You Dont Know How Good It Is Until Its Gone Idiom

What does it mean to "have tomatoes on your eyes?" Discover out beneath…

Information technology'southward a piece of cake. You can't put lipstick on a pig. Why add fuel to the burn? Idioms are those phrases that hateful more the sum of their words. As our TED Translator volunteers translate TED Talks into 116 languages (and counting), they're often challenged to translate English idioms into their language. Which made us wonder: what are their favorite idioms in their own tongue?

Below, we asked translators to share their favorite idioms and how they would interpret literally. The results are laugh-out-loud funny.

From German translator Johanna Pichler :

The idiom: Tomaten auf den Augen haben.
Literal translation: "You accept tomatoes on your eyes."
What it means: "You lot are not seeing what everyone else tin see. It refers to real objects, though — not abstruse meanings."

The idiom: Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof.
Literal translation: "I just sympathize the train station."
What information technology means: "I don't understand a matter about what that person is proverb.'"

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 start.
Other languages this idiom exists in: We hear from translators that this is an idiom in Swedish, Polish, Latvian and Norwegian. In English, the phrase is "buying a grunter in poke," only English speakers do too  "let the cat out of the bag," which means to reveal something that's supposed to be hush-hush.

From Swedish translator Matti Jääro :

The idiom: Det är ingen ko på isen
Literal translation: "In that location's no cow on the ice."
What it means: "There's no need to worry. We too utilise 'Det är ingen fara på taket,' or 'There's no danger on the roof,' to mean the same thing."

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 take to work to get where they are."

The idiom: Det föll mellan stolarna
Literal translation: "It fell betwixt chairs."
What it means: "Information technology'south an excuse yous use when two people were supposed to do information technology, but nobody did. It has evolved into the slightly ironic phrase, 'It fell between the chair,' which you apply when you lot want to say,'Yes, I know I was supposed to do it only I forgot.'"

From Thai translator Kelwalin Dhanasarnsombut :

The idiom: เอาหูไปนา เอาตาไปไร่
Literal translation: "Take ears to the field, take optics to the subcontract."
What information technology ways: "It means 'don't pay whatever attention.' Well-nigh like 'don't bring your eyes and ears with you.' If that were possible."

The idiom: ไก่เห็นตีนงู งูเห็นนมไก่
Literal translation: "The hen sees the snake's feet and the serpent sees the hen's boobs."
What it ways: "It ways two people know each other's secrets."

The idiom: ชาติหน้าตอนบ่าย ๆ
Literal translation: "One afternoon in your next reincarnation."
What it means: "Information technology's never gonna happen."
Other languages this idiom exists in: A phrase that ways a similar affair in English: "When pigs fly." In French, the aforementioned idea is conveyed by the phrase, "when hens accept teeth (quand les poules auront des dents)." In Russian, it'due south the intriguing phrase, "When a lobster whistles on pinnacle of a mountain (Когда рак на горе свистнет)." And in Dutch, information technology's "When the cows are dancing on the ice (Als de koeien op het ijs dansen)."

From Latvian translator Ilze Garda and Kristaps Kadiķis :

The idiom: Pūst pīlītes.
Literal translation: "To blow petty ducks."
What it means: "It means to talk nonsense or to lie."
Other linguistic communication connections: In Croatian, when someone is plain lying to someone, you say that they are "throwing foam into their optics (bacati kajmak u oči)."

The idiom: Ej bekot.
Literal translation: "'Go option mushrooms,' or, more than specifically, 'Go pick boletes!'"
What it means: "Get away and/or exit me lonely."

From French translator Patrick Brault :

The idiom: Avaler des couleuvres.
Literal translation: "To eat grass snakes."
What it means: "It means being so insulted that you're not able to reply."

The idiom: Sauter du coq à l'âne.
Literal translation: "To jump from the cock to the donkey."
What information technology means: "Information technology means to keep changing topics without logic in a chat."

The idiom: Se regarder en chiens de faïence.
Literal translation: "To look at each other similar earthenware dogs."
What it means: "Basically, to look at each other coldly, with distrust."

The idiom: Les carottes sont cuites!
Literal translation: "The carrots are cooked!"
What information technology means: "The situation can't be inverse."
Other language connections: It's bit like the phrase, "It'southward no utilise crying over spilt milk," in English.

From Russian translator Aliaksandr Autayeu :

The idiom: Галопом по Европам
Literal translation: "Galloping across Europe."
What it ways: "To do something hastily, haphazardly."

The idiom: На воре и шапка горит
Literal translation: "The thief has a burning hat."
What it means: "He has an uneasy conscience that betrays itself."

The idiom: Хоть кол на голове теши
Literal translation: "Y'all can sharpen with an ax on top of this caput."
What it means: "He's a very stubborn person."

The idiom: брать/взять себя в руки
Literal translation: "To take oneself in ane's hands."
What it ways: "Information technology ways 'to pull yourself together.'"
Other languages this idiom exists in: Translators tell us that in that location is a German language version of this idiom likewise: "Sich zusammenreißen," which translates literally as "to tear oneself together." And in Polish, the same idea is expressed by the phrase, "we take ourselves into our fist (wziąć się w garść)."

