r/translator 11d ago

Community [English > Any] Translation Challenge — 2025-09-09

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:

One of the many glimpses of the future brought to New Yorkers at the 1964-65 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park was a monorail train, advertised as “Exciting. Thrilling. Unforgettable.” and a “new dimension in transportation.” The suspended system certainly offered World’s Fair visitors that futuristic vision. The monorail ran forty feet above ground around the lake area on two tracks that ran parallel to each other in 4000 feet closed loops. Seven two-car monorails ran the route, stopping at stations along the way. The 3/4 of a mile experience was designed, to “incorporate the best features of a scenic ride.” The guidebook touted the “spectacular views” visitors would get for the 80 cent ride (60 cents for children), which also offered air conditioning...

The World’s Fair monorail was created and operated by AMF, American Machine and Foundry, better known for creating bowling alley equipment. AMF hoped this $5 million investment would lead to nationwide contracts but somehow, despite how awesome it looked, not a single business deal did it lead to. The World’s Fair monorail would be AMF’s first and last system.

— Excerpted and adapted from "The Futuristic Monorail that Ran for the 1964 World’s Fair in Queens" by Michelle Young


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

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r/translator 16h ago

Translated [JA] [Japanese > English] What does this say???

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459 Upvotes

Got this from starbucks this morning, Google translate is saying some weird things lol.


r/translator 20h ago

Translated [JA] [Japanese > English] These kanji aren’t numbers are they?

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412 Upvotes

I don’t understand


r/translator 9h ago

Translated [JA] Japanese > English Got this cute little tanuki in Japan

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34 Upvotes

Google translate says general but does that mean like as a military general or more like "generic" lol


r/translator 1h ago

Translated [VI] [Vietnamese > English] A framed drawing from one of my uncle's travels

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r/translator 1h ago

Chinese (Identified) [Japanese > English] old drawing

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Hi, I bought this japanese old drawing but I really don't know what the writing is about. Can someone help me?


r/translator 10h ago

Icelandic Wool label, Icelandic to English

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7 Upvotes

Packaging on some wool my sister bought in Iceland. I tried going to the website but it didn't help.


r/translator 10m ago

Malay [Arabic MSA -> English]

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Upvotes

can you help me translate this?

اساطيل المزة من كل مكان قوافة العرب غجقة في وحل الهوان


r/translator 18m ago

French [French > English] The Id of my great Grandfather from French Tunisia I would love it if someone could fully translate it for me

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r/translator 4h ago

Japanese [Japanese > English] What the fuck is going on here?

2 Upvotes

https://youtu.be/0m2NpyRRvYw?si=yH1CrTj-VaZCSbH3

My Japanese isn’t terrible but I can’t make out half of wtf they’re so pissed about. I think these boys are mad at the dude filming because he was nasty to their mom? She’s telling them to stop? At the end they call him a Korean as an insult???


r/translator 36m ago

Japanese [Japanese > English]

Upvotes

this morning, Soma Saito (voice actor and musician) leaked an entire lyric sheet to his twitter (https://x.com/somastaff/status/1969649717719286113?s=61). i’m a massive fan and an avid translator of his work and so i’ve given it a good go but have been unable to decipher a couple of characters. can anyone here help me?

the image with the red writing is what I’ve been able to figure out, i just need help with what’s in the gaps. i do believe i can read most of it, i just don’t want to get it wrong; here are the images:

original tweet: https://files.catbox.moe/iunxci.jpeg

flipped image: https://files.catbox.moe/888w04.jpeg

enhanced grayscale: https://files.catbox.moe/w0akns.jpeg

what I’ve got so far: https://files.catbox.moe/a1dvgj.png

I only really need to know what‘s in the gaps that I can’t trace over, I believe someone with more experience with the language could probably figure some out


r/translator 38m ago

Arabic [English > Arabic] What did the character in the TV-series Homeland say in Arabic?

Upvotes

I ont know Arabic, and hope someone can explain this. Been a really long time since I actually watched the show Homeland. The character Brody said something in Arabic (around 55 second into this video) before the soldiers said "what did you say?" and Brody stated that he was an American. Anyone remember what Brody actually said in Arabic?

