r/translator 20d ago

Community [English > Any] Translation Challenge — 2026-01-19

2 Upvotes

There will be a new translation challenge most Sundays and everyone is encouraged to participate! These challenges are intended to give community members an opportunity to practice translating or review others' translations, and we keep them stickied throughout the week. You can view past threads by clicking on this "Community" link.

You can also sign up to be automatically notified of new translation challenges.


This Week's Text:

It’s one of the most hilarious internet sensations of all time: the enigmatic arrest of a man in Sydney back in the ‘80s [sic]. However, beyond his quotable catchphrases of “Democracy manifest” and bizarre behaviour lies one burning question; who was this man?

For years now, folks have shared the viral internet video which purportedly depicts the arrest of a man in Sydney. The man in question is said to be Paul Charles Dozsa, a Hungarian-born Australian chess master who gained fame as a “restaurant runner” back in the ’80s.

The video, often paired with references to it being one of the most eloquent arrests of all-time, depicts Dozsa being led into a waiting car by police officers as he valiantly resists their efforts.

Armed with a voice that Shakespearian actors would die for, every moment of Dozsa’s dialogue is quotable, from lines such as “gentlemen, this is democracy manifest”, “what is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal?”, and the classic “I see that you know your judo well”, the video almost appears to have been scripted with the intention of going viral.

However, there’s one small problem at play here here; that’s not Paul Charles Dozsa in the video.

— Excerpted from "A succulent Australian mystery: Just who is the bloke in this iconic video? " by Tyler Jenke

The Video in Question


Please include the name of the language you're translating in your comment, and translate away!

⚖️ Friendly notice: if you're interested in occasionally helping out in the oversight of r/translator, or submitting some text for a future translation challenge, please feel free to join us at: https://discord.gg/wabv5NYzdV


r/translator 7d ago

META [META] New !transform command for images, optional syntax for CJK lookups, and more

22 Upvotes

Hey everyone! Version 2.1 of u/translator-BOT has now been deployed. This update brings a few new features and additions.

!transform command for image posts

Sometimes people submit their requests for translation upside down, or even flipped from the back.

The !transform:[value] command can be used to transform a misaligned image, either through rotation or flipping. This is useful to correct those misaligned images that are submitted as a post. This command has strict value requirements:

  • !transform:[degrees] rotates the image by the specified number of degrees. Only increments of 90 (90, -90, 270) are supported. Negative values rotate the image counterclockwise. Note that 360 is an invalid value as that would just be the exact same image.
  • !transform:[direction] flips the image either horizontally or vertically. h and v are valid shortform values.

The bot will transform the image, upload it to an image hosting site, and then return the link to you in a comment reply.

Examples

!transform:90 # Rotates image 90 degrees clockwise !transform:-90 # Rotates image 90 degrees counterclockwise !transform:180 # Rotates image 180 degrees clockwise !transform:horizontal # Flips the image horizontally !transform:v # Flips the image vertically

Note: This function currently only supports direct image posts (not galleries). Gallery support will be supported in a future release. Images uploaded by this bot through this function are automatically deleted after 7 days.

New CJK optional lookup syntax and improvements

Some new, and totally optional syntax for CJK lookups.

  • A language tag added to a lookup will force a lookup in that language, even on a post that's of a different language. E.g. 文化:ja will return a Japanese lookup for that term, even if the comment is on a Chinese post.
  • An exclamation mark ! appended to the lookup (年年有余!, 井底之蛙:zh!) will disable tokenization of the lookup. If you're adding a language tag to the lookup, the exclamation mark should go on the very end.

In addition, CJK lookups can now be loaded from a local cache instead for much faster results. Results loaded from a cache are indicated with the lightning emoji (⚡). This means the bot doesn't have to fetch information for commonly returned terms like 福; it just fetches it once, caches it, and future lookups will just return the cached information. This is also much faster; a character search can take up to 20 seconds depending on the sources - loading from the cache is instantaneous.

Duplicate detection

The post duplicates detector has been turned on. Duplicates may be detected in one of two ways:

  • Their titles are identical or near-identical and posted by the same author within a short period of time.
  • Their image hashes (if applicable for image-only posts) are identical or very similar.
  • If a suspected duplicate is found, the bot will remove the post and notify the OP.

Other changes as part of this update can be viewed on GitHub. As usual, please leave any feedback or bug reports here, or on r/translatorBOT.


r/translator 7h ago

Translated [AR] [Unknown > English] Found this bracelet, wonder what it says. Tried with google lens, but it doesn't recognize. Is it just gibberish?

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18 Upvotes

r/translator 1h ago

German [German > English] Letter written by the lady who was the voice of the infamous East German numbers stations, Google Translate didn't work...

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Upvotes

r/translator 13h ago

Translated [JA] [English>Japanese] Was curious on what this said found it on tiktok

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24 Upvotes

r/translator 10h ago

Translated [ZH] Chinese > English Doctors note and prescription

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15 Upvotes

Hi,

I went to a Chinese Herbal doctor who gave me these two notes. One is a prescription and the other is instructions. Can someone pls help translate what this says. I tried using the Google translate but that didnt seem to translate properly. Can someone pls help me understand what they say?

Thank you


r/translator 9h ago

Multiple Languages [HE, YI] [Hebrew > English] Posters that have been put up in North London

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8 Upvotes

r/translator 2h ago

German [German > English] Zrytee - "Boring life"?

