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17:37 Jan 2, 2012
Russian to English translations [PRO] Poetry & Literature
Russian term or phrase:Захрустел огурцом
xxx с энтузиазмом захрустел огурцом.
Here's yet another one of those little cross-cultural divides. It is perfectly fine to zakhrustet ogurtsom in Russian, but apparently, not too many English speakers crunch on their pickles. Google did return one or two hits on this, but somehow I am not convinced, and my two American children think it sounds funny. They would simply "eat a pickle" even though they do agree this kind of misses the point. Sure, it would be perfectly fine to "munch on a pickle", but again, the meaning is different. Skipping the "on" for "crunching a pickle" somehow doesn't sound right here either, you lose the dynamics of it, and it sounds too much like crunching numbers. Any other ideas?
As if often the case, grading the answers under the existing constraints is a real bummer. On the surface of it, master chompers Mark and Sam came the closest, and they came there first, so the very least I can do is acknowledge as much and say thankya kindly. Still, it was the final nail hammered "down" (pun intended) by Alex that helped me finally see the light, and "chomp down on a pickle" is what I actually used. Many thanks, everyone. Special thanks to incomparable Signor Korovkin for a much-needed dissenting opinion. What would we do without him? 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
Ha-ha! Terrible mistake. Munching, chomping, slurping, crunching, gnawing, nibbling, nagging, chewing loudly and devouring the pickles (they are the gherkins, cannot be anything else) is a Russian party (small or great) typical picture.
is that little fly in the window, invited the peterpans into the Monkeyland. Sure, dear, except mentioned gherkins, picked onions are also on the menu, but... what is it, HIS gherkin? Did he grow it himself, or? Then, you forgot putting an indefinite preposition in your translation before two last words.
"Munch" is another alternative... although "crunch" and "chomp" are good. Over here in Britain we tend to refer to salted/pickled cucumbers as gherkins...
I would possibly translate this sentence: "He munched/chomped on his gherkin/pickle with great relish".
A rabbit crunches on a carrot, a dog crunches on a bone, a human crunches on a juicy apple. Tnis action and its sound is not exclusive to any animal and i do not find anything funny about it. What I find funny - judging the term by the reaction of young monkeys, who, probably, didn't have opportunity to read many books (hopefully - yet) in their young lives. A rabbit crunching on a carrot - that is something out of a catoon for them and they draw simiarity out of the manner of its chewing.
I think this is it, folks, even though the older of my two monkeys still thinks it funny. That's all right, we don't agree on much of anything these days. Many thanks, everyone.
Sam Pinson Local time: 20:52 Works in field Native speaker of: English
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks. I thought of that too, and there's more usage hits for chomping on pickles. It's those dang kids that threw me off again.
4 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +2
chomp on / crunch on
Explanation: "Crunch on" sounds perfectly fine to me, while "chomp on" is another good option.
Mark Berelekhis United States Local time: 23:52 Specializes in field Native speaker of: Russian, English PRO pts in category: 542 1 corroborated select project in this pair and field
Notes to answerer
Asker: Gracias, amigo. I am now leaning towards chomping.
4 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
savored a crunchy pickle
Explanation: You have to convey the "crunchy" part somehow.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 5 mins (2012-01-02 17:43:16 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
And "savor" would also cover "с энтузиазмом"
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 15 mins (2012-01-02 17:53:50 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Good point, Misha... "Chomped down on a crunchy pickle" would be my final choice.
Alex Marshall United States Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 24
Grading comment
As if often the case, grading the answers under the existing constraints is a real bummer. On the surface of it, master chompers Mark and Sam came the closest, and they came there first, so the very least I can do is acknowledge as much and say thankya kindly. Still, it was the final nail hammered "down" (pun intended) by Alex that helped me finally see the light, and "chomp down on a pickle" is what I actually used. Many thanks, everyone. Special thanks to incomparable Signor Korovkin for a much-needed dissenting opinion. What would we do without him?
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks, Alex. Is it just me or do we really lose the dynamic aspect of the phrase this way - whatever that means?
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The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +1
