# Roller Coaster



## Tino_no

How do you say it in your language?


Spanish: Montaña rusa (lit: Russian mountain)


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## poul

In danish we call it : Rutchebane


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## vince

I think a lot of languages call them "Russian mountains". e.g. " montagne russe" (French)

I wonder what they are called in Russian?


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## Dalian

In Mandarin: 过山车 (guo shan che)


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## cyanista

vince said:
			
		

> I think a lot of languages call them "Russian mountains". e.g. " montagne russe" (French)
> 
> I wonder what they are called in Russian?



Американские горки (American mountains)


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## Ralf

In German: Achterbahn (a bit difficult to re-translate ... something like 'course running in eights')
old-fashioned: Berg-und-Tal-Bahn (Cross-Mountain-Track ... not that literal, but it comes pretty close)

Ralf


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## MingRaymond

Italian: Montagne russe (Also means 'Russian mountain')

Ming


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## cameo

Ha, in Taiwan we call it 雲宵飛車 flying car in the clouds


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## Elieri

Swedish uses "berg-och-dalbana". Literally "mountain-and-valley-track".


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## amikama

Hebrew:

*רכבת הרים* (_rakevet harim_) - mountain train
*רכבת שדים* (_rakevet shedim_) - demon train


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## Whodunit

poul said:
			
		

> In danish we call it : Rutchebane


 
So, how do you call a "chute", which is the English word for German "Rutschbahn"?

Isn't a "roller coaster" "Hochschaubahn" in Austrian German?


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## vince

cameo said:
			
		

> Ha, in Taiwan we call it 雲宵飛車 flying car in the clouds



Is that Mandarin or Taiwanese Min-nan? Do they use the same characters to say "roller coaster"?


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## lazarus1907

It is another word for roller coaster, but it is written in traditional characters:

云宵飞车


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## Hakro

In Finnish:
"vuoristorata" = mountain track


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## vince

lazarus1907 said:
			
		

> It is another word for roller coaster, but it is written in traditional characters:
> 
> 云宵飞车



So it is Mandarin?

How is it said in Taiwanese?

 Taiwanese Min-nan, not Taiwanese Mandarin, the latter is just a dialect.


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## Roi Marphille

In Catalan: 
Muntanya russa.


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## Outsider

Portuguese, _montanha russa_ (you guessed it.)


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## Dalian

vince said:
			
		

> So it is Mandarin?
> 
> How is it said in Taiwanese?
> 
> Taiwanese Min-nan, not Taiwanese Mandarin, the latter is just a dialect.


I think 云霄飞车 is what you call 'Taiwanese Mandarin', because in mainland China we hear '过山车' (literally, car running over a mountain) more often.


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## Tresley

In the UK they are also known as 'big dippers'.


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## Silvaninha

Elieri said:
			
		

> Swedish uses "berg-och-dalbana". Literally "mountain-and-valley-track".


 
In Norwegian it's called "berg-og-dalbane" - also "mountain-and-valley-track".


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## Josh_

*الأفعوانية *(al-af'waaniyya) which means relating to vipers; vipery.

or

*سكة حديد تصعد وتحبط المنحدرات
*sikkatun Hadiidin taS'adu wa-taHbitu al-munHadaraat.
A railway that goes up and down (steep) slopes


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## cajzl

In Czech:

*horská dráha* (= mountain track/railroad) = roller coaster

*ruské kolo* (= Russian wheel) = ferris wheel


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## elroy

Josh Adkins said:
			
		

> *الأفعوانية *(al-af'awaaniyya) which means relating to vipers; vipery.




That means "*the* roller coaster." Without an article it's just *أفعوانية* (af'awaaniyya).

I know you know these things but not everyone who visits this forum does. 



> *سكة حديد تصعد وتحبط المنحدرات*
> sikkatun Hadiidin taS'adu wa-taHbitu al-munHadaraat.
> A railway that goes up and down (steep) slopes


 
That's a definition in Arabic, not a translation. However, I'm perplexed by the word in blue. It doesn't seem to fit in this context. Could there be a typo, or does the word have a meaning I'm not aware of? 

Also: Please remember to explicitly state what language you're translating something into.


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## optimistique

In Dutch it's *Achtbaan*, just as in German, something like 'going in eights' (acht = eight).


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## optimistique

cyanista said:
			
		

> Американские горки (American mountains)



You're not joking?  That's a really funny coincidence.


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## LaSmarjeZ

In Italian you can also say "Otto volante" (Flying eight)


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## Josh_

I just noticed that there was a response to my post.



			
				elroy said:
			
		

> That means "*the* roller coaster." Without an article it's just *أفعوانية* (af'awaaniyya).
> 
> I know you know these things but not everyone who visits this forum does.



Well, the Arabic definite article is used differently than the English one. Many times an Arabic word will have the article when in English it is not not used.




> That's a definition in Arabic, not a translation. However, I'm perplexed by the word in blue. It doesn't seem to fit in this context. Could there be a typo, or does the word have a meaning I'm not aware of?





> Also: Please remember to explicitly state what language you're translating something into.


