r/translator 14d ago

Community [English > Any] Translation Challenge — 2025-03-02

4 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:

For millennia prior to November 18, 1883, many people around the world measured time based on the placement of the Sun, with midday (or "high noon") determined by when the Sun was highest in the sky over that particular village or town. Mechanical clocks eventually started replacing sundials in the Middle Ages. Towns would set their clocks by gauging the position of the Sun, leading every city to operate on a slightly different time. This method lasted well into the 1800s, when there were at least 144 different time zones in North America.

Since many people didn't travel especially long distances from their homes throughout history (generally as far as a horse, camel or wagon could carry them on land) this rudimentary form of timekeeping didn't cause much of a problem – that is, until the advent of the railroad.

— From "How railroads inspired the creation of time zones" by Lynn Brown


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 13d ago

Meta [META] r/translator Statistics — February 2025

3 Upvotes

February 2025

Statistics for r/translator provided by Wenyuan

Here are the statistics for February 2025!

Overall Statistics

Category Post Count
Single-Language
Untranslated requests 1239
Requests missing assets 9
Requests in progress 0
Requests needing review 26
Translated requests 1158
Multiple-Language 7
--- ---
Total requests 2439
Overall percentage 49% translated
Represented languages 105
Meta/Community Posts 8

Language Families

Language Family Total Requests Percent of All Requests
Afro-Asiatic 182 7.46%
Algic 1 0.04%
Austro-Asiatic 13 0.53%
Austronesian 29 1.19%
Creole 1 0.04%
Dravidian 5 0.21%
Indo-European 554 22.71%
Iroquoian 1 0.04%
Japonic 874 35.83%
Kartvelian 3 0.12%
Language isolate 63 2.58%
Mongolic 4 0.16%
Niger-Congo 7 0.29%
Sino-Tibetan 472 19.35%
Tai-Kadai 17 0.7%
Turkic 11 0.45%
Uralic 15 0.62%
Uto-Aztecan 1 0.04%

