 Poster: A snowHead
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Am just translating a new ski school's websites into English (you know the bit where you click the Union Jack and it all changes) and half the time I’m not really translating word for word as it’s simply not possible.
Many words in one language can’t be translated into another.
I’ll give you two examples:
There is no word in Italian for Fluffy (but they all know what it is).
I have had the instructors from 3 different schools (plus families and friends) arguing about this for days and its true. Mind you we all know what Fluffy is but it’s quite difficult even in English to describe it without A] using a “lot” of words or the word itself.
There is no English word for Piropo (but we all know what it is).
This “used” to be a complement given in a poetic style by a dashing gentleman to a lady (forsooth thou art reet dead cute), but now it’s more considered to be like a builder shouting “Ya’ll right daaarlin”.
Anyone got any more ??
(Clean ones please  )
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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According to the French, "weekend".
Le weekend indeed... 
Mrs M.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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In France the 'weekend' is just the two lazy, drunken work-free days that follow the other 5 lazy, drunken work-free days.
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Schadenfreude and de já vu.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Richard_Sideways wrote: |
| Schadenfreude and de já vu. |
gloat?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Gemuetlichkeit.............the feeling of all round well being and happiness........ alive and well in Austria, we partially had it in UK for 2 weeks when the Olympics was on, now sadly departed
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fiat cuntagetinta?
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dreich ... ciao ... prego
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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= you're welcome
= Hi or Bye (depending on context)
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Apparently foreigners have trouble with "wilderness". That and the rest of the language, the heathen.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Most words spoken in Glaswegian. 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| andersont wrote: |
| Apparently foreigners have trouble with "wilderness". That and the rest of the language, the heathen. |
Well it is "vildmark" in Swedish. So they wouldn't have any trouble.
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Picnic. Probably a British pastime, hence no other language variants. Who else but Brits would want to eat squashed butties and chase away flying insects from their food but the Brits? 
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You know it makes sense.
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queen bodecia, Hmm I went on a "picnic" with a french family near Bourges a few years ago. It consisted of a whole salmon, numerous bottles of wine, bread, cheese, etc!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Colin B, surely that was a pique-nique?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Apparently 'sh*thead.' Though I appear to have sparked a bit of a trend in Innsbruck with 'sheissenkopf' regardless...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Schadenfreude
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I am surprised no-one has said "ski" and "slalåm" 
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Laicite (with accents that I don't seem to work out on this keyboard). Something we could learn a lot from.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Wayne wrote: |
= you're welcome |
Possibly my favourite word in the world - it just sounds so beautiful, and it feels nice in the mouth as you say it (well, that's what she said)... If I recall my Italian correctly, it has a great many uses (e.g. a waiter's "may I help you", though mostly boiling down to variants of the "you're welcome" theme). I like it so much I actively seek out situations when I can employ it whilst in Italy.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| nordicfan wrote: |
| I am surprised no-one has said "ski" |
I'm not as ski = sci where I work anyway; it's pronounced (almost) like "she".
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Selah, zanshin?
Going back the other way, I guess you'd have to look for weird sporting jargon to maximise inconvenience. Googly, anyone?
In a more on-topic theme, I note that there's a fair bit of arguing about the actual meaning of "slarve", so it wouldn't appear to have been translated into English yet, let alone any other language. Maybe portmanteau words are cheating, though.
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'Nesh'
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Gemütlichkeit = Cosy
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flangesax, too simplistic a translation.
It really cannot be translated as it encompasses so many different things to do with not only the place, but also the atmosphere and the people concerned. Cosy is just too twee and lazy a translation! 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Samerberg Sue, nope... it means cosy.
Those are the things that make something or somewhere cosy.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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"Normalement" (French). Not to be translated as "normally".
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pam w,
I'd translate that with "clearly' or "shurely"
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
I'd translate that with "clearly' or "shurely"
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Nope. I have learnt the hard way that if someone says, for example that "normalement" the new piste will be opening in December 2011 it means "well, it was kind of planned to be opening in December 2011 but all kinds of contingencies could mean that actually it won't, so don't hold us to it".
It most definitely doesn't mean surely. Maybe "hopefully", but even that doesn't catch the full nuance of the French "normalement".
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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pam w yeah, sure, "definitely maybe" is an apt translation in many circumstances I think. When I worked with some Saudis, their use of "Insha'Allah" seemed pretty similar, although that is not the original intended use of the phrase.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| sugardaddy wrote: |
pam w,
I'd translate that with "clearly' or "shurely" |
It's a very very slippery word, and causes endless confusion when French people speaking in English actually say 'normally'.
"Normally the house we're looking for is round this corner."
Uh huh. And the rest of the time?
So yeah, it means something like 'probably', 'hopefully' or 'I expect'.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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What's the translation of that thing the French do where they simply blow a raspberry in your face? I think it means something like "I have no control over the thing we're discussing, and that's that, stop wasting my time as I have an amphibian to consume as a matter of urgency. Also piss off."
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Bof
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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nini - a swahili term for anything you can remember the name of
The closest I can get is thingimibob or whatchimecalitit, but nini has a much better ring to it.
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ah, once you get into Swahili (of which I know hardly anything) you also have the very useful "hot moto" and "hot kali" to distinguish between something which is hot because it's just come out of the oven and something hot because it has a lot of chili in. And a "nini" is a "truc"in French - I use that a lot in French DIY supermarkets "Je cherche un truc pour.......". In Italian you have aggeggio (contraption, gadget), a word I learnt courtesy of 'Arry Potter and which is particularly good used in a negative sense in a bad temper, preferably whilst stamping the feet and waving the arms about (stupid bloody contraption....).
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there is no French expression for 'now lads- dig in this time we will prevent Paris from falling into enemy hands'
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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surprised nobody's mentioned 'faff' - gold medal sport for all too many
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| Quote: |
there is no French expression for 'now lads- dig in this time we will prevent Paris from falling into enemy hands'
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to which the answer is..... "Bof!"
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FAQ