Some words have no equivalent in other language so this might be how it would be written in an article.  Who knows?  

Yes, that was a typo.  I meant to write  *تهبط* .


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## elroy

Josh Adkins said:
			
		

> Well, the Arabic definite article is used differently than the English one. Many times an Arabic word will have the article when in English it is not not used.


 
I am aware of that, but this is not one of those cases. 



> Some words have no equivalent in other language so this might be how it would be written in an article.


 
Well, yes, but in this case there is an equivalent.



> Yes, that was a typo. I meant to write *تهبط* .


 
Ok, in that case you need a preposition, because تهبط is not a transitive verb: سكة حديد تصعد وتهبط *على* المنحدرات.


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## Josh_

elroy said:
			
		

> Ok, in that case you need a preposition, because تهبط is not a transitive verb: سكة حديد تصعد وتهبط *على* المنحدرات.


This verb is similar to equivalent English verbs in that it can be transitive and intransive. You don't descend on slopes' or 'drop down on slopes', but rather 'descend slopes' or drop down slopes'. With the meaning of land on or set down it is intransitive and you use the preposition *على* , but with the meaning of descending or going down it is transitive and takes a direct object.


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## elroy

Josh Adkins said:
			
		

> This verb is similar to equivalent English verbs in that it can be transitive and intransive. You don't descend on slopes' or 'drop down on slopes', but rather 'descend slopes' or drop down slopes'. With the meaning of land on or set down it is intransitive and you use the preposition *على* , but with the meaning of descending or going down it is transitive and takes a direct object.


 
I know of no such usage. I just checked a bunch of reliable online dictionaries and the only transitive meanings listed have to do with other meanings of the word, namely "to enter" and "to transport to":

."هَبَطَ الْمَدِينَةَ" : دَخَلَهَا
هَبَطَ الْوَلَدَ الْبَيْتَ" : أَدْخَلَهُ فِيهِ.


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## Chazzwozzer

Hız treni(speed train) and roller coaster(spelt and pronunced just like in English) are both used in Turkish. I wonder what they call it in other Turkic languages.


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## Frank06

Hi,

In Dutch.
*Achtbaan* already has been given by Optimistique.

Other common words: *roetsjbaan*, *rollercoaster* (just like that, the English word).

Frank


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## robbie_SWE

The only thing I could think of in Romanian is actually a French loanword. "*Montagne russe*" is the only word I could think of. Let's se if any other Romanian person has anything else to say?! 

 robbie


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## kosicanka

There is also expression *housenková dráha* (Czech) / *húsenková dráha* (Slovak) which means caterpillar track.


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## suzzzenn

In Mandarin: ??? (guo shan che)

Could you tell me what the tones are for this?
Thanks


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## Almée

robbie_SWE said:


> "*Montagne russe*" is the only word I could think of. Let's see if any other Romanian person has anything else to say?!



that`s how we call it indeed -- montagne russe. there is no other synonym for it


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## !netko!

In Croatian: *vlak smrti *(train of death)


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## übermönch

!netko! said:


> In Croatian: *vlak smrti *(train of death)


 strange way to attract visitors...


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## !netko!

übermönch said:


> strange way to attract visitors...


 

Pumps up the adrenaline


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## avalon2004

There isn't a direct translation for the word in Greek (as I don't think there are in fact any roller coasters in Greece!), so the nearest equivalent is "*το τρενάκι του λούνα παρκ*/_to trenáki tou lúna park_" (lit: "little train of the amusement park").

Does anyone actually know where so many languages got this idea of "Russian mountain" from?


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## Whodunit

avalon2004 said:


> Does anyone actually know where so many languages got this idea of "Russian mountain" from?


 
Simply because they were invented in Russia (St. Petersburg). For further information, you could read this article.


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## Nizo

In Esperanto it's *onda fervojo* (wavy railroad).


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## apmoy70

Happy New Year!

In Greek:
Καταδυόμενο τρενάκι (kataði*o*meno tren*a*ci, _n._), lit. "plunging little train", or
τρενάκι του Λούνα Παρκ (tren*a*ci tu L*u*na Park, _n._), lit. "amusement park (theme park) little train"

[ð] is a voiced dental non-sibilant fricative
[c] is a voiceless palatal plosive


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## hollabooiers

In Estonian it's *ameerika mäed* (American mountains) as well. I'm assuming it's 'cause were a part of Tsarist Russia when the whole concept was invented, so it probably just got translated straight from Russian.

Now I get why it's Russian mountains in so many languages, but why would it be American mountains in Russian? XD This is actually really interesting!


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian*: hullámvasút (wave + railway)


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## IMANAKBARI

Bonjour

En persan on dit : ترن هوایی (Teran Havai)
Littéralement cela veut dire "Le train aérien" ( le train qui roule en l'air ) le train = ترن aérien = هوایی

Cordialement
Iman


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## 810senior

In Japanese, it is often called ジェットコースター_zetto koosutaa_(eng. jet coaster), while ローラコースター(transcription for _roller coaster_) makes sense as well.


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