "Hentje de voorste zijn"
But I only know that expression as "Haantje de voorste zijn"

Someone talked about "Heads will roll" and someone else said "It's used in Spanish ("caerán cabezas"), but not in Italian."
I have to add to that that it is used in dutch too: "Er zullen koppen rollen"

"to be the third wheel on a date" is "het derde wiel aan de wagen zijn" in dutch --> "to be the third wheel on the wagon". That sounds like a good english version too to me... true?


And finally:

gun: pang pang (or when it's about cowboys: pief paf)
dog: waf waf or woef woef
cat: miauw miauw
pig: knor knor
fire engine/ ambulance: taatuu taatuu
ouch: auw

Welcome, Doris.

Never too late...

Actually the English version is 'fifth wheel', cars normally only needing 4.

Here's an actual example:
"Then, a friend of mine said he's go, but now that he's involved
with a new chick, I don't want to be fifth wheel."

Well, we Western Europeans were perhaps just using two wheel waggons - it's the same saying in German ("dritte Rad am Wagen") as in Dutch :wink:.

I'm sure that the expression was 'third wheel', up to the point where the US fell in love with the automobile.

I learned a good Italian expression: 'Que nottataccia!' meaning, what a night as in a night with no or little sleep! I don't think the 'taccia' part has a literal translation. One can also say 'Que giornataccia!'

And there's also 'Brutta figura' which, as far as I can tell, means to make an arse of oneself.

In Italian, "accia" and "accio", are augmentative-derogative suffixes, not always idioms.

Parolaccia means dirty word.
Uccellaccio means big ugly bird.

A famous thriller-novel is "Quer Pasticciaccio a Via Merulana" (That Ugly Mess at Merulana St.)

Yes, when you make an ass of yourself, you make "brutta figura" (an ugly figure).

Other (somewhat vulgar, but widespread) Italian idioms are "sfigato" or "sfigata" and "fighino" or "fighina".
Both have the same root: "figa", vulgarism for vagina.
"sfigato" would translate as "figaless": it is the idiom for unlucky, miserable
"fighino" would translate as "figa-y": it is the idiom, more positive than negative, for too elegant.

Haha! I guess that my housemate didn't have the words to translate. She laughed as I yelled the above out to her.

"Een stom figuur slaan"/"een gek figuur slaan"
When I looked 'slaan' up in the dictionary to see if I could find a fitting litteral translation, I found "to cut a foolish figure"...
Is that the same as "an ugly figure", the translation fbaezer gave?

My translation was literal, D1Doris, I think it's bad English.
"Look bad" or "make a fool of yourself" would be closer.

fbaezer (and any other Italian speakers)

Isn't "fare la bella figura" a way of saying that you conduct yourself properly/create a good impression - i.e. the reverse of "brutta figura"

Given the inclination of the Italians for placing style and appearance above substance, these are critical concepts to grasp for anyone wishing to impress!

Ahoy there chaps!

Let me throw myself right into the action with one of the most common colloquial (male!?) greetings in Macedonian.
Cyrillic: Ê༠ñè áðå, äà òè ¼à åáàì ìà¼êàòà äà òè ¼à åáàì!
Latin: Kaj si bre, da ti ja ebam majkata da ti ja ebam!
Literal translation: Where are you, that I **** your mother, that I **** her!
Actual meaning: Hey, long time no see. How are you/what are you doing?

Only since recently Ive managed to give in to this, be it sparsely.
Though I reckon that I'll keep on feeling more comfortable giving answers like "in my room" and starting with just "hey how are you?".
Adding to that, this is not a rarity in macedonian "slang" if you will.
Don't be surprised if someone tells you "Ìà íå ¼àäè ãîâíî òîëêó áðå", to stop eating **** (stop talking nonsense) or (Äà ìè ãî áðè÷åø/¼àäåø êóðîò to shave/eat his dick). Just a way of saying "no/go away" btw.
Being raised with this, I never got thrown off track when my grandma, in her 70's, said to me "Àà, íà ìà¼êàòè ïè÷êàòà!" "Aha (yeah right), your mothers ****!". She was just saying to me that "it" wouldnt happen. For instance if I asked her more money to go out with my nefue. The fact that she was talking about her own daughter didnt matter a bit.

So if you'd ever come across these phrases, you can rest assured that no skulls are about to be smashed, or anything of that matter. Just your everyday Macedonian chit-chat going about.


PS: Once I retrieve my list of other Macedonianismes, there will be more coming, although not as common.

Welcome to a2k, Den. Interesting lanquage.
BTW, that is quite the handle, How on earth do you pronouce it?

Ooo! I wanna guess! I like guessing at how names/words are pronounced in languages I don't know (which is pretty much most languages. *L*)

Den Nederduytschen Draeck

Den Ned-ur-doy-chen Drack (with the d and r running together)

How'd I do? Bad? Good?

It's completely phonetic (not taking one exception into account now), so if you'd read it letter-by-letter, like it were Russian (for instance), you should be fine.


"uy" => Ive heard a Scot say exactly the same when saying "ou" as in "out" The oldest pronounciation is "ü", like in German, and pops up in the national anthem, so it could even have been like that.
I know nothing about the d and r running together.
ch => Same as Scottish "ch" as in loch. Maybe even similar to the Arabic "kh", as in Khalid.
"ae" This is now written as "aa" which can be somewhat the same.
The "a" would be the "a" as in "car"
The "e" would be pronounced as the Turkish "i" without dot, I think.
The "r" is similar to the Scottish one, but not as vibrant/rolling as the Spanish.

There you have "The Netherdutch Drake", with cases.

Actually, "Den Nederduytschen Draeck" means " Low German dirt" (and it's in the wrong case, should be "der").

Pennsylvinian Duytch is German, not Dutch.


I doubt a little that -if it's really Penn Dutch (and it's defibnately no Scottish :wink: ) - your pronopunciation is correct.

But e.g. Farmerman should know it better in this case.

That's "drek" your talking about.
And on a sidenote: low german is a graphical denotation, for the people who were wondering.
But I assume you were just joking, hehehe.


In German yes. In Dutch it was possible to do this, although not adding anything special to the meaning. An ornament I reckon, but a nice one imo.
Also, "der" in Dutch was "from the", and not any form of "the".

Not really, since Low German ... but see here:
Language Tree: Germanic Languages

You didn't understand my point.
I was just telling something about where it was derived from, so as to people not confusing it with "low class peasant-dialect".
I myself thought this to be the case, so I looked up linguistic trees and explanations, and so now I tell people that background a bit. (be it simplified)

PS: being derived from means what laid at the origin of (naming) something.

Ha! Well, I hope it means what I thought it meant -- "draeck" being some old dutch spelling for "draak", or "dragon".

(Old Dutch spelling had all kinds of "ae" where we now just say "aa" and "ck" where we now leave the c out).

DND is also right about "den" being perfectly correct, if extremely old-fashioned Dutch - not the wrong case - it's not German you know ;-)

Brilliant handle by the way, DND - that really caught my attention! <grins>