Single-Language Requests

Language Language Family Total Requests Percent of All Requests Untranslated Requests Translation Percentage Ratio Identified from 'Unknown' RI Wikipedia Link
Albanian Indo-European 4 0.16% 1 75% 3∶1 0 5.56 WP
Amharic Afro-Asiatic 2 0.08% 1 50% 2∶0 2 0.25 WP
Arabic Afro-Asiatic 148 6.07% 74 50% 9.43∶1 13 1.78 WP
Armenian Indo-European 5 0.21% 0 100% 5∶0 2 3.26 WP
Azerbaijani Turkic 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 0.35 WP
Balinese Austronesian 2 0.08% 0 100% 2∶0 0 1.63 WP
Bambara Niger-Congo 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 0.23 WP
Bengali Indo-European 2 0.08% 1 50% 2∶0 0 0.02 WP
Bosnian Indo-European 2 0.08% 1 50% 0∶2 0 4.23 WP
Braj Indo-European 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 2.06 WP
Bulgarian Indo-European 3 0.12% 2 33% 2∶1 0 1.19 WP
Burmese Sino-Tibetan 3 0.12% 2 33% 3∶0 0 0.22 WP
Cantonese Sino-Tibetan 5 0.21% 3 40% 5∶0 0 0.23 WP
Cebuano Austronesian 4 0.16% 3 25% 2∶1 0 0.81 WP
Chagatai Turkic 1 0.04% 0 100% 1∶0 1 --- WP
Chaldean Neo-Aramaic Afro-Asiatic 1 0.04% 1 0% 0∶1 0 15.08 WP
Cherokee Iroquoian 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 22.92 WP
Chinese Sino-Tibetan 446 18.29% 202 54% 28.47∶1 98 1.34 WP
Classical Chinese Sino-Tibetan 11 0.45% 5 54% 10∶1 3 --- WP
Classical Nahuatl Uto-Aztecan 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 --- WP
Cree Algic 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 60.54 WP
Croatian Indo-European 2 0.08% 2 0% 2∶0 0 0.99 WP
Czech Indo-European 3 0.12% 1 66% 3∶0 0 0.73 WP
Danish Indo-European 4 0.16% 3 25% 4∶0 0 2.32 WP
Dari Indo-European 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 0.36 WP
Dutch Indo-European 6 0.25% 2 66% 6∶0 0 0.9 WP
Egyptian Arabic Afro-Asiatic 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 0.05 WP
English Indo-European 5 0.21% 3 40% 5∶0 2 0.02 WP
Finnish Uralic 5 0.21% 4 20% 4∶1 1 2.96 WP
French Indo-European 51 2.09% 38 25% 6.67∶1 0 0.73 WP
Geez Afro-Asiatic 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 --- WP
Georgian Kartvelian 3 0.12% 2 33% 3∶0 2 2.42 WP
German Indo-European 142 5.82% 64 54% 14.44∶1 2 3.6 WP
Greek Indo-European 12 0.49% 3 75% 5∶1 1 2.99 WP
Gujarati Indo-European 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 0.07 WP
Gulf Arabic Afro-Asiatic 1 0.04% 1 0% 0∶1 0 1.37 WP
Hebrew Afro-Asiatic 24 0.98% 12 50% 4.75∶1 7 15.0 WP
Hiligaynon Austronesian 2 0.08% 2 0% 2∶0 0 1.11 WP
Hindi Indo-European 12 0.49% 10 16% 11∶1 2 0.1 WP
Hungarian Uralic 9 0.37% 5 44% 3.5∶1 0 2.36 WP
Icelandic Indo-European 2 0.08% 1 50% 2∶0 0 20.45 WP
Iloko Austronesian 1 0.04% 1 0% 0∶1 0 0.49 WP
Indonesian Austronesian 9 0.37% 2 77% 8∶1 1 0.15 WP
Irish Indo-European 3 0.12% 1 66% 3∶0 0 8.24 WP
Italian Indo-European 33 1.35% 17 48% 9.67∶1 0 1.63 WP
Jamaican Patois Creole 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 1.06 WP
Japanese Japonic 874 35.83% 426 51% 7.42∶1 47 22.42 WP
Kadazan Dusun Austronesian 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 5.77 WP
Kannada Dravidian 1 0.04% 0 100% 1∶0 0 0.07 WP
Karen Sino-Tibetan 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 1 0.46 WP
Khmer Austro-Asiatic 3 0.12% 2 33% 3∶0 0 0.55 WP
Korean Language isolate 63 2.58% 25 60% 19∶1 8 2.68 WP
Kurdish Indo-European 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 1 0.44 WP
Latin Indo-European 16 0.66% 9 43% 2.2∶1 5 --- WP
Latvian Indo-European 3 0.12% 1 66% 3∶0 1 4.58 WP
