Funny loan translations!

Have you heard about loan translations or calques? Sometimes we transalte an expression existing in our mother tongue (=język ojczysty) into a foreign language literally (=dosłownie), hoping that the phrase will work...Idiomatic expressions, yet, are very often unique features (=wyjątkowe cechy) of a language. Our loan translations will not be understood by a native speaker and may raise a broad smile (=wywołać szeroki uśmiech) on their face :)

Here are a few examples of calques made by Polish learners of English:

paradise feet....- rajstopy ;)

thank you from the mountain - dzięki z góry

behind-eyes student - student zaoczny

don't make a village - 'nie rób wioski' ;)

room with you - pokój z tobą

brain tyres fire - zapalenie opon mózgowych

a dumb blonde - ciemna blondynka

don't turn back my guitar - nie zawracaj mi gitary

I'll animal to you - zwierzę ci się

go out on people - wyjść na ludzi

it's after birds - już po ptakach

heritage of prices - spadek cen

rail on you! - kolej na ciebie!

an undertowel - podręcznik

don't boat yourself - nie łódź się

he divided their lottery ticket - podzielił ich los

a fugitive of circumstances - zbieg okoliczności

I went out begind husband - wyszłam za mąż

without a little garden - bez ogródek

without pictures - bez obrazy

immediate castle - zamek błyskawiczny

these aren't cannons - to nie działa

to break down the first ice-creams - przełamywać pierwsze lody

to take one's legs behind the belt - brać nogi za pas

Have you ever made a funny
language gaffe?

As an English teacher in France and France inhabitant, I have heard a lot of funny French-English-Polish calques, too, for instance:

that's the first time- c'est le premiere temps 

weźmiesz autobus... - tu vas prendre un bus...

we are arrived! - nous sommes arrives!

how does it go? - comment ca va? 

it's raining like a cow which is pissing - il pleut comme vache qui pisse (informal!)

that's too good! - c'est trop bien!

I'm giving you a renezvous at 5! - je vous donne rendez-vous a 5 heures!

How to avoid (=unikać) using incorrect expressions? Check! You can look up (=sprawdzić) your mother-tongue idiom in an idiom dictionary. It is also good to check collocations (verify what adjectives, nouns, verbs our word goes with). 

Can you think of any other loan translations? Let me know in the comments part!

Vocabulary

mother tongue - język ojczysty

loan translation, calque - kalka językowa

(positive/negative) language transfer - (pozytywny/negatywny) transfer językowy (wpływ jednego języka na drugi podczas wypowiedzi)

literally - dosłownie

idiom - idiom

idiomatic expression - wyrażenie idiomatyczne

collocation - kolokacja 

translate - tłumaczyć

translation - tłumaczenie

translator - tłumacz (języka pisanego)

interpreter - tłumacz (żywego słowa)

 simultaneous translator - tłumacz symultaniczny

to speak through an interpreter - rozmawiać przez tłumacza 

Source of the photos : pixabay.com, publicdomainpictures.net

All the '-olisms' of the world

Many people suffer from addiction...The most well-known and dangerous forms of dependency are : 

alcoholism /ˈælkəhɒlɪzəm/ 

drug addiction 

gambling 

Gambling may drive you into bankruptcy

Many new terms related to behavioural addiction have recently been created. Such phenomena as compulsive buying, and workaholism have been identified. 

Here is a list of the most popular forms of addiction:

shopaholism (compulsive shopping, oniomania)

shopaholic -a person who suffers from shopaholism

Shopaholism - new purchases bring short-term euphoria

workaholism (work addiction)

workaholic - a person who suffers from work addiction

overeating (=objadanie się)

exercise abuse

sugar addiction

caffeine addiction

chocoholism (=addiction to chocolate)

addiction to painkillers (=uzależnienie od środków przeciwbólowych)

tanorexia (tanning addicition)

Tanorexia causes permanent damage to your skin

bigorexia (muscle dysmorphia)

Bigorexia is an obsession with well-developed muscles

orthorexia (=obsession with healthy food)

Orthorexia is quite a new phenomenon

sex addiction

computer addiction

Internet addiction disorder (Internet overuse)

Many teenagers may develop Internet addiction

mobile phone addiction 

television addiction

How to check whether your compulsive behaviour has already turned into an addiction? 

