Translation help

February 28, 2023 4:56 AM

I received a postcard from Kazakhstan, and need help with translating it.

This is a picture of the front of the postcard (imgur link). It's adorable! I don't speak Kazakh though, and would love some help in translating what it says. I asked the sender, but they haven't responded.

Thanks all!

posted by cozenedindigo to Writing & Language (8 answers total)

Google Translate says "poverty and snobbery" ...
posted by trig at 5:25 AM on February 28, 2023

It may be Russian - "poverty and snobbery" is the meaning in that case, I think. But like you I don't know Kazakh.
posted by altolinguistic at 5:25 AM on February 28, 2023

Yeah, I think it's actually Russian
posted by trig at 5:27 AM on February 28, 2023

Here's more about the artist. My Russian is poor but I'd translate it as lack of generosity rather than poverty. Stinginess and snobbery.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 5:47 AM on February 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

This is the same image on the My Imaginary Cat Instagram account, where the location is listed as Saint Petersburg Botanical Gardens, and the autotranslate of the caption offers: "I don't know how Russia is doing, but St. Petersburg definitely has two troubles (not counting the weather)", which would lend credence to the idea that this is in Russian, not Kazak.
posted by penguin pie at 7:40 AM on February 28, 2023

Best answer: All about the cat

Translate the article to English for info.

This article translates it to begging and snobbery which totally makes sense in context of a cat.
posted by CleverClover at 12:00 PM on February 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

And here is the imaginary cat creator's instragam
posted by CleverClover at 12:06 PM on February 28, 2023

Response by poster: Thanks all! Begging and snobbery definitely make sense.
posted by cozenedindigo at 6:24 PM on February 28, 2023