| Număr de pagini: < [1 2 3 4 5] | Off topic: It's all Greek/Dutch/Chinese to me - which one? Inițiatorul discuției: Veronica Lupascu
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Robert Rietvelt 
Local time: 09:07
Membru (2006)
din spaniolă în olandeză
+ ...
Sorry!
[Edited at 2022-06-15 22:15 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-06-15 22:16 GMT]
| | | | LIZ LI
China
Local time: 15:07
din franceză în chineză
+ ...
| Glad to know | Jun 16, 2022 |
Glad to know that Chinese has such a good or bad reputation in so many countries.
A bit off the topic,
Does it make someone capable of translating from or into Chinese-Greek/Dutch... super smart?
I'm glad to find this post which is really linguistically interesting.
So I keep replying and make it among the latest ones.
| | | | expressisverbis
Portugalia
Local time: 08:07
Membru (2015)
din engleză în portugheză
+ ...
| Don't worry about reputation | Jun 16, 2022 |
LIZ LI wrote:
Glad to know that Chinese has such a good or bad reputation in so many countries.
It has nothing to do with bad or good reputation, but it has to do with the fact that Chinese language is incomprehensible to certain languages that don't share the same origins.
In European Portuguese, for example, there are many idioms, sayings and proverbs that involve nationalities.
"para inglês ver" (literally "for English to see"), which means "that's just show-off";
"à grande e à francesa" ((literally "in a big and French style"), which means "with pomp and circumstance";
"um negócio da China/das Arábias" (literally "a Chinese/an Arabian business"), which means "a fine bargain", and many more.
I don't know if there is a topic that covers this subject, or if we could create a new one and keep adding expressions from around the world, just to not offend members who don't like to revive old posts.
By the way, there are several technical posts, for example, one that deals with subtitling, created in 2015 and, apparently, an excellent thread that is always very active. (Congrats to the member who has created it!)
This topic here "It's all Greek/Dutch/Chinese to me - which one?" is of cultural, linguistic and technical interest too, in my humble opinion... and makes part of a "lighter side of translation", which means that should be amusing for everyone.
[Edited at 2022-06-16 09:09 GMT]
| | | | | another interesting topic | Jun 16, 2022 |
It is indeed an interesting subject, and as for 'language/country-related' idioms, it's really an exciting example of language diversity and complexity. Also, what what I read, such expressions often are surprising/confusing for the natives of the respective languages, which raises a question of the origin. E.g. in Russian there are expressions (not very common, but they exist) like
- уйти по-английски ("leave like an Englishman", meaning "leave unannounced, quietly"). I gue... See more It is indeed an interesting subject, and as for 'language/country-related' idioms, it's really an exciting example of language diversity and complexity. Also, what what I read, such expressions often are surprising/confusing for the natives of the respective languages, which raises a question of the origin. E.g. in Russian there are expressions (not very common, but they exist) like
- уйти по-английски ("leave like an Englishman", meaning "leave unannounced, quietly"). I guess people from England would just raise their eyebrows over that. Or would they say 'take French leave'?
- в Греции все есть ("They have everything in Greece"), it's more like a joke about something, I have no idea why it's about Greece.
- шведский стол ('Swedish table', meaning 'buffet lunch').
There are others, I'm sure but can't recall right now. ▲ Collapse
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Tom in London
Regatul Unit
Local time: 08:07
Membru (2008)
din italiană în engleză
| Andare via all'inglese | Jun 16, 2022 |
In Italy it can take an hour or more between you telling everyone you have to leave, and then saying goodbye to everyone before actually leaving.
Leaving "the way the English do" - just sneaking off without saying goodbye to anyone - is considered the epitome of rudeness and is strenously denied by the authoritative Italian Treccani:
https://tinyurl.com/2ywxovcq
"To... See more In Italy it can take an hour or more between you telling everyone you have to leave, and then saying goodbye to everyone before actually leaving.
