Just as different countries often possess quirky workplace habits – a subject we explored in our international office etiquette post – many countries use phrases that are completely unique to their language and culture.

We delved deeper into the subject of workplace confusion to uncover the idioms that can get lost in translation, causing misunderstandings between international colleagues and business partners.

Most countries have common phrases and sayings with meanings universally understood by natives, but not all idioms are translatable, especially not literally. This is something the members of our international team experience each day when they hear idioms in English for the first time, or when they employ a beloved phrase from their own culture to a confused reaction.

Many international idioms don’t have an English equivalent, so the intended idea can’t be expressed properly. For this project, we asked our international colleagues to share their favourite idioms in their respective mother tongue with us – focussing on phrases that sound bizarre or surreal when translated literally into English.

We teamed up with the award-winning British illustrator Paul Blow to create illustrations for eleven phrases in eleven different languages, provided by our international Viking team. Here is the result!

Glida in på en räckmacka

Original idiom (Swedish): Glida in på en räckmacka

Literal translation: To slide in on a prawn sandwich

Meaning: To have an easy life

Example: To work on an easy project in contrast to other colleagues who do lots of overtime.

Jemandem einen Bären aufbinden

Original idiom (German): Jemandem einen Bären aufbinden

Literal translation: To tie a bear to someone

Meaning: To confuse someone

Example: When a colleague tells incredible stories that are difficult to follow.

As cool as a cucumber

Original idiom (English): As cool as a cucumber

Literal translation: As cold as a cucumber

Meaning: To be calm or relaxed

Example: To describe that someone stayed calm during a difficult job interview.

Hair op per tanden hebbe

Original idiom (Dutch): hair op per tanden hebbe

Literal translation: To have hair on your teeth

Meaning: To be self-assertive

Example: An individual who has stronger arguments during a discussion with a colleague and reached the desired end goal.

Non tutte le ciambelle escono col buco

Original idiom (Italian): Non tutte le ciambelle escono col buco

Literal translation: Not all donuts come with a hole

Meaning: Things do not always go as well as you would like

Example: If a project takes an unexpected, negative turn.

Musztarda po obiedzie

Original idiom (Polish): Musztarda po obiedzie

Literal translation: Mustard after lunch

Meaning: It’s too late to do something because it has already happened

Example: Not dwelling on the things you could have done differently after a failed campaign.

Original idiom (Arabic):  أصوم وأفطر على بصلة

Literal translation: Break a fast with an onion

Meaning: To get less than what you were expecting

Example: To receive no or poor feedback from the customer at the end of a very successful and labour intensive campaign.

He Það pylsuendanum rúsínan í

Original idiom (Icelandic): He Það pylsuendanum rúsínan í

Literal translation: The raisin at the end of the hotdog

Meaning: A unexpected surprise at the end of something

Example: When you are unexpectedly promoted at the end of a salary review meeting.

Å svelge noen kameler

Original idiom (Norwegian): Å svelge noen kameler

Literal translation: To swallow some camels

Meaning: To give in

Example: To leave your point of view during an argument and admit the opponent is right.

Quand les poules auront

Original idiom (French): Quand les poules auront

Literal translation: When chickens would have teeth!

Meaning: When something is never going to happen

Example: To voice disbelief that a self-opinionated colleague will ever admit that they are wrong.

In the original phrase ほっぺたが落ちる

Original idiom (Japanese): ほっぺたが落ちる

Literal translation: My cheeks are falling off!

Meaning: I think this food is delicious!

Example: Praise for a particularly tasty lunch.

These visualisations give a nice insight into the workings of other languages and cultures. And they show once again how essential it is to employ native speakers with good language skills and cultural knowledge and not to trust machine translation programs such as Google Translate blindly.

Source: Google Translate