From Portuguese translators Gustavo Rocha and Leonardo Silva :

The idiom: Quem não se comunica se trumbica
Literal translation: "He who doesn't communicate, gets his fingers burnt."
What it ways: "He who doesn't communicate gets into trouble."'

The idiom: Quem não tem cão caça com gato
Literal translation: "He who doesn't have a dog hunts with a cat."
What it means: "Yous make the most of what you've got." Basically, you practise what you need to do, with what the resources you have.

The idiom: Empurrar com a barriga
Literal translation: "To push something with your belly."
What it means: "To keep postponing an important chore."

The idiom: Pagar o pato
Literal translation: "Pay the duck."
What it means: "To take the blame for something you lot did non practice."

From Smooth translator Kinga Skorupska :

The idiom: Słoń nastąpił ci na ucho?
Literal translation: "Did an elephant stomp on your ear?"
What it means: "You have no ear for music."
Other languages this idiom exists in : Our translators tell united states that in Croatian, in that location's also a connectedness made between elephants and musical power in the phrase, "You lot sing similar an elephant farted in your ear (Pjevaš kao da ti je slon prdnuo u uho.)." Only in the Latvian version, it's a bear who stomps on your ear.

The idiom: Bułka z masłem.
Literal translation: "It's a whorl with butter."
What it ways: "Information technology'southward really easy."

The idiom: Z choinki się urwałaś?
Literal translation: "Did you autumn from a Christmas tree?"
What it means: "You are not well informed, and information technology shows."

From Japanese translators Yasushi Aoki and Emi Kamiya :

The idiom: 猫をかぶる
Literal translation: "To wear a cat on one's caput."
What it means: "You're hiding your claws and pretending to be a nice, harmless person."

The idiom: 猫の手も借りたい
Literal translation: "Willing to infringe a cat's paws."*
What it means: "Yous're so busy that you're willing to have help from anyone."

The idiom: 猫の額
Literal translation: "True cat'southward forehead."
What it ways: "A tiny space. Often, you utilize it when y'all're speaking humbly virtually state that you own."

The idiom: 猫舌
Literal translation: "Cat tongue."
What it ways: "Needing to wait until hot food cools to eat it."

*Yes, Japanese has quite a few cat idioms.

From Kazakh translator Askhat Yerkimbay:

The idiom: Сенің арқаңда күн көріп жүрмін
Literal translation: "I come across the dominicus on your back."
What it means: "Give thanks y'all for existence y'all. I am alive because of your help."

From Croatian translator Ivan Stamenkovic :

The idiom: Doće maca na vratanca
Literal translation: "The pussy true cat will come to the tiny door."
What it means: "Substantially, 'What goes around comes effectually.'"

The idiom: Da vidimo čija majka crnu vunu prede
Literal translation: "We encounter whose mother is spinning black wool."
What it means: "Information technology's like being the black sheep in the family unit."

The idiom: Muda Labudova
Literal translation: "Balls of a swan."
What it means: "Information technology means something that'southward incommunicable."

The idiom: Mi o vuku
Literal translation: "To talk about the wolf."
What it means: "It's like to 'speak of the devil.'"
Other language connections: In Polish, "O wilku mowa" is the equivalent.

From Tamil translator Tharique Azeez :

The idiom: தலை முழுகுதல் (Thalai Muzhuguthal)
Literal translation: "To have a dip or pour water over someone's caput."
What it ways: "To cut off a human relationship."

The idiom: தண்ணீர் காட்டுதல் (Thanneer Kaattuthal)
Literal translation: "Showing water to someone."
What it means: "Information technology means to be someone's nemesis."

From Dutch translator Valerie Boor :

The idiom: Iets met de Franse slag doen
Literal translation: "Doing something with the French whiplash."
What it means: "This manifestly comes from riding terminology. It means doing something hastily."

The idiom: Iets voor een appel en een ei kopen
Literal translation: "Buying something for an apple and an egg."
What it means: "It means you lot bought it very cheaply."
Other language connections: Castilian translator Camille Martínez points out out that when something is expensive in English, you lot pay ii body parts for it ("it cost me an arm and a leg"), whereas in Spanish y'all only pay one — either a kidney ("me costó un riñón") or an eye ("me costó united nations ojo de la cara").

From Korean translator Jeong Kinser :

The idiom: 똥 묻은 개가 겨 묻은 개 나무란다
Literal translation: "A dog with feces scolds a domestic dog with husks of grain."
What information technology means: "It'due south a flake like, 'People who alive in drinking glass houses shouldn't throw stones.'"

The idiom: 오십보 백보
Literal translation: "50 steps are similar to 100 steps."
What it ways: "I think of it equally, 'Six of one, half a dozen of the other.'"

What are your favorite idioms? Share in the comments department.

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Source: https://blog.ted.com/40-idioms-that-cant-be-translated-literally/comment-page-2/

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