Terrific Translation Thread to Transliterate Transglobal Tongues

Chehrazad

Someone's Daughter
Location
Denmark
Pronouns
She/Her
I know a lot of languages! Danish, German, English, Esperanto, Latin and a few more languages too obscure to bother with; I have long went about this forum to correct people in the proper use of the Latin language, and I feel that it is time to make more use of that. So this thread is henceforth dedicated to translating things people want translated for their various creative endeavours under the following conditions:
  • Anyone can submit something for translation.
  • Translation will happen at the leisure of the translator under reasonable deadlines.
  • The thread is open for more than me to act as translators, in case they have a language to submit.
Submit away.
 
I studied Old Norse and Old English and can translate things to and from those language. Of course, these classes typically focussed on translating from these languages and not to them, so it might take me a while to ensure the translation is accurate.

That said, I've got a few phrases I'd like translated. In particular, I'm looking for a Finnish translation of:

"Have a grenade!" (said right before the speaker pulls the pin and throws it)
"Eat THIS!"
"Puny GOD."

And I'm looking a phrase that someone would say right before delivering a thorough beat-down...something like "I'm going to kick your ass so hard you'll be shitting boots for a week." The more vulgar, the better.

I've also got a phrase I'd like translated into German (I took about three years of German in university, but I'm not terribly confident in my ability to produce something that would sound natural to native speakers):

"'Upset'? You bet your ass I'm upset! I almost got shot back there, and now I'm lost in the woods with only companion being a crazy Finnish elf who thinks Gilbert and Sullivan is an appropriate response to the situation!"
 
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I've also got a phrase I'd like translated into German (I took about three years of German in university, but I'm not terribly confident in my ability to produce something that would sound natural to native speakers):

"'Upset'? You bet your ass I'm upset! I almost got shot back there, and now I'm lost in the woods with only companion being a crazy Finnish elf who thinks Gilbert and Sullivan is an appropriate response to the situation!"
Okay, so bear in mind that we have actual Germans on these forums and I am but a Dane, but I'll try:

Verärgert? Du kannst sein1 sicher, dass ich verägert bin! Ich war nahezu schoss draussen, und jetzt bin ich2 verirrt in den Wald! Meine einzige Gemeinschaft ist eine geisteskranke Elfe, die denkt dass Gilbert und Sullivan ist ein passend Respons zu der Situation!

1: I am unsure if "sein" is the proper form here.
2: Here, I am unsure if "ich" is supposed to go after, or before "ich". The most common combination is "ich bin", but German is a germanic language like Danish, where "bin ich" would be the norm in this case.
 
I can translate some Attic Greek and Cantonese, depending on how difficult the expression you want translated is. Translating into English is always easier for me than the other direction because it's my first language.
 
"Have a grenade!" (said right before the speaker pulls the pin and throws it)
"Eat THIS!"
"Puny GOD."

And I'm looking a phrase that someone would say right before delivering a thorough beat-down...something like "I'm going to kick your ass so hard you'll be shitting boots for a week." The more vulgar, the better

I never expected this thread would require Finnish of all things, and so quickly... I'm no professional translator, but I'll give it a shot.

"Have a grenade!" = There's a few ways to do this. ''Otappa kranaatti!'' conveys a bit of a fed-up or irreverent tone. Could be said in a snarky, frustrated, or patronizing way (depending on context). If that fits the personality and the situation, it's your best bet. ''Ota kranaatti!'' is neutral, sounds like you're just asking someone to take a grenade, though. I can think of other variations but they might change it too much from the original.

"Eat THIS!" = ''Maista TÄTÄ!'' - it means 'Taste this!' but that's the Finnish equivalent.

"Puny GOD." = ''Mitätön JUMALA'' would be puny in the sense of insignificant, powerless. ''Heikko JUMALA'' would be 'weak GOD'. Is the context here insulting a god-like being or dismissing God/a god or what?

