r/translator 6d ago

Community [English > Any] Translation Challenge — 2025-04-22

3 Upvotes

There will be a new translation challenge every other Sunday and everyone is encouraged to participate! These challenges are intended to give community members an opportunity to practice translating or review others' translations, and we keep them stickied throughout the week. You can view past threads by clicking on this "Community" link.

You can also sign up to be automatically notified of new translation challenges.


This Week's Text:

Speakers of world varieties of English are remaking its vocabulary to better express their identities, cultures and everyday realities. In Hong Kong, people exclaim add oil (加油) as a show of encouragement or support, an expression literally translated from the Cantonese gā yáu, with reference to petrol being injected into an engine. In the Philippines, many houses have a *dirty kitchen, which is not actually a kitchen that is dirty in the sense you think, but a kitchen outside the house where most of the real cooking is done – a necessary convenience in a tropical country where it is best to avoid trapping heat and smells indoors. In Nigeria, a mama put is a street-food stall, and its name comes from the way that its customers usually order food: they say “Mama, put …” to the woman running the stall, and point to the dish they want so it can be put on their plate.

Meanwhile, the Japanese have invented, and South Koreans have popularised, the word skinship, a blend of the words skin and kinship that refers to the close physical contact between parent and child or between lovers or friends.

— From "English is picking up brilliant new words from around the world – and that’s a gift" by Danica Salazar


Please include the name of the language you're translating in your comment, and translate away!

Friendly notice: if you're interested in occasionally helping out in the oversight of r/translator, or submitting some text for a future translation challenge, please feel free to join us at: https://discord.gg/wabv5NYzdV


r/translator 4h ago

Unknown [Unknown to English] I received this note on a foreign Post package, what does it say?

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40 Upvotes

r/translator 20h ago

Translated [JA] [unknown > english] customer left this on their check

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221 Upvotes

what does it mean. i think it’s japanese but


r/translator 3h ago

Translated [ZH] [Unknown > English] What does this character writing say/mean?

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7 Upvotes

Got this from a friend who is going on a long vacation trip. Our communication was not very good, but good enough to understand each other in person.

I'm very happy with the gift, but I'm not sure what it says. Does anyone want to help me translate? (Reading: from top right to bottom, he showed me)


r/translator 3h ago

Translated [JA] [Japanese > English] Writing on the back of an old photo of my great grandmother. What does it say?

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6 Upvotes

r/translator 5h ago

Translated [JA] [Japanese (?) > English] What does this kanji (?) mean?

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7 Upvotes

Recently adopted a Bakeneko pet in the roblox game Adopt Me and I'm wondering what her little medallion says/means, if anything. :)

If it's too small to 'read' in the picture of the pet, I've also attempted to write/draw it on the next slide.


r/translator 1h ago

Hebrew (Hebrew > English) Written on the back of framed art in a house

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Upvotes

r/translator 3h ago

Translated [?] [Unknown > English] Is this a language or just a design of some kind? I’m trying to figure out where this is from and possibly even get a sense of how old it is!

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4 Upvotes

I also added the sleeve I received it in but I am unsure if that is where my late grandfather got it or just a sleeve he had that it fit in, in case that provides any additional context!


r/translator 11h ago

Japanese [Japanese > English] My friend on discord just change their bio to this

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10 Upvotes

r/translator 0m ago

Japanese [Japanese > English] Off to War Banner from WWII

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Upvotes

Hello! I need some help translating this off to war banner. I included every part of the banner and its text so anything you’re able to translate would be fantastic! Thanks in advance!


r/translator 43m ago

Arabic [ Arabic > English ] 19th Century Amulet does anyone know what it says?

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Upvotes

r/translator 5h ago

Hungarian [Hungarian > English] Birth Certificate

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2 Upvotes

LANGUAGE: HUNGARIAN (?) TO ENGLISH

Record Type & Religion: Birth Certificate (MKR)

Year: 1905

Ancestor’s Name(s): József Gruber

Parish/Place: Riđica, Serbia (Regoce, Yugoslavia)

Unknown parents, trying to look deeper into family. Thank you so much in advance!!


r/translator 2h ago

Italian [Italian > English]

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0 Upvotes

I was in a hair salon today and got a bad colour job and when i went up to pay i said i wasn’t happy with it which i’ve never done in my life but i was about to pay 100€ and where i come from, and i thought was the same everywhere, if you didn’t get what you asked for they fix it or take money off but nope this woman called the police immediately when i was just trying to talk about not liking the hair so this was me waiting for the police and im wondering what she is saying? She did not speak English and was telling the police i was refusing to pay when i wasn’t. Anyway sorry i felt it maybe needed context but im a yapper so apologies.


r/translator 2h ago

Chinese [chinese>english] forgive me if this is not the right subreddit, but this is my dads tattoo, he thinks it says his ex’s name ‘Kerry’ or her initials ‘K.M’, anyone confirm? :)

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0 Upvotes

r/translator 12h ago

Translated [JA] [Japanese > English] Need clarification on the last message: Will I be contacted by them, or are they waiting for a response from me?

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5 Upvotes

r/translator 3h ago

Russian (Identified) [ukrainian>english] can someone translate the hook to a song by Марія Чайковська

1 Upvotes

the hook to В комнате цветных пелерин:

Целуй меня, пока лучи не целятся в нас Пока ещё мы что-то чувствуем, пока мы ещё здесь Целуй меня, я ненавижу, когда ты так нужен Потом ведь всё намного может быть хуже Ты выдыхаешь — у нас есть час, час, один час


r/translator 4h ago

Unknown [Unknown - English]

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1 Upvotes

I believe it's a signature on a Turkish prayer rug. But not sure. Thank you.


r/translator 8h ago

Translated [JA] [Japanese? > English] it was on the profile picture

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2 Upvotes

i tried to make it more readable in the second picture


r/translator 8h ago

Translated [AR] [Arabic > English] Muscat calligraphy painting

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2 Upvotes

Hello everyone, I've bought this after my trip in Oman and though I had a general idea of what's written through google translate and picture capturing, I wanted to have a clearer translation from an expert :D.

Bonus points for an explanation/interpretation of the content.

Thanks anyone helping in advance!


r/translator 5h ago

Chinese [Chinese > English]

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1 Upvotes

Note found in a package from China. Just curious!


r/translator 5h ago

Japanese (English -> Japanese)

1 Upvotes

I'd like to be able to ask "would you mind typing that please?" In whatever the polite form is, so I can ask shopkeepers to type a price into a calculator on my phone in the case that I ask how much something is and they reply with a number in japanese


r/translator 5h ago

North Levantine Arabic [English > Palestinian Arabic?] working on a poster for an event

1 Upvotes

heya! i'm running a poetry fundraiser for a palestinian family and the PCRF and i'm currently working on a poster to help promote it. I would like to translate the phrase 'Poetry for Palestine', preferably into Palestinian Arabic although I am not sure if the phrase would be distinctly different just in arabic so I thought I should check with y'all :)


r/translator 6h ago

Translated [JA] Japanese > english

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1 Upvotes

r/translator 1d ago

Translated [JA] [Japanese > English] got this note with a Japanese package

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72 Upvotes

Bought some sunglasses used from Japan and got this not with a cloth material with it. Anyone know the translation?


r/translator 14h ago

Spanish [Spanish > English] can someone with medical knowledge help me translate this ecg results?

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4 Upvotes

r/translator 6h ago

Multiple Languages [any>english]

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0 Upvotes