Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

Posted: **Mon Mar 07, 2011 3:01 pm**

So, I'd ask the Board, but my friend needs this by tomorrow. Here's his actual email:

I am working on a project that has to do with family history and I need various translations of the word "family" and as it relates to "family history." The attached list is from an online translation site by google. I KNOW that it has mistakes and it is doing a literal translation on some of them, rather than what members of the church would say in their language when talking about family history.

Would you please take a few minutes to look it over and make any corrections in the languages that you or your family, friends, coworkers or neighbors may know. I would love to hear back from you by tomorrow (tuesday) if possible. If you know of someone else that may know more answers, feel free to ask them too. If the language you speak is not on this list, feel free to add it to the list.

On the list the first word translated should be "family" the second line should be "family history"

Many thanks to you all for any assistance you can give.

And here's the list. So, friends with many languages, what do you think?

Afrikaans:
Familie
Familie geskiedenis

Arabic:
الأسرة
تاريخ الأسرة

Bulgarian:
Семейство
Семейната история

Chinese:
家族
家史

Danish:
Familie
Slægtshistoriske

Finnish:
Perhe
Suvussa

French:
de famille
Antécédents familiaux

German:
Familie
Familienanamnese

Greek:
Οικογένεια
Οικογενειακό ιστορικό

Hebrew:
המשפחה
היסטוריה משפחתית

Hindu:
I couldn't get it to copy, so here's a screen shot:

Italian:
Famiglia
Storia di famiglia

Japanese:
ファミリー
家族歴

Norwegian:
Familie
Slektshistoriske

Persian:
خانواده
سابقه خانوادگی

Portugese:
Família
A história da família

Russian:
Семья
Семья истории

Spanish:
Familia
Historia familiar

Swedish:
Familj
Familj historia

Thai:
Again, a screenshot:

Ukranian:
Сім'я
Сім'я Історія

Posted: **Mon Mar 07, 2011 3:11 pm**

Does it need to be "family history" and not "genealogy"?

Posted: **Mon Mar 07, 2011 3:14 pm**

Also, the French one—"Antécédents familiaux"—looks like it may mean "family history" in the sense of "Do you have a family history of heart disease?"

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the other translations have the same problem.

Posted: **Mon Mar 07, 2011 3:15 pm**

Katya wrote:Does it need to be "family history" and not "genealogy"?

Great question. I just emailed him and asked. I'll let you know.

Posted: **Mon Mar 07, 2011 3:22 pm**

OK, just checked LEO and the German one also means "family medical history," but the German "Familie" is fine.

Under French, "de famille" means "of the family." If he wants the noun "family," it would be just "famille."

If it was me, I'd go to Wikipedia and look at the foreign language pages linked from these pages:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy

Posted: **Mon Mar 07, 2011 3:23 pm**

Oooh! Great idea! I just emailed him that tip.

Posted: **Mon Mar 07, 2011 3:25 pm**

Dragon Lady wrote:Oooh! Great idea! I just emailed him that tip.

It's how I do most of my phrasal translating, because going word-by-word can cause problems.

Posted: **Mon Mar 07, 2011 4:30 pm**

Katya wrote:Does it need to be "family history" and not "genealogy"?

Here is his reply:

I am fine with just the word "family." I think that my layout will only fit the word family instead of translating "family history."

He's an artist, so I'm guessing this project has something to do with putting all of these words together in a collage of some sort. Just a guess, though.

Looking again, I don't think he actually answered your question...

Posted: **Mon Mar 07, 2011 4:53 pm**

Dragon Lady wrote:
Katya wrote:Does it need to be "family history" and not "genealogy"?
Here is his reply:
I am fine with just the word "family." I think that my layout will only fit the word family instead of translating "family history."
He's an artist, so I'm guessing this project has something to do with putting all of these words together in a collage of some sort. Just a guess, though.

Looking again, I don't think he actually answered your question...

True, but maybe the links from the Wikipedia article on "Family" will work.

Posted: **Mon Mar 07, 2011 10:31 pm**

My husband says that family is "pamilia" in Tagalog. Lineage is "angkan", if that is better.

This started a discussion I found interesting - Tagalog speakers can't pronounce the "f" sound, so they use a "p" instead. I find that really funny for people living in a country that starts with an F sound. They call their country the Pillipines.

Posted: **Tue Mar 08, 2011 1:05 am**

Translations for "family history":

Russian: Семейная история

Ukrainian: Сімейна історія.

The translations for "family" are already correct for both these languages. And I'm at least 90% sure that the Bulgarian is correct as is. Your friend will have a time of it correctly declining these translations, though...but the main message will hopefully get across.

Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

"Family"

"Family"

Re: "Family"

Re: "Family"

Re: "Family"

Re: "Family"

Re: "Family"

Re: "Family"

Re: "Family"

Re: "Family"

Re: "Family"

Re: "Family"