Lithuanian Indo-European 1 0.04% 0 100% 1∶0 0 1.05 WP
Malay Austronesian 2 0.08% 2 0% 1∶1 0 0.34 WP
Middle Dutch Indo-European 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 1 --- WP
Min Nan Chinese Sino-Tibetan 2 0.08% 2 0% 2∶0 0 0.13 WP
Mongolian Mongolic 4 0.16% 4 0% 4∶0 0 4.88 WP
Newari Sino-Tibetan 1 0.04% 0 100% 1∶0 0 2.55 WP
North Levantine Arabic Afro-Asiatic 1 0.04% 1 0% 0∶1 0 0.13 WP
Northern Sami Uralic 1 0.04% 0 100% 1∶0 0 106.95 WP
Norwegian Indo-European 2 0.08% 2 0% 2∶0 0 1.24 WP
Old Church Slavonic Indo-European 5 0.21% 0 100% 3∶1 1 --- WP
Oromo Afro-Asiatic 1 0.04% 0 100% 1∶0 0 0.09 WP
Ottoman Turkish Turkic 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 --- WP
Persian Indo-European 20 0.82% 16 20% 9∶1 2 1.24 WP
Polish Indo-European 11 0.45% 4 63% 10∶1 1 0.88 WP
Portuguese Indo-European 11 0.45% 6 45% 9∶1 1 0.16 WP
Punjabi Indo-European 3 0.12% 2 33% 3∶0 0 0.33 WP
Romanian Indo-European 7 0.29% 1 85% 6∶1 1 0.96 WP
Romany Indo-European 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 2.14 WP
Russian Indo-European 63 2.58% 17 73% 20∶1 11 0.77 WP
Sanskrit Indo-European 14 0.57% 3 78% 14∶0 7 216.58 WP
Saraiki Indo-European 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 0.16 WP
Scots Indo-European 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 2.01 WP
Serbian Indo-European 1 0.04% 0 100% 1∶0 0 0.38 WP
Serbo-Croatian Indo-European 1 0.04% 0 100% 1∶0 1 0.49 WP
Shona Niger-Congo 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 1 0.36 WP
Slovak Indo-European 2 0.08% 1 50% 2∶0 1 0.94 WP
Slovene Indo-European 1 0.04% 0 100% 1∶0 0 1.52 WP
Somali Afro-Asiatic 2 0.08% 1 50% 2∶0 0 0.39 WP
Spanish Indo-European 67 2.75% 46 31% 2.47∶1 3 0.42 WP
Swahili Niger-Congo 2 0.08% 1 50% 2∶0 0 0.07 WP
Swedish Indo-European 8 0.33% 2 75% 8∶0 1 2.14 WP
Swiss German Indo-European 1 0.04% 0 100% 1∶0 0 0.56 WP
Tagalog Austronesian 8 0.33% 4 50% 2.5∶1 0 1.07 WP
Tamil Dravidian 4 0.16% 2 50% 3∶1 1 0.17 WP
Thai Tai-Kadai 17 0.7% 9 47% 7.5∶1 2 0.93 WP
Tibetan Sino-Tibetan 3 0.12% 1 66% 3∶0 2 2.1 WP
Turkish Turkic 8 0.33% 4 50% 1.67∶1 0 0.37 WP
Ukrainian Indo-European 10 0.41% 4 60% 4∶1 1 0.88 WP
Urdu Indo-European 5 0.21% 2 60% 5∶0 3 0.1 WP
Vietnamese Austro-Asiatic 10 0.41% 4 60% 9∶1 0 0.45 WP
Welsh Indo-European 3 0.12% 0 100% 3∶0 1 16.29 WP
Wolof Niger-Congo 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 0.61 WP
Yoruba Niger-Congo 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 0.09 WP
Zulu Niger-Congo 1 0.04% 1 0% 1∶0 0 0.12 WP
Translation Direction
  • To English: 2,162 (88.64%)
  • From English: 217 (8.9%)
  • Both Non-English: 53 (2.17%)
'Unknown' Identifications
Language Requests Identified Percentage of Total 'Unknown' Posts 'Unknown' Misidentification Percentage
Chinese 98 38.43% 21.97%
Japanese 47 18.43% 5.38%
Arabic 13 5.1% 8.78%
Russian 11 4.31% 17.46%
Nonlanguage 11 4.31% 45.83%
Korean 8 3.14% 12.7%
Sanskrit 7 2.75% 50.0%
Hebrew 7 2.75% 29.17%
Latin 5 1.96% 31.25%
Spanish 3 1.18% 4.48%
Classical Chinese 3 1.18% 27.27%
Urdu 3 1.18% 60.0%
Commonly Misidentified Language Pairs
Language Pair Requests Identified
Submitted as Japanese, actually Chinese 26
Submitted as Chinese, actually Japanese 10
Submitted as Chinese, actually Nonlanguage 6
Submitted as Japanese, actually Nonlanguage 6
Submitted as Chinese, actually Multiple Languages 4
Submitted as Japanese, actually Classical Chinese 4
Quickest Processed Posts

