Idioms and the beauty of language

Idioms are wonderful, figurative phrases that give colour, depth and beauty to language. In English, there are an estimated 25,000 idiomatic expressions. But while idioms are glorious, they don’t translate well. In fact, more often than not, word-for-word interpretation leaves you a little lost in translation.

Most of us use our native idioms without thinking about what the literal meaning might sound like to non-native speakers of our mother tongue. At Indaba, we not only have a large multi-national team, but also we work in 20 different markets, so we are acutely aware of how an idiom can trip up the unsuspecting. And it is a bit of a minefield, so here’s a little guide.

Noses – yes, noses – play a prominent role in a few idioms in several languages. In the German jemandem auf der Nase herumtanzen (translated as dancing on someone’s nose), means to act up with someone. In French and Polish, they take it one step further: avoir la moutarde qui monte au nez, literally to have mustard up your nose, means to be in a bad mood, or to lose your temper. The French also have les doigts dans le nez (fingers up the nose), which is the equivalent of our one hand tied behind your back, indicating something is really easy. In Polish, mieć muchy w nosie (having flies in your nose), means to be in a bad mood – well, you would be with flies in your nose!

Flies appear in a beautifully descriptive Spanish idiom comiendo moscas – literally eating flies, which means to go off on a tangent. A different small, irritating creature pops up in a Portuguese idiom that means something is suspicious: pulga atrás da orelha or to have a flea behind your ear.

The Dutch take the cake (see what we did there) on having a culturally stereotypical idiom – nou breekt mijn klomp. The meaning is that’s a surprise, but translated it is my clog breaks!

The French really capture the feeling of being down with their idiom avoir le cafard, which translated is to have the cockroach! While the Swedes value cheese with their idiom ge igen för gammal ost, which means to seek revenge, but literally says to get back for old cheese.

But our two favourites are these: the Polish nie mój cyrk, nie moje małpy, which is the perfectly descriptive not my circus, not my monkeys, meaning this isn’t my problem, and the Dutch helaas pindakaas, which means too bad, but literally is the expressive and rather curious unfortunately peanut butter.

We think some of these are worthy of incorporating into general English parlance, they are so good!