Here are some alarm signals:

1. Getting the object of desire satisfies your needs for a short period of time. Feelings of euphoria, joy, calmness pass away very quickly, giving way to anxiety and sadness.

2. Your life revolves around your dependency...Your addiction comes to the fore, pushing your family, work, health and financial situation into the background.

3. You are able to spend your last penny on the thing you adore (video game, magazine, cosmetic products).

4. You keep thinking about the activity/thing you like; it becomes an obsession.

Glossary:

addiction/dependency - uzależnienie

to be addicted to sth - być uzależnionym od czegoś

an addict - uzależniony; narkoman 

abuse - nadużywanie, e.g. alcohol abuse

compulsive - nałogowy 

to suffer from sth - cierpieć na coś

phenomenon (pl. phenomena) - zjawisko

term - termin

behavioural - behavioralny; związany z zachowaniem

an object of desire - przedmiot pożądania

to pass away - mijać

to give way to sth - ustępować miejsca czemuś

anxiety - niepokój

to revolve around sth - toczyć się wokół czegoś

to come to the fore - wysunąć się na pierwszy plan

Can you think of any other forms of addiction?

Pępek świata!

I don't remember how I have hit on this idea (=wpadłam na pomysł) for a post... 

Do you know how we say 'pępek' (French : nombril) in English? In formal English it is called 

'a navel'...The colloquial words are : 'belly button' and 'tummy button'.

navel - the small hollow part (=wgłębienie) or lump (=wybrzuszenie) in the stomach where the umbilical cord (=pępowina) was cut at birth (=podczas narodzin).

A belly button with a piercing

The navel, also known in medical English as the umbilicus, is, in fact, a scar (=blizna) on the abdomen. 

Although navels vary in terms of (=różnią się pod względem) size, shape, depth and length, there are two principal kinds of belly buttons 

- an innie navel (the navel scar appears as a depression = wglębienie) and an outie navel (the scar is a protrusion = wypukłość) :

innie navel

outie navel

What's interesting around 90% of humans have innies. 

Here are some expressions and idioms connected with belly buttons :

Your belly button is bigger than your stomach! (American English) 

= you take on too many responsibilities; bierzesz na siebie za dużo obowiązków

Your belly button isn't even dry yet!

= you are too young to do something; jesteś za młody by coś robić; masz mleko pod nosem

pępek świata (miasto, kraj) - the hub of the universe

uważa się za pępek świata - he thinks that the whole world revolves around him

widzieć tylko własny pępek - to contemplate one's navel

Can you think of any other expressions related to navels?

The photos come from : http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=7395&picture=belly-dancers-body, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Human_navel,_female.jpg; Creative Commons; Stinkie Pinkie, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Female_Outie_2.jpg; Creative Commons; Kyriaki

The signs of the zodiac

As you may have noticed, there is a new device on my blog thanks to which you can check your daily horoscope. Even if you don't actually believe in horoscopes, reading such descriptions every day is a good method to enlarge your vocabulary (=poszerzyć słownictwo). Below you can check the names of the signs of the zodiac in English.

The first names are Latin names, the second ones are English translations and third come the Polish equivalents :

 Aries /ˈeəriːz/; The Ram - Baran

Taurus /ˈtɔːrəs/; The Bull - Byk

 Gemini /ˈdʒemɪnaɪ/; The Twins - Bliźnięta

 Cancer /ˈkænsə(r)/; The Crab - Rak

 Leo /ˈliːəʊ/; The Lion - Lew

 Virgo /ˈvɜːɡəʊ/; The Maiden - Panna

 Libra /ˈliːbrə/; The Scales - Waga

 Scorpio /ˈskɔːpiəʊ/; The Scorpion - Skorpion

 Sagittarius /ˌsædʒɪˈteəriəs/; The Archer - Strzelec

Capricorn / ˈkæprɪkɔːn/; The Goat - Koziorożec

 Aquarius /əˈkweəriəs/; The Water-Bearer - Wodnik

 Pisces /ˈpaɪsiːz/; The Fish - Ryby

Do you read horoscopes? Do you believe that one's character may be determined by their zodiac sign? 

Source of the images : the Internet