Leaving "the way the English do" - just sneaking off without saying goodbye to anyone - is considered the epitome of rudeness and is strenously denied by the authoritative Italian Treccani:
https://tinyurl.com/2ywxovcq
"To 'go away, the English way' is a phrase that reminds us how powerful ethnocentrism is as a prejudiced view and interpretation of reality. It is one of not a few expressions that demonstrates the intention to attribute to the Other, to the foreigner, disreputable habits, behaviours, actions, without any real basis. The fact of leaving without saying goodbye, furtively, in a hidden way, as a way of escaping from situations considered boring, unpleasant, or embarrassing, is certainly not characteristic of that national identity"
Actually it's perfectly true and when I came back from Italy to live in the UK I had to learn how to not be shocked by people doing it - until I learned to do it myself. You just sneak off without saying goodbye to anyone. "Going away the English way".
[Edited at 2022-06-16 15:12 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Filer à l'anglaise | Jun 16, 2022 |
Tom in London wrote:
Leaving "the way the English do" - just sneaking off without saying goodbye to anyone - is considered the epitome of rudeness and is strenously denied by the authoritative Italian Treccani:
The French have a similar expression with the same meaning: Filer à l'anglaise.
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The English saying ”to welsh on a deal” (go back on a promise) is pretty offensive around these parts.
“French letters” for condoms maybe less so.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia şi Herţegovina
Local time: 09:07
Membru (2009)
din engleză în croată
+ ...
| Re. uncomfortable | Jun 16, 2022 |
I don't think they sneak out because the situation is uncomfortable. What is uncomfortable is the act of saying goodbye: they will have to handshake, hug, kiss or small talk with somebody and wish them a nice day/evening or thank them for a nice time/event/dinner/whatever happened, heaven forbid. Yes, it's utterly rude and socially inept. However, I would not apply it to whole nations, I believe it's an individual thing.
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Tom in London
Regatul Unit
Local time: 08:07
Membru (2008)
din italiană în engleză
| Uncomfortable | Jun 16, 2022 |
Lingua 5B wrote:
I don't think they sneak out because the situation is uncomfortable.
Yes, the British quail at anything that might lead to emotion being expressed openly, to others, unguardedly and without reserve. As a Irish compatriot put it to me "they're waiting for a bus. But the bus isn't coming". As an Armenian friend put it to me " I think the English used to be normal, but something happened". As a Jamaican acquaintance put it "they're professional human beings".
I actually like, indeed love the English because in certain circumstances their traditional reserve and "holding back" can be extremely effective in dealing with difficult situations. They also have a wonderful way of handing intolerable situations with humour and wittiness, which is fantastic in the workplace. But in my dealings with them, which have often been of the most intimate kind, there's always something they keep for themselves.
This is all assuming that we can talk about the "national characteristics" of a people, which I think we can, albeit with the usual caveats.
[Edited at 2022-06-16 20:35 GMT]
| | | | expressisverbis
Portugalia
Local time: 08:07
Membru (2015)
din engleză în portugheză
+ ...
| Deleted my previous post with a few idioms | Jun 16, 2022 |
because I think it would be better to open a new topic about idioms related to countries/nationalities.
I'm sorry for not sticking to the topic.
[Edited at 2022-06-16 22:28 GMT]
| | | | LIZ LI
China
Local time: 15:07
din franceză în chineză
+ ...
| Didn't mean what I said... | Jun 17, 2022 |
expressisverbis wrote: LIZ LI wrote:
Glad to know that Chinese has such a good or bad reputation in so many countries.
It has nothing to do with bad or good reputation, but it has to do with the fact that Chinese language is incomprehensible to certain languages that don't share the same origins.
It's hard for a native speaker to fully understand why the language he or she is using everyday is not comprehensible to others,
UNTIL THAT DAY I changed my browser settings, just for fun, into Hebrew.....
then I realized the paaaaaaaaaanic in less than 1 sec.
I ended up unistall & reinstall the same browser to finally get it back.
Will definitly be with you in the new thread.
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