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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Essay & Composition Writing

Lost in translation

I am a free-lance journalist currently focusing on projects involving translations between English and Swedish, my native tongue. Right now I'm creating the English version of a preexisting website on behalf of a local artist and I've realised that works of art usually have titles that are difficult to translate. They're often quite simple phrases, but almost always carry ambiguous double-meanings.

The title I'm having the most trouble with is a line from what I guess is a classic Swedish nursery rhyme, used by children when bracing themselves before doing something relatively bold (the picture it accompanies is of a child preparing to jump into a body of water). It translates (very) roughly into:

"One, two, three
On four it's going to happen
On five it definitely will
On six it does with a bang"

My question is this: can anyone who's grown up or raised children in an English-speaking country think of a corresponding jingle/chant/rhyme? I will be most grateful for any replies and I am of course not hoping for something that means exactly the same, but rather just anything to spark my imagination.

Thank you
  

Top answer

To me, this sound similar to this sing-song expression: One for the money, Two for the show, Three to get ready, and four to go!

  • To me, this sound similar to this sing-song expression: One for the money, Two for the show, Three to get ready, and four to go!
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1 Answers
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To me, this sound similar to this sing-song expression:

One for the money,
Two for the show,
Three to get ready,
and four to go!

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