Pay attention to Slang and Idioms during translation

Normally, during the process of translation, we would possibly face in some slang and idioms, if we couldn’t handle them correctly, a big mistake will be made and laughed by others. Below are some common used slang and idioms, please kindly bear in your mind.

An apple of love   means tomato, not the fruit of love;

American beauty   means a kind of rose, not beautiful girls in US ;

Be taken in     means be cheated/fooled, not been accepted;

Bring down the house  means win cheers from all, not destroy the house;

Black stranger  means totally strange, not unacquainted black man;

Busboy  means a labour in hot, not bus ticket seller ;

Busybody means a person interested in other’s business, not a busy man;

China policy means policy towards China, not policy issued by China;

Confidence man  means a cheater, not a man can be trusted；

Dead president   means US dollar, not a president in death；

Dry goods    means textile, not goods in dry status;

Dressing room   means a room used for making up, not locker room;

Eleventh hour    means the final moment, not eleven o’clock;

Familiar talk    means a vulgar talk, not conversation which was known well;

Greek gift    means dangerous gift, not a gift from Greece;

Green hand  means a fresh man, not a hand filled with green color;

Horse sense  means general knowledge, not a feeling from horse;

Indian summer  means joyful and peaceful old age, not summer spent in India;

Lover  means beloved one, not husband or wife;

Personal remark  means attack someby, not personal comment;

Red tape means officialism, not a belt in red color;

Rest room means toilet, not a room for rest;

Sweet water  means fresh water, not  sugar water；

Read Also: Report Translation 1