Realising mostly means comprehending rather than creating something: getting the picture, not painting it.
Category Archives: Mistranslations
Biological or organic?
Environmentally-aware agriculture is organic in English, not biological.
Expertise
Only use this to mean someone’s acquired skill and knowledge in English, not as a term for a valuation or checkup or other professional opinion.
Paying attention
An ‘attentie’ in Dutch is a small gift, just a little something to show appreciation. The English word ‘attention’ doesn’t have that meaning.
Survival rations
The relative numeric sizes of things are expressed as a ratio, not a ration.
Don’t get personal
Remember that ‘personal’ often has overtones of private, intimate and secret and not merely ‘related to the individual’.
Hernia
Scientifically, it means an internal body part protruding where it shouldn’t. In everyday speech, however, Dutch uses it for a back problem and English for an abdominal one.
Beamer for Christmas?
My brother-in-law was astonished when I said I was getting Clare a beamer for Christmas. An SUV or a soft-top?
Psychic distress
Anything to do with the psyche – the human mind or soul, after the goddess of the same name – has to be referred to as “psychological” or “mental”, not “psychic”.
Relations and relationships
Dutch uses the same word for both (relatie), but the meanings in English are distinctly different.
