Idioms in foreign languages - and their translations

Meanwhile, I know a little bit more about the

History of the Dutch Language

... and that Old Dutch was spoken until 80 years ago in the USA (Lost Dutch offshoot ) :wink:

While I was learning Dutch and spent some time in the Netherlands, Dutch people were forever asking me (after overcoming their surprise a foreigner was learning Dutch) Hoe komt dat je ouderwetse Nederlands spreken?
How did I get to be speaking old-fashioned Dutch?

You see, I always introduced myself as Portuguese and neglected to tell people I was raised in South Africa and had been taught Afrikaans. It obviously influenced my spoken Dutch. Whenever I told Dutch/Flemish people this, they seemed disappointed so I would often not mention it at all :wink:
[Afrikaans being a Dutch derived language and considered by many Dutch to be 'baba-nederlands' and until the turn of the 20th century not official (only in 1926) and known derogatorily as kitchen-Dutch in SA.]
I recall the Dutch correcting some Americans on my course concerning the Pennsylvanian Dutch being German! They looked peeved ;-)
This Jersey-Dutch is new to me though. Interesting! I can read and understand some of that example paragraph.

Welcome to A2K, ArohemQ, and thanks for your explanationary response!





Much easier for a German, especially, when knowing aditionally some Frisian and Low German :wink:

Fascinating links, Walter. I'm enjoying them thoroughly.

Thanks, Andrew.

( Not so romantic as a full moon seen through palm fronds, Hula-girls dancing on the beach and big waves behind them, which you enjoy usually, but ... )

FRENCH:

Gun: Pan, pan ! ("an" is nasal)
Cat: Miaou, miaou
Dog: Ouah, Ouah OR Ouf, ouf (more modern;-)

Note: "ou" = approx. english "ue" (like in "clue")

Welcome aboard danload and keep coming back

Thanks a lot BillW!

Dagmaraka came out with a good direct translation of a Slovak idiom. Of course, I can't remember it now....

I remember hearing a review of a book on public radio in the early nineties that listed all the animal sounds in many languages from English to Korean. Wish I could remember the name of it.

Eh.... here is a list of cat sounds in different languages:
http://www.kisa.ca/pussy.html

And a list of cock sounds in different languages...
http://www.kisa.ca/cock.html

I'm sure it's bad form to join and ask a question immediately, but ...

PLEASE. How would one say 'gaining weight' in Italian? Is there an idiom that expresses NOT just the gaining fat, but includes gaining influence?


mille grazie.

I have this one, its a delightful little book, but I dont know if its the one you mean. Its a pocket-sized hard-cover book, beautifully designed, which has for each of a series of animal and other (clock, bell, gun, etc) sounds the spelling and phonetic spelling in 10 languages, ranging from German and French to Iranian, Chinese and Russian. Its out of print though, googling it up just now I found a post by someone who was desperate to get it - he'd even written the author herself, but even she didnt have any extra copies anymore ... There must be other books on the same idea, though.

Sounds of the World's Animals has 37 sounds of different animals in 36 languages (if I counted correctly)

Interesting that a duck goes "coin coin" in French. I wonder if those are euros or francs?

Welcome to a2k, sfgirl, and I don't know the answer to your question, but someone else may. I love idiomatic italian, but I am quite the beginner myself.

OK, I just looked 'weight' up in my new Larousse Concise Dictionary (I am always on a search in used book stores for my dear departed Mondadori (sp?) paperback, which had lots of idioms...) and found that to carry weight , figuratively, is 'avere peso'.

"to gain weight" in italian is "ingrassare"

Hej does any of you know where i can translate 2-3 sentances from Galician-that's a language of Galicia in Spain???????????????????

I need it as quick as posible!!!!!!!!!

Ok, I'm really glad I've found this forum. I'm from Poland and I am really interested in idioms (while I'm writing my MA thesis on idiomatic expressions in English). I can give you some of the Polish idioms. Here you go, I'm translating them literally.

- klamac jak z nut (to lie like from the notes) meaning to lie very successfully
- jak slon w skladzie porcelany (to be like an elephant in a china shop) - to be very clumsy (En. bull in a china shop)
- byc w siodmym niebie (to be in the seventh heaven) - to be very happy (En. be on cloud 9)
- raz na ruski rok (once in a Russian year) - very seldom (En. once in a blue moon)
- byc zakochanym po uszy (to be in love up to one's ears) - to be v. much in love (En. head over heels in love)
- bulka z maslem (a bun with butter) - sth v. easy, a piece of cake
- leje jak z cebra (it's raining like from a strainer) - it's raining heavily (raining cats and dogs)
- kupic kota w worku (to buy a cat in a bag) - to buy something useless
- upiec dwie pieczenie na jednym ogniu (to roast two roasts on one fire) - to kill two birds with one stone
- wyskoczyc jak Filip z konopii (to jump out like Phillip out of the hemp plant) - to say something stupid and in a hurry.
- robic z igly widly (to make a fork out of the needle) - to make a mountain out of the molehill
- owijac w bawelne (to roll in a cotton) - to beat around the bush, not to say sth directly

ok. that's enough I think. If anyone's interested you're welcome!