Richard-Business Eng
Enseignant professionnel
Idioms translated from German, Swedish, Latvian and French
Everybody loves idioms.
But some idioms, in some languages, are quite unusual and funny.

Here are a few idioms, translated from other languages into English.

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German

The idiom: Tomaten auf den Augen haben.
Literal translation: “You have tomatoes on your eyes.”
What it means: “You are not seeing what everyone else can see.
It refers to real objects, though — not abstract meanings.”


The idiom: Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof.
Literal translation: “I only understand the train station.”
What it means: “I don’t understand a thing about what that person is saying.’”


The idiom: Die Katze im Sack kaufen.
Literal translation: “To buy a cat in a sack.”
What it means: That a buyer purchased something without inspecting it first.

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Swedish

The idiom: Att glida in på en räkmacka
Literal translation: “To slide in on a shrimp sandwich.”
What it means: “It refers to somebody who didn’t have to work to get where they are.”


The idiom: Det föll mellan stolarna
Literal translation: “It fell between chairs.”
What it means: “It’s an excuse you use when two people were supposed to do it, but nobody did.
It has evolved into the slightly ironic phrase, ‘It fell between the chair,’ which you use when
you want to say,‘Yeah, I know I was supposed to do it but I forgot.’”

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Latvian

The idiom: Ej bekot.
Literal translation: "Go pick mushrooms,"
What it means: “Go away and/or leave me alone.”

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French

The idiom: Sauter du coq à l’âne.
Literal translation: “To jump from the cock to the donkey.”
What it means: “It means to keep changing topics without logic in a conversation.” 


The idiom: Les carottes sont cuites!
Literal translation: “The carrots are cooked!”
What it means: “The situation can’t be changed.”
It’s bit like the English idiom, “It’s no use crying over spilt milk”.

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If anyone speaks any of these languages, you are welcome to read and record the idioms in your native language and post the recording here so we can hear what your native language sounds like.

To record your pronunciation of any of these non-English idioms,

1 go to: <a href="https://vocaroo.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 204);">https://vocaroo.com/</a>
2 copy the link and paste it in your comments.

19 avr. 2020 15:15
Commentaires · 2
1
I don't speak Swedish but a friend of mine from Belarus (it's part of the reason why it was so funny but it's hard to explain — let's just say that Belarusians are said to have a complicated relationship with potatoes) once told me that in Swedish you can say "you've planted your final potato!" = "du har satt din sista potatis!" (???) and you can use it when arguing with someone because it means "that's it, I'm fed up with you, I can't tolerate your behaviour any more". I don't know if it's a real expression and if people really use it but I thought it was amusing anyway.
19 avril 2020
1
I do always like idioms, especially when they're historical and don't make much sense anymore. English has "to buy a pig in a poke", which I think is equivalent to the German idiom you mentioned about cats in sacks.

For the other idiom, I'm thinking it might translate better as just "train station", and not "the train station". It's funnier to me that way in any case.
19 avril 2020
Richard-Business Eng
Compétences linguistiques
Chinois (mandarin), Anglais, Français
Langue étudiée
Chinois (mandarin)
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