Have you ever found yourself translating Czech idioms into the English language? I have; and once you do there is no way out. No matter how serious the topic is, once you throw in the “…you can kill two flies with one swap that way….” (an equivalent of “kill two birds with one stone”) or “...that’s totally a Spanish village for me….” (meaning “I have no clue on this one”) you are bound to get confused looks from your English-speaking listeners and the serious conversation is over because everyone starts to laugh. Anyhow, here is some more of these play-on-words thingies that I found or thought of. Feel free to add some!
CZ: Taky vzdycky udelate tu samou chybu a prelozite jeden z nasich ceskych idiomu do anglictiny? A taky dostanete zmatene pohledy? Ja jsem v tomto ohledu “nevylecitelna”. Jestlize vam repertoar jiz dochazi, tak tady si jich par muzete pripomenout…
- Take your legs on your shoulders = vezmi nohy na ramena (take to your heels)
- Like soaked hen = vypadas jako zmokla slepice (you look glum)
- Throw it behind your head = hod to za hlavu (forget about it)
- To have a milk on your chin = tece mu mliko po brade (to be still very young and naive)
- Don’t be a butter! = nebud maslo! (don’t be a wuss)
The word “ear” happens to be very popular in our culture. As the Radio Praha article points out it happens to be connected mostly with school matters…
- You have something behind your ears = mas neco za usima (someone who is savvy)
- Write it behind you ears = zapiste si to za usi! (remeber that!)
- With scraped years = s odrenyma usima (finish something by a whisker)
- To spread honey around someone’s lips = mazat mu med kolem huby (to butter someone up)
- Don’t spread it so much! = nemaz se s tim (don’t take so long!)
- To jsi byl jeste na houbach = you were still picking mushrooms (you weren’t born yet)
- It’s worth a fart = stoji to za prd (it’s worth nothing)
And I can add couple of my personal favorites
- “you missed the toilet” = jsi mimo misu (you are completely wrong)
- “you are in rice” = Jsi v ryzi ( you are in trouble)
- “That’s a Spanish village for me” = To je pro me spanelska vesnice ( I have no clue about this particular topic)
Source: http://www.radio.cz/en/article/104107
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Taky mam jeden oblibeny “prekladatelsky orisek” z filmu “Jachyme hod ho do stroje” – “Budeme tam co by dup”
No, to je taky dobry; co treba “me je to prd”. jak bys to prelozila? “it means a fart to me”???
Ahoj cloveci, koukam, ze to tady nepise s nabodenickama, ackoliv jsem prepnul na Czech qwerty. Inu, bez carek a hacku. Dobry napad s temi rcenimio (idiomy). Rad bych v pratelskem duchu podotkl nekolik malickosti. Mnoha ceska rceni maji odpovidajici anglicke idiomy a naopak. Tudiz: Je to pro mne spanelska vesnice se nepreklada jako “I don’t have a clue” alebrz “It’s all Greek to me”. I don’t have a clue by byl adekvatni preklad pro “nemam tuseni”.
To have a milk on your chin …greenhorn, young turkey.
S odrenyma usima – By the skin of your teeth.
Mzat med kolem huby = To sweet talk somebody into something.
You have something behind your ears = mas neco za usima …v anglictine bezne: That thing between his ears.
stoji to za prd – It’s not wort a doodle squat.
Jsi v rejzi = You are in a deep dodoo.
Je v tom az po usi : He’s in it up to his ass…slusneji…up to his yangyang.
“Budeme tam co by dup”…We’ll be there in no time.
Nebo (pri ceste do urciteho mista..New Yorku : We’ll be there before you can say New York.
“me je to prd” se v cestine moc nepouziva…spise: Prd mi na tom zalezi….I don’t give a damn. V soucasne dobe se casto pouziva vulgarni forma: I don’t give a shit. (Excuse my French, please).
Taky se da rici : It means a doodle squat to me.
Znalost idiomu je nepostradatelna pri prekladech, kdy je nutno zachovat styl reci, dialogu, slangu. Proto se prekladaji spise cele idiomy nez slova, ve vete pouzita..
Pokud jsem pripel svou trochou do vseobecneho mlejna, jsem rad. Pokud ne, “Heck with it!”, “I won’t lose any sleep over it!”
But don’t hold your breath, maybe I’ve contributed a bit afterall.
And if you like, just take my ranting with a grain of salt. You had it comin’, anyway!
Borek z Los Angeles, CA
Sorry, upadlo mi pismenko:
It’s not worth a doodle squat. (Nikoli wort….to je bradavice).
Nebo: Stoji to za prd : It’s not worth a damn.
Drobny, nevyznamny….two bit.
Drobny lumpik…small time crook…
V pohode …Hunky Dori.
Nevernice/nevernik….zahejba, podvadi partnera : Sleeps around.
Lehka zena, kazdemu da : She’s putting out.
Flirtovani, zejmena nemistne,ne zrovna nevinne chovani…hanky – panky..
Idiomu je spousta. Anglictina se jimi hemzi (jako ostatne skoro kazda rec).
A jeste mne napadl jeden…To jsi teda poradne zvoral : You screwed up, big time!
Koho neco napadne, pridejte se, je to docela zabavne tema.