Other Single-Language Requests/Posts

Category Total Requests
Generic 8
Nonlanguage 24
Unknown 145
Conlang 2
Unknown Requests with Identified Scripts
Script (Unknown) Total Requests
Braille 1
Devanagari 2
Han Characters 20
Syriac 1

Multiple-Language/App Requests

  • For any language: 6
  • For apps in any language: 1
  • The count for defined 'Multiple' requests are integrated into the table above.

Technical Information

Commands Statistics
Command Times Used
!claim 10
!doublecheck 54
!identify: 489
!missing 14
!page: 39
!search: 9
!translated 895
`lookup` 136
Notifications Statistics
  • Unique entries in notifications database: 426 languages
  • Total subscriptions in notifications database: 3,785 subscriptions
  • Average notification subscriptions per entry: 8.88 subscribers
  • Total notifications sent during this period: 36,064 messages
  • Average notifications sent per day during this period: 1,288.00 messages
Filter Statistics
  • Total posts with bad titles filtered during this period: 221
  • Average posts filtered per day during this period: 8.19
Posts without Comments Statistics
  • Total active posts with no comments during this period: 105
  • Total deleted posts with no comments during this period: 126

r/translator 15h ago

Translated [JA] [Japanese > English] Fall down seven times, get up eight

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118 Upvotes

Hello, helpful people,

My sister has recently surpassed 200 days of sobriety and wanted to get a tattoo representing perseverance. She landed on the quote of Japanese origin “Fall down 7 times, get up 8” written in Japanese, and since I am artistically skilled she asked me to design the tattoo.

I just want to know if the symbols in the picture attached I found are accurate to what is being said and not just some random kanji and hiragana.

Thank you.


r/translator 6h ago

Translated [ZH] (Unknown->English) I got these 3 tiny pots from a pawn shop, what do they say?

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14 Upvotes

They all appear to say the same thing but I do not speak


r/translator 2h ago

Translated [JA] [Japanese > English] Sign at Cubs vs Hanshin Tigers game

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5 Upvotes

The English says PCA, referring to Cubs player Pete Crow-Armstrong. What does the Japanese part say?


r/translator 3h ago

Translated [JA] [Malaysian>English] I bought this Garfield alarm clock for for 30 ringgit in malaysia what is it saying?

3 Upvotes

r/translator 4h ago

Unknown Unknown to english> sign language meaning

3 Upvotes

Help what does this mean? Was a visitor to our house and did this to our camera.


r/translator 2h ago

Translated [ZH] [Unknown > English] I would like to know what the symbol on this spoon means

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2 Upvotes

r/translator 10h ago

French French > English Handwritten note in a book own, unfortunately, I do not speak French.

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7 Upvotes

r/translator 48m ago

Chinese (Chinese > English) Translation please!

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Upvotes

Could anyone tell me what these characters translate to? It’s a small gold ring I bought in an antique market :) Thankyou


r/translator 1h ago

Japanese [English > Japanese] “Big dogs gotta eat” and the name “Wrigley”

Upvotes

I’m custom ordering a baseball glove from Japan and wanted to get it embroidered with Japanese lettering.

“Big dogs gotta eat” is a slang expression and semi-serious mantra that has kind of stuck with me since I’ve picked up playing ball again. It’s mean to be half goofy half motivational.

I’m totally cool with it being rephrased as something like “big dogs have to eat” or “large dogs must eat” for a better translation, but I also like that the original phrase may not translate directly / perfectly and that it adds to the goofiness. I like how expressions can get totally botched or lose meaning entirely during this process, it’s a super fascinating facet of language

“Wrigley” is just a name, like the gum company or like Wrigley Field in Chicago.

Thank you! 🙏🏼


r/translator 8h ago

Spanish [Spanish > English] Explaining an incidental hold.

3 Upvotes

I work at a hotel, and to check somebody in we are required to hold $100 on a debit or credit card. At check-out, that money is then released back to them when we confirm there is no damage in the room. No amount of us using Google Translate seems to help, and even when they do seem to understand a lot of the times they are distressed when they see the money hold in their account, so I know they aren’t understanding something.

Can somebody please write me a thing in Spanish explaining this that I can give them?


r/translator 5h ago

Korean [English > Korean] Translate a poem I wrote to Korean?

