# Bulgarian: Tesi izglejdat maloumni



## glugluglu

Hi all,

I need some help with a text in Bulgarian. Could you translate it into English for me? Thanks in advance

This is the text (Bulgarian written in latin characters):_Tesi izglejdat maloumni_
_Da im objasnjavame li?_​I understand there could be a mistake in the first word (not 'tesi' but 'tezi'), but I'm not sure. Please keep in mind that there could be more spelling mistakes.

Thanks again for your help


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## Maja

glugluglu said:


> _Tesi izglejdat maloumni_
> _Da im objasnjavame li?_​


I'll give it a try but, by all means wait for a native as I don't speak Bulgarian!!!

 They look feebleminded.
 Shell we explain it to them?


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## glugluglu

Thanks for your effort, Maja.


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## Argy

glugluglu said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I need some help with a text in Bulgarian. Could you translate it into English for me? Thanks in advance
> 
> 
> 
> This is the text (Bulgarian written in latin characters):_Tesi izglejdat maloumni_​_Da im objasnjavame li?_​I understand there could be a mistake in the first word (not 'tesi' but 'tezi'), but I'm not sure. Please keep in mind that there could be more spelling mistakes.
> 
> Thanks again for your help


 
Hola glu,

esa frase se puede traducir como:



''These (referring to people) look feebleminded

Shall we explain (it) to them ?''


Saludos!


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## paperclip013

Hello and hola,

I am  Bulgarian and the translation given here is inaccurate. The correct way to translate the two sentences is: "These people must be complete morons. Shall we explain it/anything/ to them?" 

Best,
Paperclip013


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## paperclip013

Just a quick note: literal translation does not always work very well. 
Maloumen is a composite word, which does have the meaning of "feeble-minded." However, in the vernacular it is most frequently used in the sense of "moron, idiot, cretin."


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## Maja

paperclip013 said:


> The correct way to translate the two sentences is: "These people must be complete morons. Shall we explain it/anything/ to them?"



"Izglejdat" - must be? Really?
"Izgledati" in Serbian means - seem / appear / look


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## paperclip013

Hi,

In English no one would say "These people seem to be morons." Read my previous post about literal translations. In vernacular English, most people would say something like what I wrote down: "These people must be complete morons." Remember that in English, the modal verb "must" can be used to express a hinge of doubt, as well as to express certainty. For instance, "You must be very tired" means  "I suppose you are tired," not that you are by necessity actually tired. Same in this case "tezi izglezhdat maloumni" --  literal translation does not work well to convey the meaning of the sentence. Instead, the sentence suggest that my opinion of the people is that they appear stupid, but may not really be stupid=> "must be morons" works fine.

Best,
Paperclip013


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## Maja

paperclip013 said:


> "These people must be complete morons."


 I would never use this expression! I might say "They look like morons / moronic  / idiotic". But never "must be"!!!
When you said that my translation is incorrect, I thought you meant on the content and not technicalities, stile and choice of words.
So basically, the sentence means the same as it does in  Serbian and I was on the right track?!


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## българин

Paperclip I disagree. I think Maja translated it correctly the first time. 
Тези изглеждат малоумни (this is the correct way to write it). 
They look feebleminded. 


"Must be" is translated as "трябва да..." 
трябва да си малоумен......you must be feebleminded....in order to do something...


изглеждат is more like "look like" or "appear" 

But anyway...the meaning is clear of this awkward and funny sentence. lol


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## ilbambinomartino

I feel I need to chime in here as well.

 Paperclip013's translation is just...  better.  "They seem like they're morons" and "they appear to be morons" don't accurately convey the attitude of the person who typed the original Bulgarian.  Stylistically these two simply are not a match for " Тези изглеждат малоумни". "They look like morons" is even worse because it is contextually loaded, if such a term even exists.  I'm not a linguist, I just try to sound like one . That certainly introduces an implication that there was visual contact.  I agree with Paperclip013 that central to the meaning of the first sentence is the supposition that "they" are morons.  "They must be morons" captures that just about perfectly.  

 Then there is also the matter of "Tesi" vs. "Tezi".  Here are a  few factors regarding different transliteration (Cyrillic to Latin) techniques various Bulgarians use:
 1.  The Western language they are most comfortable with/learned first.  Example *в [v]* will be *w* for someone who knows German, but *v *for someone who only speaks English, just as in Polish and... I vaguely remember a certain Czech making a certain cheeky comment that had something to do with that.
 2.  In the early days of personal computing (talking about 8- and 16-bit machines) someone decided to use *q *to signify *я [ja].  *Most people who use that today are aging computer geeks.
 3.  On the other hand, people who use the shorthand *4 *for *ч* *[tʃ**] *and *6 *for *ш [ʃ] *are invariably teenage or prepubescent little punks. 
 4.  Lastly, and most importantly, people just get lazy sometimes.  Where a combination of two or more letters is needed to represent a single Bulgarian one, we just pick one that we know will do the job.  As strange as it sounds, it can actually be easier for the person on the other end, provided he or she is a native speaker.  

 So "Tesi" or "Tezi"?  The distinction to *this* Bulgarian is immaterial.


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