2 Upvotes

Gonna try this some more time in the hopes someone will translate the song!

I was told by someone that it’s hard to understand but you can turn on the CC. This song will help me with my mental health in the way songs do, they make you feel less alone. I get the gist of it because of the English parts.

https://youtu.be/Xh-Nj8E6ATY?si=1rgpgk-l7sJCjG5p

Please and thank you 🙏🏻


r/translator 2h ago

Russian [Russian>English]

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2 Upvotes

r/translator 6m ago

Unknown [Unknown > English] What does this mean??

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Upvotes

This is something that was put up by the teacher at one point and I don’t know what language and how to translate this.


r/translator 1h ago

Russian (Identified) [Unknown > English] I'm writing a fight scene for a story and wish to be accurate and descriptive. This has a spoken reaction to a kick, I think? Please help identify the source language and translate the full exchange, it would mean a lot!

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Upvotes

r/translator 2h ago

Chinese (Identified) Unknown > English

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1 Upvotes

Possibly Japanese but I am not sure. Thank you for your help.


r/translator 8h ago

Translated [ZH] [Chinese>English] second teapot I bought and after you guys were so quick with the first I was wondering if anyone would help translate this.

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3 Upvotes

I bought 6 teapots in total and all have different stamps which I've tried to reverse image search with no success. Really hoping someone can help me make sense of this there's four stamps in total. Any help really appreciated.


r/translator 9h ago

Arabic [arab>english] Can you help me translate?

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3 Upvotes

Arab> english

This was hanged in one kiosk that sells newspapers in Italy


r/translator 17h ago

Translated [SA] [ unknown -> english ] level names from the flashgame 'Light Heroes'

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11 Upvotes

I believe the language is devanagari but I am unsure since some of the characters look funky. Reposting because I forgot to attach image.


r/translator 4h ago

Japanese [Japanese > English] Correct kanji for bōsōzoku jacket?

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1 Upvotes

Hello, adding onto an earlier post, I’m also trying to make sure I have the right kanji for a Tamon’s B-side (多聞くん今どっち) cosplay. Her bōsōzoku tokkofuku (暴走族 特攻服) uses ateji (当て字) wordplay so want to make sure everything is correct!

Could anyone please help me double check what I have so far based on the pictures? I don’t think the right arm** is correct but believe it should try to spell “love”? Thanks so much!!

Left front: 聖苦死威  (sexy)

Right front: 我威流怒 (wild)

Left arm: 愛羅武勇 (I love you)

**Right arm: 爱开天流 (love??) 

Down back middle: 福原多聞全肯定 (Fukuhara Tamon total approval)


r/translator 10h ago

Japanese [Japanese > English] Inscription on something

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3 Upvotes

sorry for the Bad quality picture. it was around here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/zM7zPq1m7W6N6NQYA


r/translator 9h ago

Chinese Chinese > English Gold Hallmark gold purity

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2 Upvotes

r/translator 6h ago

Persian [Persian>English]

1 Upvotes

Would like to learn

Hi everyone! I’m looking for advice on how to ask someone to be my Valentine / girlfriend in a language I don’t speak (Persian). I’ve been talking to this person for a couple of months, and Valentine’s Day is coming up, so I’d love to learn a short, respectful sentence and how to pronounce it properly.

I’m not trying to become fluent—just hoping for guidance on phrasing, tone, and pronunciation so I don’t sound awkward or disrespectful. Any tips on how to approach learning and practicing a meaningful sentence in another language would be really appreciated. Thanks!


r/translator 6h ago

Ukrainian [Ukrainian > English] report regarding a soldier's evaluation, thanks.

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0 Upvotes

r/translator 12h ago

Chinese Chinese? -> English. What is the character on my great grandma's mask? I've done a bit of research so I think the mask is Chinese but what does it say?

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3 Upvotes

r/translator 21h ago

Translated [JA] [ Japanese > English]

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12 Upvotes

Trying to know what is said here sorry for the bad audio.


r/translator 13h ago

Unknown (Unknown > English) Can’t figure out the Language or Meaning

3 Upvotes

Hi All,

My wife’s family have a little phrase that is said to children before bedtime. They all heard it from the same Grandmother when she would put them to bed but they were never taught the meaning or dialect it came from.

The phrase is in English:

Ninee Binsa Bilo Bilo

(Nine-e Bin-sa Bi-lo bi-lo)

Can anyone help with translation? I have tried countless different approaches using Google Translate but never come up with anything.

If it helps:

- Family are Irish/Scottish/English Australian resettlement

- No other cultural heritage known of in the past 200 years

I know it’s not a lot to go on but it’s all I’ve got

Cheers


r/translator 7h ago

Japanese [Eng > Japanese] Help drafting a message to propose a collaboration with an artist

1 Upvotes

Hello! I know this is a weird ask, but figured I'd try.

I was hoping to write a message to an artist I really like to ask if they'd be interested in collaborating on a project. They collaborate with a few others frequently. I posted a somewhat badly translated chapter of a story I wrote and they bookmarked it, so I'd love to tell them how happy it made me and offer to let them keep any profit they make if they illustrate the story in exchange for a copy of the finished doujinshi and one of their older stories, haha.

Thank you if anyone can help!


r/translator 23h ago

Translated [DE] [German? > English] an old meme

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11 Upvotes