Someone with a screw loose has a spider on the ceiling in French and not all their cups in the cupboard in German. When it's all Greek to you, French hears Chinese and German only understands train station.
One language at a time: English · French · German · Spanish · Italian · Japanese
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Avoir une araignée au plafond lit. ‘have a spider on the ceiling’
Nicht alle Tassen im Schrank haben lit. ‘not have all your cups in the cupboard’
Faltarle un tornillo lit. ‘be missing a screw’
Mancare qualche rotella lit. ‘be missing a few little wheels’
頭のネジが外れている atama no neji ga hazurete iru lit. ‘the screw in your head has come off’
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No English idiom. Means: to miss something that is obvious to everyone else
Ne pas avoir les yeux en face des trous lit. ‘not have your eyes in front of the holes’
Tomaten auf den Augen haben lit. ‘have tomatoes on your eyes’
Estar en Babia lit. ‘to be in Babia’
Avere il prosciutto sugli occhi lit. ‘to have ham over your eyes’
目が節穴 me ga fushiana lit. ‘your eyes are knotholes’
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C’est du chinois lit. ‘it’s Chinese’
Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof lit. ‘I only understand train station’
Me suena a chino lit. ‘it sounds like Chinese to me’
Per me è arabo lit. ‘to me it’s Arabic’
ちんぷんかんぷん chinpunkanpun lit. ‘gibberish (a made-up sound, roughly “chin-pun-kan-pun”)’
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No English idiom. Means: someone who only knows their own small world and thinks it's everything
Voir midi à sa porte lit. ‘see noon at your own door’
Nicht über den Tellerrand hinausschauen lit. ‘to not look beyond the rim of the plate’
No ver más allá de sus narices lit. ‘not to see beyond your own nose’
Avere i paraocchi lit. ‘to have the blinkers on’
井の中の蛙 i no naka no kawazu lit. ‘a frog in a well’
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Wie ein Fisch auf dem Trockenen lit. ‘like a fish on dry land’
Como pez fuera del agua lit. ‘like a fish out of the water’
Come un pesce fuor d’acqua lit. ‘like a fish out of water’
借りてきた猫 karite kita neko lit. ‘a cat that has been borrowed (and brought over)’
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Être dans la lune lit. ‘to be in the moon’
Mit den Gedanken woanders sein lit. ‘to be somewhere else with your thoughts’
Estar en las nubes lit. ‘to be in the clouds’
Avere la testa fra le nuvole lit. ‘to have your head among the clouds’
上の空 uwa no sora lit. ‘the sky up above’
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Donner sa langue au chat lit. ‘to give your tongue to the cat’
Keinen blassen Schimmer haben lit. ‘to not have a pale glimmer’
No saber ni papa lit. ‘to not know even a potato’
Non avere la più pallida idea lit. ‘to not have the palest idea’
見当もつかない kentō mo tsukanai lit. ‘can’t even get a bearing’
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Mélanger les torchons et les serviettes lit. ‘to mix the tea towels and the napkins’
Äpfel mit Birnen vergleichen lit. ‘to compare apples with pears’
Mezclar churras con merinas lit. ‘to mix churra sheep with merino sheep’
Fare di tutta l’erba un fascio lit. ‘to make one bundle out of all the grass’
月とすっぽん tsuki to suppon lit. ‘the moon and a soft-shelled turtle’
Phrases in bold with a red marker are written up. The rest don’t have their own page yet.