BBLTRANSLATION recommends an idiom a day to keep the doctor away

Article, BBL Translation

Language is a funny thing. It can be used to express an infinite amount of emotions and situations. Some of the most interesting facets of language are idioms. An idiom is a phrase or saying where the combination of words has a figurative meaning, and where the words together have a meaning that is different than the actual definitions of the individual words. However interesting, idioms can prove to be a challenge when learning any language. An English learner may get confused when you tell them that your new shoes cost you “an arm and a leg,” just as a Spanish learner may be confused when you call someone a chorizo (usually a type of sausage, but in this case a thief).

Although idioms sometimes prove to be tricky, every language has them, and once you “get the hang of them,” you will find that sometimes languages have idioms in common, or have their own idioms to fill in the gaps. For example, me suena a chino in Spanish, and c’est du chinois in French are the equivalents to “It’s all Greek to me” in English, but these languages compare the anomaly to Chinese rather than to Greek – what do you think the Chinese say? What’s more, the Spanish phrase al pan, pan y al vino, vino and its French counterpart, appeler un chat un chat are both used to denote the English phrase, “to call a spade a spade.”

In many languages, although the idioms may sound different, they actually carry over between languages. For instance, in English, one could say that a friend has a “heart of gold,” while in French, it would be said that your friend has a coeur d’or, translated quite literally. Although the French and English versions are the same, in Spanish, your friend would be un pedazo de pan, literally meaning “a piece of bread.”

While some of the languages have similar idioms, as you can see others simply use different pairings of words, but most of the time the phrase itself carries the same meaning. For example, in Spanish one would say, “Estás como un flan,” while in English one would say, “You’re shaking like a leaf.” Although the words in the different idioms give a different image, a wobbly dessert versus a leaf blowing in the wind, both mean the same thing to the speaker. Another example would be the phrase, “to be the black sheep” versus Être la brebis galeuse in French – which calls the sheep mangy instead of black. This is common with many idioms across different languages. Interestingly enough, the way the idioms are presented has a lot to do with the culture of the different countries. In Spain, many of their idioms and cultural expressions have to do with food – something that is obviously very important in the Spanish culture. For example, ser pan comido (to be easy as pie) or tener mala leche (used when someone has a bad attitude or temper).

However confusing idioms may be, they’re inevitable. Whether you speak English, French, Spanish, or even Chinese, we use them each and every day, which is sometimes what makes translation so tricky. There are an infinite amount of idioms in every language, just waiting to surprise you. Here at BBLTranslation, we believe that’s one of the most beautiful things about language – it never ceases to amaze.

 

 

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Important warning: we recommend that you carefully read the contents of this legal text prior to providing any personal data through the website of Bibielle Global Translations, SL, owner of and responsible for the correct application of the Privacy Policy.
In accordance with the regulations applicable to the protection of personal data, and the new provisions contained in the General Data Protection Regulation (hereinafter GDPR), directly applicable from 25 May 2018, Bibielle Global Translations, SL informs you of the following:
i. Contact details of the Data Controller: Bibielle Global Translations, SL (hereinafter BBL), with Tax Identification No. B65336885, registered office at Calle Cartagena 241, Barcelona, 08025 Spain, and contact e-mail legal@bbltranslation.eu.

ii. Purposes: Data collected through the contact e-mail address, or service quotation request form, will be incorporated into files owned by BBL with the purpose of handling, managing and responding to your request or contact. The data provided will not be used for purposes other than those for which it was collected.

iii. In addition, and on a voluntary basis, you may provide your consent (by ticking the corresponding box or registration) to us sending commercial communications, by any route and/or electronic means, and keeping you informed about the services which, being similar to the current ones, may interest you, and which BBL offers to its Clients and users under more advantageous conditions, and to carry out market or customer satisfaction surveys.

iv. Retention: The data will be retained for the time necessary to achieve the purposes for which it was collected, in order to respond to the subject of your request or contact, and while there continues to be a mutual interest. It will be deleted when it is no longer necessary for such purposes, the commercial or contractual relationship ends, unless its retention is required by law.

If you provide your consent to the sending of commercial communications, personal data will be processed actively while you have the status of User, or until you withdraw your consent.

v. Data communication: In no event will your data be transferred or communicated to a third party, unless required by law; nor will it be transferred internationally, except with the unequivocal consent of the data subject, and prior information about the possible recipients, purpose and, where appropriate, country of destination.

vi. Duty of secrecy: BBL complies strictly with the duty of secrecy and confidentiality of personal data, and for this reason has implemented technical, organisational and security measures to prevent its unauthorised alteration, loss, processing and/or access, taking account of the state of the art, the nature of the stored data and the risks to which they are exposed, all of this as established by Spanish and European legislation on the Protection of Personal Data.

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b. To complain to the Supervisory Authority: if a user considers that their data is not being used properly, and this matter is not addressed by BBL, they may submit a complaint to the relevant data protection authority, which in Spain is the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos.

viii. If you receive commercial communications by electronic means, in accordance with the Spanish Law of Information Society and Electronic Commerce Services (LSSICE), you may withdraw your consent, unsubscribe or modify your data using the same channel, through the e-mail address legal@bbltranslation.eu, which will be specified in each communication.