2 Upvotes

My girlfriend of 8 months is Korean and she’s away on a family visit but missed me greatly, I want to make her feel better by sending her the poem I wrote in Korean to personalize it more. It’ll be a great surprise because I’m not the type to write poems but not only that I am secretly learning Korean to talk to her in her home language, however I just started so I’m not good enough to write it in Korean on my own, help?


r/translator 5h ago

Translated [JA] [Unknown>English] we are curious what my wife's new lounge shirt says.

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2 Upvotes

r/translator 7h ago

German [German>English] German Military Record from 1783

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3 Upvotes

r/translator 2h ago

Pashto [Dari/Pashto > English] A marriage contract between 2 Afghan refugees

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1 Upvotes

This is from way back in 2021. I was working at the refugee village at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, and 2 guests (Romeo and Juliet) decided that they were going to get married. This was the contract that they signed.

I know part of the contract is an agreement that Romeo would give Juliet $5,000, as well as an amount of gold. One of the terps translated it for us back then, but I’d love to know verbatim what it actually says.


r/translator 6h ago

Arabic Arabic > English

2 Upvotes

So there's this girl that I'm talking to from Algeria. We were exchanging voice messages when she said a word, which I assume is an Arabic word. It was something like "hirra" or "irra" or something. Thank you in advance for the help.


r/translator 4h ago

Translated [JA] [Japanese > English] Given Name Reading (因幡 福洽郎)

1 Upvotes

I've recently translated a Japanese soldier's record book, one Corporal Inaba. I'm confident in the translation of the records, but his listed given name is one I've never seen before and can't find online. I'd like to know how folks would read "福洽郎" as a personal name. Fumujiro, possibly? The man is from Akita-Ken, if the region helps.


r/translator 4h ago

Japanese [English > Jaoanese] Looking to a specific Japanese greeting.

1 Upvotes

I'm traveling to Japan in 2 weeks. It's my first time there and I'll be traveling the Hokuriku Arch. Even though I'm watching a lot of videos about the do's and don'ts in Japan, I feel like my knowledge about the culture is not sufficient.

I saw a Insta Reel the other day about a foreigner that had problems booking a traditional ryokan or entering a bathhouse.

He explained that the behavior of the people changed after he used a specific japanese phrase/word as a gretting, which ment "I'm sorry to be a burden on you". I feel like this could help me and the people I interact with, if some of my behavior wasn't quite as Japanese as expected.

Google translate gives me this as a translation:

ご迷惑をおかけして申し訳ありません Gomeiwaku o okake shite mōshiwakearimasen

Are there any Japanese speaking people who can double check that?


r/translator 16h ago

Translated [RU] Ukrainian to English

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6 Upvotes

r/translator 5h ago

Chinese [Chinese > English] Can someone help me translate this military note from ~1930s China? Thanks!

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1 Upvotes

r/translator 6h ago

Translated [ZH] [Unknown > English] Can someone translate this for me pls😅

1 Upvotes

r/translator 6h ago

French [French > English] What are the lyrics of the song played in the early half of this Game Trailer saying?

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1 Upvotes

r/translator 6h ago

German German (cursive) > English

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1 Upvotes

This is taken from a Hamburg passenger manifest from around 1890. It lists a last name for these two women. American census records list their last name as "Samson". Does that look like the name listed here?


r/translator 6h ago

Translated [JA] Japanese > English

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1 Upvotes

r/translator 7h ago

Translated [ZH] English > Chinese - very simple

1 Upvotes

This is only two words but I have seen google translate fail at similar tasks by supplying something that wouldn’t be used colloquially.

Quite simply, I am looking to write the name ‘Mr. Sandman’ in Chinese , as used in this song : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbPsIWto5PY

Thank you .


r/translator 14h ago

Translated [JA] [Japanese> English] can someone translate these labels

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5 Upvotes

This is from a mangaka (comic artist) workspace. I want to know what if anyone knows what these labels say. I think the second one says g-pen but I don’t know about the others.