Language desk
< December 15	<< Nov \| December \| Jan >>	December 17 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

December 16[edit]

Is there a Spanish speaker in the house?[edit]

Could someone give me the gist of what this link says about Karen McDougal and Bruce Willis? Thanks, Dismas|^(talk) 00:20, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I wonder what the Spanish is for "cheesecake"? Anyway, here's a try at it, with a little help from Google Translate:

--Karen McDougal, la última novia [latest girlfriend] de Bruce Willis

--¿Cómo conoció a [how did you meet] Bruce Willis?

--Nos presentaron en un club nocturno muy popular de Los Ángeles llamado Area. Nos caímos bien y empezamos a salir juntos. [We had a very popular Los Angeles nightclub called the Area. We hit it off and started dating.]

--¿Qué es lo que más le gustaba de él? [What did you like most about him?]

--Es un ser humano maravilloso. Y sexi, sus ojos me matan, yo me perdí en ellos. Es muy amable y apasionado. También me encanta porque es un hombre de familia. Yo soy muy familiar y eso es lo primero que me atrajo de él. [He is a wonderful human being. And sexy, his eyes are to die for, I lost myself in them. He is very friendly and enthusiastic. I also love it because he is a family man. I am very family-oriented and that is what first attracted me to him.]

--Tiene fama de ser un animal en la cama... [He has a reputation for being an animal in bed...]

--Bruce es un hombre muy apasionado, y también tiene un punto loco. No sé si compararlo con un animal, porque a mí los animales no me excitan. Prefiero decir que es muy hombre en la cama. [Bruce is a very passionate man and has a crazy point. I do not know if you compare it to an animal, because animals do not excite me. I prefer to say that he is very much a man in bed.]

--Visite la galería completa [complete gallery] de Karen McDougal

←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:24, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! I didn't want to rely completely on GT, so I thought I'd ask here. Thanks again! Dismas|^(talk) 03:01, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

"Nos presentaron en un club nocturno" is probably not "we had a nightclub", but "we were introduced [to each other] in a nightclub".--Itinerant1 (talk) 04:52, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

That would be better. I posted that phrase the way Google translate had it, but wasn't too sure about it. At least GT is getting a little smarter. But I had to make a few changes, for example, es tended to be translated as "it is", since GT is not smart enough to contextualize it. GT translates nos presentaron by itself as "we/us presented", and there's an implied "to each other" as you note. A literal translation sounds funny. The verb presentar, "to present", has a long list of idiomatically-related verbs in English. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 11:34, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Noting the sin camisa photos at the original link (complete with tetas de silicona), I posted "cheesecake" at GT, and the translation came back as the unintentionally highly appropriate tarta de queso. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 11:36, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Help in looking up articles in Arabic[edit]

I want to find out who the architect of the Saudi Arabian Airlines head office in Jeddah is, and other details about the facility, but I do not know Arabic I want to know so a "fair use" photo of the building may be used in the Saudi Airlines article Thanks WhisperToMe (talk) 01:58, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Spanish help: Commons sentence[edit]

Hi! At Commons:Category:Valued images of the United States I want to translate the sentence "This collection of images have been assessed according to Valued images guidelines and are considered Valued images."

But I'm not sure how to get past... "Esta colección de imágenes[...]" How should it be translated? Thanks WhisperToMe (talk) 02:48, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I get something like: "Las imágenes de esta colección han sido evaluadas de acuerdo con "Las directrices para las imágenes valiosas" y se consideran las imágenes valiosas". (A native speaker might do better.) Google Translate proposes "valoradas" instead of "valiosas" but that has a meaning that is subtly different from the one intended - "valorada" would mean "something that has been evaluated/assessed", and "valiosa" means "valuable". --Itinerant1 (talk) 23:44, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Since Commons uses " Imágenes valiosas" I think we should use " Imágenes valiosas" - Thanks for your help! I would like to await confirmation from a native speaker. WhisperToMe (talk) 08:01, 17 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

When I get the confirmation, this will be applied to the pages for Spain, Mexico, the United States, Central American countries, and Spanish South America. WhisperToMe (talk) 08:01, 17 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You might want to put a period at the end of the French version of the sentence. Deor (talk) 11:54, 17 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Alright - Did that :) WhisperToMe (talk) 15:15, 17 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Also, "If the country you desire is not shown here, please view the following sub-categories, as it may be there" at (Commons:Category:Maps incorporating flags) - How would I translate that into Spanish? - "Si esta categoría no tiene tu país, por favor véase estas sub-categorías"?

Thanks,

WhisperToMe (talk) 15:15, 17 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

French help: Commons sentence[edit]

Hi! At Commons:Category:Valued images of Canada I want to translate the sentence "This collection of images have been assessed according to Valued images guidelines and are considered Valued images."

How is it done in French? Thanks WhisperToMe (talk) 02:52, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

For both the French and Spanish questions, is the English even correct? "This collection have" can't be right. The images are considered valued images, but "collection" has to be singular. First I would fix that to "The images in this collection". Adam Bishop (talk) 12:15, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ack, I didn't realize it! (The person who added it may not have been a native English speaker) - Lemme fix that WhisperToMe (talk) 15:07, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, I fixed that WhisperToMe (talk) 15:08, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

And for the French, maybe "Les images dans cette collection ont été contrôlées selon les critères des images de valeur et sont considérées comme images de valeur". (A native French person could probably come up with something better!) Adam Bishop (talk) 16:25, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Nope, can't come up with any better. --Lgriot (talk) 16:55, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you so much! I added the French to the pages of images of value of all Francophone countries, and/or countries with significant francophone elements. I.E.: Commons:Category:Valued images of France WhisperToMe (talk) 19:45, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Refs?[edit]

Translating McDermid's the Wire in the Blood, I found the expression as follows:

...whenever they were in the (police) station taking refs at the same time, they could invariably be found in the corner of the canteen dringking...

'They' are woman cops, and seems close friends. By the way, I have no idea what 'refs' means. Please help. --Analphil (talk) 03:16, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Appears to be British police officer jargon: abbreviation of "refreshment break".--Itinerant1 (talk) 05:02, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Exactly. Thank you.--Analphil (talk) 06:20, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]