40 brilliant idioms that simply can’t be translated literally | TED Blog - http://blog.ted.com/2015...
Feb 10, 2015
from
Iván Abrego,
LilaLaMarea,
Sepi ⌘ سپی,
Maryam,
Halil,
Ken Morley,
bentley,
Nicola D'Agostino,
S.,
MisterQ,
l'aria svitolina,
miki,
Eivind,
Amira,
Greg GuitarBuster,
Sean McBride,
Anika,
Matte,
reloj,
and
Haukr
liked this
"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?"
- Maitani
"Below, we asked translators to share their favorite idioms and how they would translate literally. The results are laugh-out-loud funny."
- Maitani
Does "Die Katze im Sack kaufen" also imply that you've been tricked and didn't get what you thought you bought (which is the Norwegian meaning), or is it just any "blind" purchase?
- Eivind
In italian we say "saltare di palo in frasca", similar to the french "Sauter du coq à l’âne" (from pole to leaf), we also have "costare un occhio nella testa" exactly as in spanish “me costó un ojo de la cara” and of course many others. The one I like the most is "sono andato nel pallone", literally "I went into the ball" or "into the big ball". It's up to you to guess the meaning. :-)
- miki