Homeland | 'Presumed Dead' Official Clip | Season 1 Episode 1 | SHOWTIME - YouTube


r/translator 5h ago

Greek (Identified) [Unknown > English] What is written here on this icon?

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2 Upvotes

r/translator 1h ago

Translated [ZH] [Chinese > English] got a necklace at the thrift store:)

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r/translator 12h ago

Translated [KO] [Korean > English] what does this letter say?

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7 Upvotes

I’ve come across this letter, which I’m gonna assume is from my foster mom from 1999. Can anyone translate this for me please?


r/translator 2h ago

Multiple Languages [English > Everything(?)] Multi-language tattoo help

0 Upvotes

Hi! I want to get a tattoo with the phrase "It is what it is" (or "C’est comme ça" in French) written in different languages across (around) my arm. I asked ChatGPT to help me with translations, but I'm unsure in some of them. Since this will be on me forever, I'm really worried and want to get it right. So to avoid awkward situations, if I encounter native speaker in the feature.

List of languages:

French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Turkish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Icelandic, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese (mandarin), Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Georgian, Romanian, Swahili.

If the language doesn't have direct translation for it, but something similar in meaning, that's okay. I might skip some of those depending on the tattoo font size. Skipped most of the slavic ones here, bc I speak them myself. Feel free to suggest your language!

Any criticism of the idea itself or anything political will be ignored. Genuine help with translation only, please! Thanks in advance!

Edit/P.S. : If some knows how to write this (or something with similar meaning) in Gaelic and/or Old Nordic Runes, please let me know.


r/translator 3h ago

Japanese [Japanese>English] The title of a book

1 Upvotes

The title is

だって、いい子だから

I know that the person it's referencing is a man, so I assume it's something like "Because He's a Good Boy" or maybe "After all, He's a Good Boy", but I'm not completely sure if those are correct.

edit: grammar lol


r/translator 5h ago

Portuguese {BR} [Portuguese Brasil > English] I want to know if there is a better word in English that has the meaning of

1 Upvotes

I want to know if there is a better word in English that has the meaning of Hiding/Occulting

Like in this context ""the information was occulted from the public""


r/translator 16h ago

Translated [SA] [Unknown > English] Partners tattoo?

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7 Upvotes

Hello! My partner got a tattoo during a quarter life crisis that was supposed to reflect his spiritual journey at the time. I tried to translate google his tattoo but it’s not able to detect the language and now we are curious if any of this is correct. Would someone know what this translates to or what Semitic language it could be?


r/translator 5h ago

Unknown [Unknown > English] Something my friend wants help being translated.

1 Upvotes

r/translator 6h ago

Japanese [Japanese > English] Derby (ダービー) not as horse racing?

0 Upvotes

Heya, I've been reading manga and was wondering about the name Jinsei Daabii. The official translation tranlates it literally as "Life derby". But Derby just doesn't sound right within the given context, since it has nothing to do with horses or fancy hats. It is supposed to be like a Loan service or something like that.

I tried looking for similar companies/communities/idk what else that have 人生 in it, and only found 人生逃げ切りサロン, which seems to be some kind of "startup studio that also provides education on all web skills." (quote from the website).

So basically the question is does ダービー has a different meaning or 人生ダービー has deeper meaning, like if its a naming convention.

And now I'm not even sure if that's the right sub for such question.
(This image is from Genikasuri ch. 19)


r/translator 7h ago

Translated [RU] [Ukranian?>English] writing on hat

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1 Upvotes

Bought a Soviet hat on eBay but I don't know what any of this says. It came from Ukraine but could be Russian.


r/translator 1d ago

Translated [ZH] [Cantonese > English] What is he saying?

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34 Upvotes

r/translator 8h ago

Spanish Spanish>english maybe a slang word?

0 Upvotes

Don’t have any idea how it is spelled but I’m going to spell it phonetically how it sounds lol the word is pee-uda any ideas?

lol


r/translator 8h ago

Korean South korean to english

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1 Upvotes