Various translations, mostly Russian and Spanish.

[franztastisch]

I've been using Google translate, basically as place-holders, but we all know how reliable (or not) it can be, so I'm wondering is anyone on here could translate some things for me, primarily Russian and Spanish.

All translations follow the pattern of "what I want said" - (What Google gave me)

Comments

[jgofri]

"No questions in English" - What is the purpose of this phrase? To keep the conversation in Russian so that the guy does not understand? In that case, I would say something more like "Не по-английски!" (Not in English!) Or "Ни слова по-английски!" (Not a word of English!) But if you need exact translation - "Никаких вопросов по-английски

[franztastisch]

Wow thank you! The "No questions in English" I probably should have explained more. The character teaches beginner Russian and wants people to ask as many of the questions in Russian as they can manage. She says this when the male character comes into the classroom asking to speak with his friend a moment, and his friend translates it for him. So it's a sort of teacherly instruction.

And the "Not nice at all" is agreeing with another character about being left out of conversations due to speaking different languages. It's jokey and not meant in a mean way.

And thank you for the information about pet names. "Dear sun" sounds like something that might work, though darling might too. it's just to me, darling sounds like a rather saccharine thing to say - just because it is a little in British English. Not terribly so, but a little. But I'll give it a think. :)

And thanks for the offer of messaging you. I might take you up on it. It'll be random and intermittent, so it could be a while. :)

[jgofri]

In that case, I would imagine the teacher saying something like "Спрашивайте по-руски," ("Ask your questions in Russian"), or just "По-русски, пожалуйста!" (In Russian, please!") This sounds a lot more natural in context

[franztastisch]

Cool, thanks.

And yeah, pet names do tend to fall a little on the saccharine end of things, but things like "love" and "dear" and "darling" would seem so in English and Russian while "dear sun" might be so in Russian but is not at all common in English, so seems less so to me. And I did try to think up something specific for the characters, but that was early in the story and I couldn't think of one at the time. Maybe I'll give that another shot, and then maybe message you about it, if you're OK with that. :)

[corvideye]

Not a native Russian speaker, so just curious about a couple random words I remember ... would malchik (little boy) be used, or would that be creepy applied to an adult man? Is pushinka just for pets, or could that be used in a joking way, say if someone had fuzzy hair? (For instance I have a friend who shaves her hair a lot, so we often call her fuzzhead.)

[jgofri]

Malchik means a boy, any age, and could also be used when talking about a younger man. It could be used as an endearment, I guess... if the man in question allowed it :) Generally speaking, young men do not like to be called boys and would not want to hear that from a girlfriend. In most cases it is used by someone older, like a parent or an uncle.
"Pushinka" would be more fitting to someone very petite, in reference to their weight - as in "light as a feather." It literally means "a piece of down". Also, as this word is of feminine gender, it would only be used for someone female.

[corvideye]

Okay, thanks!