As for a vulgar insult, oh god, uh... ''Kick (someone's) ass'' has a Finnish counterpart in ''vetää turpaan'', which refers to a mouth instead of an ass (or rather the word for a horse's mouth or face or whatever). As such, an option could be:

(in colloquial speech) ''Vedän sua niin kovaa turpiin että paskot hampaitas viikon'', which essentially means ''I'll beat your face so hard you'll be shitting teeth for a week.''

That uses some colloquial word forms, the formal version would be: ''Vedän sinua niin kovaa turpaan että paskot hampaitasi viikon'', either way. It's uh, vulgar, and sort of the closest I could get to the original. I feel like Finnish threats tend to be short and simple, so this is a bit tricky. I guess that's true for any language if we're talking realistic threats (anger, limited time, and/or drunkenness don't tend to result in very poetic threats). Anything more detailed tends to sound silly when put in the mouth of real people... but fortunately we're not stuck dealing with realism!

I'll try to get alternatives if you like. A fellow Finn suggested ''Saat selkääs niin lujaa että lahot laudat laulaa," which is a delightfully quaint-sounding and alliterative expression that would translate as ''You'll get such a hard beating even the rotten planks will sing''. It might be, uh, a little too quaint, though.
 
2: Here, I am unsure if "ich" is supposed to go after, or before "ich". The most common combination is "ich bin", but German is a germanic language like Danish, where "bin ich" would be the norm in this case.

Well, German is a V2 language, meaning that, in a sentence or clause, the finite verb must be the second element. So, with und introducing the independent clause, jetzt is the first element, thus the finite verb bin must occupy the second element. So bin ich would correct. But as a I said, it's been a while since I've studied the German language and I might be totally wrong here.

"Puny GOD." = ''Mitätön JUMALA'' would be puny in the sense of insignificant, powerless. ''Heikko JUMALA'' would be 'weak GOD'. Is the context here insulting a god-like being or dismissing God/a god or what?

In this particular context, the protagonist is standing over the dying body of someone possessed by Angra Mainyu, having defeated him with her magic singing voice (yes, it's that kind of story) and is simply delivering a contemptuous remark.
 
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In this particular context, the protagonist is standing over the dying body of someone possessed by Angra Mainyu, having defeated him with her magic singing voice (yes, it's that kind of story) and is simply delivering a contemptuous remark.

Right on. In that case, 'Mitätön jumala.' sounds like the best fit. 'Pahainen jumala' would also work - means 'puny, weak, wretched, unimportant'.
 
If someone needs help with Spanish, I am always open to providing assistance, if I am around.

Just in case anyone needs the help.
 
My mother tongue is Hebrew, so if anyone needs anything, do poke me. I can also do Biblical Hebrew reasonably well (it's not that different).
 
I can contribute, uh... German. Yeah that's about it.

"'Upset'? You bet your ass I'm upset! I almost got shot back there, and now I'm lost in the woods with only companion being a crazy Finnish elf who thinks Gilbert and Sullivan is an appropriate response to the situation!"

Trying for a rather colloquial rather than literal translation, to avoid stiltiness...

...uh ...is said elf male or female?

"Verärgert? Was denn sonst! Ich wurde da [draußen/drinnen]1​ beinahe erschossen, nun irre ich hier im Wald umher, und dann ist meine einzige Begleitung auch noch [ein geisteskranker finnischer Elf der / eine geisteskranke finnische Elfe die] 2​ mir in so einer Situation mit Gilbert und Sullivan kommt!"

1​ "out there" or "in there" depending on whether it happened inside or outside. Instead "dahinten" for "back there" could work, but it's probably not what is meant - you'd say that if you're, like, nodding to somewhere in the line of sight.
2​ Depending on whether said elf is male or female; the first option is for male, the second for female. Grammatical gender can in fact be annoying.

(Literally: Upset! What else? [German doesn't have 'you bet' as turn of phrase for 'empathetic yes'] I was shot out/in there, now I'm walking lost in the woods, and to top it off my only company is an insane Finnish Elf who brings up Gilbert and Sullivan in such a situation.)


