When Pigs Fly
Vocalink Global is headquartered in Ohio and many of our clients hail from Cincinnati. For those familiar with Cincinnati, Ohio, you know it’s the city “Where Pigs Fly.” This originated around 1835, when Cincinnati was the biggest pork processing city in the country.
It’s also home to the Flying Pig Marathon, a now twenty-year-old tradition pitting athletes against the hilly streets of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. Now, I don’t know if the official origin of the Flying Pig Marathon had anything to do with something I think most people say – or at least think to themselves: “Sure! I’ll run a marathon … when pigs fly!” For this author, at least, “pigs flew” last month when I finished the Flying Pig Marathon – my first ever full marathon (yes, that’s me in the photo). But the saying, “when pigs fly” got me thinking. How do other cultures creatively express the concept: “it’s never going to happen”?
So, I did a little internet research and polled my fellow Vocalink employees, and thought I’d share some of my favorites from other languages and cultures.
When Pigs Fly Around the Globe
Arabic (in Egypt): لما تشوف حلمة ودنك
Literal Translation: When you can see your earlobe.
Croatian: Na sveto nigdarjevo.
Literal Translation: On St. Nobody’s day.
Romanian: La Pastele cailor.
Literal Translation: At horses’ Easter.
French: Quand les oules auront des dents.
Literal Translation: When chicken have teeth.
Spanish: Cuando las ranas críen pelo.
Literal Translation: When frogs grow hair.
…. And my personal favorite:
Thai: ตอนเซเว่นปิด (ton sē wēn pit)
Literal Translation: When the 7-11 is closed.
Interpreting and Translating Idioms
Idioms like “when pigs fly” pose unique challenges for interpreters and translators. The volunteer translators in the TED Talks Open Translation Project explored this issue in an article in 2015. In the context of a TED Talk, the translator’s goal is to capture the overall meaning of the speaker’s words, which frequently involves finding the right local idiom to replace the one used by the speaker so that the new audience will experience the Talk in the same way as the original audience (i.e., the translator must transcreate the Talk). The same challenges come up when interpreting or translating comedy. For a great discussion on this topic, take a look at the TEDBlog “Funny in 33 languages: The art of translating Maysoon Zayid’s hilarious TED Talk.”
Interpreters and translators in other contexts experience different challenges with idioms. Consider a court interpreter trying to interpret for a witness who says, in French, “… and then the defendant said to me, ‘you’ll get your money when chicken have teeth!’”
The interpreter is familiar with the idiom “when chicken have teeth,” and knows this means “you’re never going to get your money.” But in the context of a court case, not only might the specific words spoken be crucial to the outcome, the interpreter is bound by rules that require him or her to interpret only the exact words spoken. (It would then be up to the attorney to ask for an explanation.)
Idioms bring color and flavor to our speech and writing. It takes basic concepts that can be … if we’re being honest … a little boring, and inject some life into them. In a world full of different languages and cultures, idioms present a unique challenge for interpreters and translators. When should a linguist use a literal, word-for-word translation and when should he or she choose a correlating local idiom? The answer, of course, will vary from context to context and based on each client’s preferences … which is why it’s critical to have a language solutions team on your side that understands this quandary and will work with you to solve it.
Want to learn more about language solutions? We hope you won’t wait until you see a hairy frog next to a chicken with teeth on horses’ Easter (right after St. Nobody’s day) to connect with us!
