What does this page about me say? Can anyone translate it?

July 14, 2004 2:34 PM

TranslationFilter: This might be a slim chance, but can anyone give me a general idea of what this page says? It has my picture on it , and I'm really curious what the article is about. I've tried running it through several different online translators and haven't had any luck finding a translation that made sense. I also e-mailed the editor of the page, and didn't receive a response.

(P.S.: The picture is an old one from a drunken college party, hence the dazed look and various states of undress.)
posted by Zosia Blue to grab bag (35 comments total)

i was in prague last week. unfortunately, i only remember "please", "thank-you" and "potato". for what it's worth, it does not appear to be discussing potatoes. (if you click on the photo you get a bigger version that credits your site, btw).

google turned up this dictionary, which gives a sketchy translation of about half the words (you give it the url and then mouse over words in the returned page).
posted by andrew cooke at 2:47 PM on July 14, 2004

It looks to me like Hungarian or maybe even Polish more than Czech, but I don't really know.
posted by loquax at 2:53 PM on July 14, 2004

ah. maybe that explains it.... (it's a cz url though).
posted by andrew cooke at 2:56 PM on July 14, 2004

Whoops, I didn't even notice that, maybe it is Czech after all.
posted by loquax at 3:00 PM on July 14, 2004

This site has a great number of translators. Unfortunately it translates this as: As forth as shame within mound mate.

That's if we assume it's Czech. If I try Hungarian or Polish it totally barfs. I'm betting it's some form of Czech since that gets about half the words.
posted by y6y6y6 at 3:01 PM on July 14, 2004

Thanks, andrew cooke. I had tried that translator previously, but it doesn't seem to translate the major words in the article. (Funnily enough, the only Czech word I remember is the one for "potato," too.)

Per your suggestion, loquax, I tried putting the article through a Hungarian and Polish translator as well, but had about the same amount of results. I assumed the language was Czech, as well, because of the .cz extension, but I'm actually not completely sure what it is.

Thanks for the help so far!
posted by Zosia Blue at 3:04 PM on July 14, 2004

i can't help beyond telling you that it's definitely czech, a language very far removed from hungarian.

if you speak slovak, then there's a link on the bottom of the page to the slovakian version...
posted by nylon at 3:11 PM on July 14, 2004

You may try to e-mail the authors of either of these blogs, both of which are based in the Czech Republic and blog in English.
posted by Ufez Jones at 3:11 PM on July 14, 2004

Yes my bad, definatly Czech, and it looks like it's commenting on the costs, or some other aspect of higher education, maybe comparing Europe to the US? The caption for the photo is: Holder pretty well "penez" within tuition? ( illuminative picture : www.zosiablue.com).
posted by loquax at 3:16 PM on July 14, 2004

Here's a question...how did you find out that this guy had your picture on his site?

(Just curious--unless he linked to an image on your server, or there's some personal connection, it just seems like an amazing coincidence for someone who knows you to just run across it on a Czech blog.)
posted by LairBob at 3:24 PM on July 14, 2004

Thanks, all. Ufez -- thanks for those links. I'm in the process of e-mailing now.

LairBob -- every now and then, I'll do a Google search for my screen name to see what's out there, and in my last search, this page came up.
posted by Zosia Blue at 3:28 PM on July 14, 2004

I found a good Czech->English dictionary online here.

Word-by-word translation of "Mají dost penez na školné?"

Mají = shall they, do they
dost = enough
penez = money
na = for
školné = tuition?

But the headline: "Jak studují za kopeckama?" remains a mystery:

Jak = how
studují = students (?)
za = [preposition of some sort]
kopeckama = [no entry in dictionary; perhaps declined/conjugated/pluralized beyond an illiterate's grasp]

From the article text, it looks like it is discussing foreign students. "Francii, Holandsku, Itálii a Polsku" looks like cognates for "French, Dutch, Italian and Polish" to me.
posted by profwhat at 3:29 PM on July 14, 2004

According to an ancient print Czech-English dictionary in my library, kopec = hill, and kopecek = little hill, while stud is both the root for all the "student" words and all the "shame" words.

I'm guessing it's some sort of slightly idiomatic expression, or maybe a play on words. Of course, neither explains the use of Zosia Blue in a swanky suede dress for the illustration. Please, please post a translation if you get one!
posted by donnagirl at 3:42 PM on July 14, 2004

Ok we can all try to pretend to answer the question or just not post anything and admit that if she hadn't said "various stages of undress" 90% less people would be here.

I have a friend who is a language m4st3r and says it has something to do with "concerns of tuition and how different countries vary" but when I asked him to do a more precise translation he laughed and said he had things to do.
posted by geoff. at 3:51 PM on July 14, 2004

More thanks. If I get an accurate translation and how the picture relates to it, I'll post here.

And, .geoff -- my disclaimer was more for the NSFW crowd. (And also to explain the picture a little, since it's taken completely out of context.)
posted by Zosia Blue at 3:56 PM on July 14, 2004

Oh no I wasn't saying you used it as a gimmick. I just made a bad joke.
posted by geoff. at 4:29 PM on July 14, 2004

My upstairs neighbors' au pair is Czech. If I run into her tonight I'll ask her for a loose translation.

Also: great picture, out of context or no!
posted by majick at 4:35 PM on July 14, 2004

Languagehat's on vacation, but he'll be back on sunday.
posted by kenko at 5:01 PM on July 14, 2004

I've sent the link to my Czech speaking friend and we will see if he turns up an answer.
posted by shotsy at 5:10 PM on July 14, 2004

If all else fails, throwing $10 at it on Google Answers will probably get you the answer.
posted by wackybrit at 5:29 PM on July 14, 2004

As an aside, how many other cute female MeFites exist out there? Perhaps we can make a new site: date.metafilter.com, to hook up those otherwise single people.
posted by BlueTrain at 5:40 PM on July 14, 2004

Perhaps we can make a new site: date.metafilter.com, to hook up those otherwise single people.