Verärgert? Du kannst sein1 sicher, dass ich verägert bin! Ich war nahezu schoss draussen, und jetzt bin ich2 verirrt in den Wald! Meine einzige Gemeinschaft ist eine geisteskranke Elfe, die denkt dass Gilbert und Sullivan ist ein passend Respons zu der Situation!

"Verärgert? Du kannst dir sicher sein dass ich verärgert bin! Ich wurde da draußen nahezu erschossen, und jetzt bin ich verirrt im Wald! Meine einzige Gesellschaft ist eine geisteskranke Elfe, die denkt dass Gilbert und Sullivan eine passende Antwort zur Situation ist!"

Sein is correct, since it's "can be sure", but it would be "sicher sein" instead of the other way around, and "dir sicher sein" for a more common use. "Ich wurde [da] draußen nahezu erschossen" - "werden" instead of "sein" for passive constructions and the participle is always at the end of a sentence/sentence segment. "bin ich" is the correct word order, but location causes the dative, hence "im Wald". "Gesellschaft" instead of "Gemeinschaft"... that still sounds a bit stilted, but then, being all ironically sophisticated is a recognized shouting style :V . "eine passende Antwort zur Situation ist" - I don't know why German changes word order to SOV in dependent clauses, but it does. Also, stylistically maybe better "darstellt" instead of "ist". "Zu der" is not technically grammatically wrong, but will always be contracted to "zur".
 
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Hit me with up if you need help with Russian.

Also, @ManusDomine - the name of this thread is very obtuse, and it would be nice if you changed it to something easier for the eyes.
 
I can do Russian and Kazakh translation. Not sure what kind of a person would ever need a Kazakh translation, though. Also, don't even think about mentioning Borat or Sacha Baron Cohen, if you want me to do anything.
 
As a Filipino, I could do some English-Tagalog translation. :p

I can translate some Attic Greek and Cantonese, depending on how difficult the expression you want translated is.

Hm. How would you translate the following in both of those languages:

"Kill them all. Let these sons of Dangun know to fear the name of Alexandros!"
 
I'm a native German speaker and fluent in Swedish. In case anybody wants/needs a second opinion on those.

"'Upset'? You bet your ass I'm upset! I almost got shot back there, and now I'm lost in the woods with only companion being a crazy Finnish elf who thinks Gilbert and Sullivan is an appropriate response to the situation!"
This might be a little late to the party, and one could say something about too many cooks spoiling the broth, but I personally would translate "upset" with "wütend" or "irrititiert". They're both less exact translations, but "verärgert" is not used very often in spoken colloquial German.
Or at least to me it sounds a bit weird. The other ones fit better, I think. If you want to go a bit further, you could even use "sauer", meaning "sour", instead, which tends to get used quite a lot in colloquial German when expressing anger.
I would also personally use more contractions, like "'nem finnischen Elfen" instead of "einem finnischen Elfen", unless the character saying those words would be the type to speak very correct and enunciated German.
 
Hm, this is less asking for translation and more asking for identification.

So there was this deleted scene in Age of Ultron:

In it, Thor mutters something, which he later translates as "The thing I fear contains the thing I need". There is no transcript of it on the net as far as I can tell, so I'm just wondering if it's something said in an actual language (something Scandinavian maybe) or a conlang.
 
Hm, this is less asking for translation and more asking for identification.

So there was this deleted scene in Age of Ultron:

In it, Thor mutters something, which he later translates as "The thing I fear contains the thing I need". There is no transcript of it on the net as far as I can tell, so I'm just wondering if it's something said in an actual language (something Scandinavian maybe) or a conlang.

Definitely not modern Swedish, and the pronunciation sounds wrong for it to be modern Norwegian. Same for Danish as well, actually. I'd say it's either conlang or supposed to be derived from some older version of some Scandinavian language.

But I'm not a linguist.
 
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