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In one of the many games on these forums, the phrase "Eggs sunny side up" came up. I realized then that a literal translation into the Latin languages that I know, made no sense.
In Spanish it would be: "Huevos con la parte soleada hacia arriba". But that's not how it is said. Actually, in other languages, eggs are not related to the sun. It would just be " Huevos fritos(fried eggs)."
The same goes for the famous site "YouTube" (in Spanish: Tú Tubo???). Its taken me a hard time trying interpreting it.
Does it also happen to English speakers in relation to other languages?
One of the things that struck me when I took German was that you didn't just have to translate the words, but the mean of the sentence. Often a literal translation word by word didn't make sense, so you had, or at least my pea brain had to, first complete out the whole sentence, then translate the words, then rearrange them to make sense. Some folks in my class could just flip between them like magic but I struggled with it. Take a word like Sie or sie. She or they or maybe something else depending on the order of the other words in the sentence. Or I could be wrong since I don't remember it well.
Interesting what you say. I don't know the German language. I have hardly any knowledge of Latin languages, I try to write in English as best as possible, and I only dare to say that I know Spanish well.
You're right, in every language what matters is the content rather than a literal translation. However, in something as trivial and simple as the preparation of an egg, one does not expect to have complications of this type, right?
OP, the things that you describe exist in Spanish. In one way or another, they exist in every language. They are just descriptive names languages have evolved for certain things, not complications. It's just that when they are in your native language, you don't notice them. When you learn another language, you just have to learn them, maybe laugh sometimes, and appreciate them. And as for things like "YouTube," actually the intent of the name essentially is "Tú Tubo," but company names shouldn't be translated. Companies with Spanish names keep those names when referred to in English.
You,re talking about the difference between idiomatic vs colloquial translation . An idiomatic expression may not make sense when translated word for word. ,Cf- How do you do? Into Italian would be Come fai? (How make you?) Whereas an Italian would ask Come stai?-- How do you stand?...Neither makes sense translated literally.
...and there,s expressions like Sunny Side Up commonly used in one language or culture but not in others. Cf- Italian "tramonte" for "dusk "…implying the sun is seen between the mountain peaks, of Franch " entre chien et luop"-- implying that at dusk the light is so poor you can,t tell a wolf from a dog. Poetic, but you need to learn the expression. It doesn,t come naturally.
...and the dif between Sie & du in German or Lei & tu in Italian, etc also seen in older English- Thou & you. The formal "you" (2nd person) is derived from the third person form. The translation is implied by the setting.
...and the dif between Sie & du in German or Lei & tu in Italian, etc also seen in older English- Thou & you. The formal "you" (2nd person) is derived from the third person form. The translation is implied by the setting.
Yes, English has that facility. There is no formal vs informal treatment. Something that I imagine complicates Latin language learners quite a bit. Although to compensate for it has words like these: "Right-write-rite". All the same, different spelling and meaning.
Yes, you're right with this point. I admit that "todo el mundo"has no sence in other languages and it's a so very used phrase throughout every Spanish country .
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