These are what LLMs spit out .
- Bulgarian: Купете европейски (Kupte evropeyski)
- Croatian: Kupite europsko (Kupite europsko)
- Czech: Koupit evropsky (Koupit evropsky)
- Danish: Køb europæisk (Køb europæisk)
- Dutch: Koop europees (Koop europees)
- English: Buy European
- Estonian: Osta euroopa (Osta euroopa)
- Finnish: Osta Eurooppalainen (Osta Eurooppalainen)
- French: Achetez européen (Achetez européen)
- German: Kauft europäisch (Kauft europäisch)
- Greek: Λάβετε ευρωπαϊκό (Lávete evropeíko)
- Hungarian: Vásárolj európai (Vásárolj európai)
- Irish: Ceannigh Eorpach (Ceannigh Eorpach)
- Italian: Acquistare europeo (Acquistare europeo)
- Latvian: Iegādāties eiropeisks (Iegādāties eiropeisks)
- Lithuanian: Kupite europietišką (Kupite europietišką)
- Maltese: Ħallas Ewropew (Ħallas Ewropew)
- Polish: Nabyj europejski (Nabyj europejski)
- Portuguese: Compre europeu (Compre europeu)
- Romanian: Cumpărați european (Cumpărați european)
- Slovak: Kúpite evropsky (Kúpite evropsky)
- Slovenian: Počasi evropajški (Počasi evropajški)
- Spanish: Compre europeo (Compre europeo)
- Swedish: Köp europeisk (Köp europeisk)
I have it on good authority that these translations are better/OK for some languages:
- Dutch: Koop europees
- French: Achetez européen
- German: Kauft europäisch
- Greek: Αγοράζετε Ευρωπαϊκά
- Lithuanian: Pirkite europietišką
I don’t know about the others. Please help my fellow Europeans :)
In Spanish “Compre” its ok but like a bit too formal. “Compra europeo” its more direct and sounds more natural.
The Finnish translation states ‘Buy a european’. It should be ‘Osta Eurooppalaista’.
Where would one find one of those Europeans to buy? Asking for a friend.
Ewwwwwwww…
in Polish it would be “kupuj europejskie”. the first word in the LLM slop is obsolete and in an incorrect, made up form.
I think that the fact that, at the moment of me writing this, almost half of the translations has been pointed out to be incorrect, is a great example of the usefulness of AI
Exactly, I second that.
Norwegian/🇳🇴
“Kjøp europeisk”
Kjøp = buy European = europeisk
“Buy European” becomes “Kjøp europeisk”
Is “buy” adressing one person directly or a group of people?
Some of the translations seem like order / suggestion for the formal singular “you”.
Slovenian translation is awful and has no meaning. It would be translated back to english something like: “Slow euroajaian”.
Correct translation would be:
- Kupuj evropsko (buy european in general/every day)
- Kupite evropsko (buy european now eg. For this product)
- Kupi evropsko (more personal - you specifically buy european now eg for this product)
I vote for 3. If it a label/brand/badge on a product. And 1. If this is US boycott slogan.
Thank you! Good thing I asked here, because that’s pretty much what I expected.
I am also not sure for Croatian and other languages that have kupite instead of kupi. In slovenian kupi would be better suited for slogans or brands since it is used for a single person. But I am not sure since some languages are only similar but I do not speak Croatian or other languages. However in Slovenian to put something on a panel on a protest I would use “kupujte evropsko” meaning something like “you all should buy european”.
However all versions can be used in all mentioned occasions. I just mentioned what would be better suited for what occasion.
Hungarian is incorrect. It should be “Vásárolj európait!”
- “Európai” is the nominative case (describes the subject), “európait” is the accusative case (describes the verb’s direct object or target).
- Every sentence in the imperative mood (an order or command) uses an exclamation mark.
- When the proper name of a location is used to form an adjective, the name of a language, or culture (e.g. Europe -> European), it is no longer capitalized: Európa -> európai. The exceptions are if the adjective is the first word of the sentence or if it is part of a proper noun that is normally capitalized, e.g. Európai Unió.
This is the kind of understanding that LLMs can’t mimic.
Lithuanian is wrong. Should be “pirkite europietiškus produktus”. The example you gave is better than the LLM but the accusative case of european sounds odd on it’s own “buy european… what?” It’s like an unfinished sentence
“Pirkite europietišką” or just “Pirk europietišką” are perfectly fine sentences in Lithuanian.
Czech: Koupit evropsky (Koupit evropsky)
I don’t think that’s quite right. This means more like “buy (how?) european (style)” While we want to rather say "buy (what?) european (product), right? Because if it’s the “how” well you can buy like european but that doesn’t mean you buy european products. So I would translate it like Kupovat evropské (produkty)
Yes. Czech is ridiculous, How about “Kupujte v Evrope” / “Nakupujte v Evrope” - that literally means “Buy in Europe” not “Buy European products”, yet Its short I believe has pretty much the same meaning.
Yes, I agree, your version is the best. Kupujte v Evropě 😊
German is grammatically correct, but the “tone” is way off.
The intonation is identical to the anti-semitic boycott signs during the Third Reich (“Kauft nicht bei Juden”).“Unterstützt europäische Unternehmen” would be better.
Wow 😮 That’s longer than I thought it would be. Is that what would also be written in ads, flyers, and posters? (Learning more about different languages is fun!)
German isn’t really the right language for short, catchy slogans.
But “Kauft Europäisch” will trigger associations you don’t want in Germany.“Europäisch einkaufen” is the shortest I can come up with that is contextually neutral.
As a german dude I agree on everything what this user said.
“Купувай европейско” would be the Bulgarian translation, meaning “Buy” (as in in general) “европейско” (European)
“Köp europeiskt” in Swedish, alternatively “Handla europeiskt” that sounds more sophisticated, but technically “handel” encompasses all aspects of trade (buying, selling and trading) while “köpa” is exclusively the acts of buying.
Since “handla” can also mean “act” - “Act european!” - “köp europeiskt” works a lot better.
Judging by the number of suggestions and corrections, this reminds me of one of those maps that manage to trigger everyone in some way. Also, goes to show that translating is hard.
Here’s an idea though. Make a “buy European” translation post in every European language specific community out there. Explain the core message of “buy European” in a a few sentences. Explain what the feeling, emotion and atmosphere would ideally be. Should be it be a command, recommendation, encouragement or something else. Ask which option fits best in that linguistic, historical and cultural context. Collect some options from the discussion. Make a poll etc.
gimme one of those maps
Used to see lots of those on Reddit, but I’m not touching that place again.
Usually, it was a map of Europe with the favorite food, national animal or whatever of each country. In the comments you could read about all the mistakes of that map. People would disagree about the favorite food, claim that it only applies to certain part of their country, find out that they even have a national bird, claim that the national bird was changed and the map has been outdated for 30 years etc. It was a wild ride pretty much every time.
Slovene(ian): Kupuj evropsko. LLM is shit.
Thanks! LLMs do struggle with short texts or slogans in non-English languages, even when provided context. I tried a few and wasn’t confident any were right.
Can confirm Dutch. Buy European = koop Europees.
If the context requires the form ‘buying European (products)’ the order of words changes to ‘Europese (producten) kopen’.
I can confirm this. Although the “Europese (producten) kopen” doesn’t work without the “producten”. In that case it would become “Europees kopen” (European buying) or “Europees inkopen” (European purchasing)