I heartily endorse this product or service.
posted by kenko at 5:47 PM on July 14, 2004

I'm not so sure it's wise to inflict MeFi users on one another. Not romantically, at any rate.

For instance, imagine the horror should ParisParamus breed!
posted by five fresh fish at 6:05 PM on July 14, 2004

As an aside, how many other cute female MeFites exist out there? Perhaps we can make a new site: date.metafilter.com, to hook up those otherwise single people.

What makes you think the cute female MeFites would want such a thing? Can't they just go on being cute and single without you trying to hook them up?
posted by jjg at 6:07 PM on July 14, 2004

It is Czech. And being Czech, it's about envying other people.

Studying abroad

Do you from time to time like get down on our Czech school system? The shortage of dormatory rooms, the penalties for extended study, the nasty food in the cafeterias?

Studying in some countries isn't always better. You can pay as much as 4,000 Euros in tuition, and there isn't even a dorm. Paraphrase, Blah, blah, CZech students are better or, or rather it's even worse to be a student in other countries, bitch, bitch, moan moan, maybe being in the EU isn't worth it. (okay, I stopped reading. It's just about what it's like to be a student in Italy, Poland and other E.U. countries.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 6:21 PM on July 14, 2004

gesamtkunstwerk: but does the article reference the photograph? What's the caption under the enlarged photo say?

What an interesting tale of international MeFi mystery . . .
posted by aladfar at 8:26 PM on July 14, 2004

Studium v zahranicí? Study Abroad. The next bit was the paragraph I began to translate. It continues: if you if you want to read about the delights and frights in higher education in France, Italy, Holland, Poland, etc you should read on. It's all tongue in cheek.

A lot of people travel to Prague and lose things, and it's always fun to picture someone finding a picture of themselves in a foreign paper. What are the odds?

Or Maybe Zosia broke a Czech heart that night... Is there something you would like to share with us, Zosia? Czech for "i'm sorry" is 'je mi lito!, or Odpust' mne'
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 8:55 PM on July 14, 2004

Under the pic, gesamtkunstwerk.
posted by Kwantsar at 9:01 PM on July 14, 2004

Opps.
Mají dost penez na školné? (ilustracní foto: www.zosiablue.com) Do you have enough money for tuition.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 5:15 AM on July 15, 2004

Here is the translation from my friend:

You are working at a cell phone content company? That is too weird... what's the deal with telecom anyway? My best friend here is also employed at a cell phone company (one of our competitors), and in fact got the job at the exact same time I got mine. Freakiness.

I'm so thrilled to have the opportunity to use my Czech knowledge! Here the first paragraph

HOW TO STUDY ABROAD [it's funny, because they're using an old slang term fromt eh communist era instead of the normal "abroad", which literally translates to "over the hills". Hee hee]

Do you also like to occasionally bitch about the Czech school (lack of) system? The lack of dorm availability, fees for exceeding your term of study, the terrible food in the dining halls? Understand that in some countries there are no dorms whatsoever, and a year of study can cost as much as 4000 EUR. That in EU states scholarship students get no more than 150 EUR a month, which amounts to roughly a third of the stipends of Czech students. You can find out the pluses and minuses of colleges in France, Holland, Italy and Poland right here.

Other paragraph headings (I won't go to the trouble of translating them) are:
Gallic corners (about french schools)
Study as long as you want
Everyone must go
Don Quixotes
Masters in four years
etc.

That should suffice for a gist of what the article is about. Oh, and I just read the thread... how fucking funny! This person is a victim of lazy graphics design, in the sense that the editor simply browsed the internet for pictures that reflected a very college and/or dorm mentality. They attempt to explain this by referring to the photo an "illustrative" in the caption that reads:

"Do they have enough money for tuition?"
posted by shotsy at 8:57 AM on July 15, 2004

shotsy: oops. that first 'graph wasn't supposed to have made the cut. it obviously has nothing to do with the thread. please disregard.
posted by shotsy at 9:04 AM on July 15, 2004

Not to be lewd (and please don't take this wrong--I mean no discredit to you, Zosia) but he seems to be making a snarky comment about what students in other countries might have to do to make ends meet. That picture, with that caption, seems to have a very specific, if unsavory, implication.
posted by LairBob at 9:12 AM on July 15, 2004

Ai yi, I thought the same as LairBob.
posted by orange swan at 9:37 AM on July 15, 2004

Wow, thanks, everyone. I didn't even know if I would get any replies to this questions, so I'm grateful.

And yeah -- I kinda get the same idea as LairBob, which I find more amusing than anything, considering the circumstances were entirely unsexual. (The guy in picture had spilled beer on his shirt, hence the lack of clothing, and he was trying to fix the zipper on my dress, which had been broken when I allowed a very very drunk tall person to try on my dress.) Good thing any runs for office are out of the question.

Thanks, again!
posted by Zosia Blue at 11:26 AM on July 15, 2004

Za kopeckyma is slang (hovorove), which makes me suspect there is some sexual word play. Prostitution is very prevalent in the CR due to the hugely inequitable exchange rates with Austria and German. It's something people joke about all the time. While the author was making a joke at Zosia's expense, I doubt that she was trying to be malicious.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 11:44 AM on July 15, 2004