'Noku': power-napping, little pea or zizi?
By Adriano on Thursday, September 13 2007, 13:37 - Permalink
This post is also available in: French Italian
Yes, European languages are very funny. In my feature on Estonian economy I realised in Tallinn, I wrote about a conversation I had with the Spanish entrepreneur Javier Ortiz in the Noku bar, a lounge club in Tallinn.
I precised that, in Estonian language, 'noku' means little boy's penis. But I wrote my article in Italian. And in Dante's language this is said 'pisellino', litterally 'little pea'. So the English translator initially wrote... 'little pea' and I was alerted by Martin, an Estonian reader, who let me laugh a lot.
I then spoke with my German colleague who told me her translator had translated it with 'Nickerchen' which means 'power-napping'... Why did she translated like so? Because in Italian 'power-napping' is said 'pisolino', a word very similar (phonetically speaking) to 'pisellino'. Congratulations to Spanish and French translators who, with their 'picha' and 'zizi' exactly got it!
In the photo a scene from Tallinn's nightlife
Comments
I guess maybe it was easier in French and Spanish as they also have similar words. We don't have a word for 'little boy's penis' in English and perhaps there isn't one in German either.... Any suggestions?
In German there is one: Schniedel. Cf. http://www.cafebabel.com/de/article...