How to Wish a Happy Father's Day in Russian

These days it's an easy task to find a translation of whatever you want in any language - thanks to online translators and a ton of posts like the one you're reading right now. But...not all of those posts are written by native speakers, so there might be little nuances which can be known only by linguists and true speakers of the translated language. The same goes for a translation of the phrases such as - HAPPY FATHER'S DAY in Russian language.

С ДНЕМ ОТЦА - HAPPY FATHER'S DAY???

Almost all of online sources translate Happy Father's Day as С ДНЕМ ОТЦА. Well, technically it's right, because FATHER is translated as ОТЕЦ in Russian. Though this translation doesn't reflect the warmth and all the nice feelings you want to send to your father on this wonderful day of celebrating dads. Отец is a word which can be found in formal documents, or can be used to say in an old-fashioned or literary texts. Отец is a person who is responsible for impregnating your mother. Отец can be absent in your life. But not the person you call DAD. Отец is not necessarily the idol a child want to become. I hope you get the idea! In English, the word Father is more commonly used than in Russian.

С ДНЕМ ПАПЫ!!!

Now if you want to show the love and emotional part for your Father's day wishes, you must use С ДНЕМ ПАПЫ! That's the proper way. That's the same as in French language - there are two words père and papa. When you talk to your father, you don't say father - instead, you say dad. 

WISHES IN RUSSIAN

Here are some wishes and poems in Russian language and it's rough translation in English so that you get an idea of what you are sending to your DAD. 

1. Ты отец — глава семьи, 

Лучше в мире не найти. 

Ты и друг наш, и учитель, 

Мамин ты телохранитель. 

С днем отца, тебя родной, 

Мы гордимся все тобой! 

Тебе здоровья мы желаем, 

И крепко-крепко обнимаем!

Here is the English translation of the poem: 

You are a father - the head of the family,

One can't find better than you in the whole world. 

You are our friend and a teacher,

You are mom's bodyguard.

Happy Father's Day to you, my dear, 

We are all proud of you!

Wishing you health,

Hugging you tightly!

2. Ты самый важный человек. 

Люблю тебя, папуля. 

Ты для меня как супермен, 

Защитник и спаситель. 

И пусть завидуют мне все, 

Что есть такой родитель.

English translation: 

You are the most important person,

I love you, daddy. 

You are like a superman for me,

Defender and savior. 

Let everyone be jealous of me,

That I have such a parent. 

3. Поздравляю с Днем отца, 

С днём папули — молодца! 

Для детей ты будь героем, 

Чтоб горды были тобою, 

Для жены — опорой будь, 

Ты давай ей отдохнуть! 

Быть родителем — награда, 

Будь с детьми почаще рядом, 

Сделай детство их счастливым, 

Беззаботным и красивым! 

Я к чему веду всё здесь: 

Будь таким, какой ты есть!

English translation: 

Wishing you a Happy Father's Day,

With the Daddy's day - a daring person day!

For children - be a hero,

So they would be proud of you,

For the wife - be a supporter,

Give her some rest!

To be a parent - it's a reward,

Be with kids more often,

Make their childhood happy,

Careless and beautiful!

What I'm saying here is this: 

Be the way you are! 

4. Ты самый сильный, самый умный, 

И самый добрый, наконец! 

Тебя люблю просто безумно, 

И я горжусь тобой, отец! 

Желаю крепкого здоровья, 

Всегда будь номером один! 

Я говорю тебе с любовью: 

Ты, папа, лучший из мужчин! 

English translation: 

You are the strongest, smartest,

And finally you are the kindest!

I love you crazily,

And I'm proud of you, father!

I wish you to have a strong health,

Always be number one!

I tell you this with love: 

You, dad, are the best of men!

How to translate FEE NUMBER on Birth Certificate of Washington State

It's going to be a short post regarding a birth certificate translation issued in Washington State, Snohomish county. When we were translating this document into the Russian language, everything seemed to be straight forward except for the part where it says 'FEE NUMBER'. Search for this particular phrase online didn't get us the desired results. So, we decided to call the Department of Health of the State of Washington by contacting them at 360-236-4300. We can't help but make a note that the representative was very informative and professional. Thank you for that! The birth certificate was issued in 2019 but I'm sure this can be found on certificates from other years, too.

One might think that the fee number might be translated as a registration number of some kind, but the specialist told us that the fee number doesn't do anything with registration. The fee number is used internally for audit/financial purposes only. 

A proper Russian translation of the 'Fee Number' should be 'Номер оплаты' or 'Номер платежа'. 

Below you can see the actual birth certificate in question. 

Funny mistake using Google translate

Translation mistake

May 5th - a lot of buzz about the National Small Business Week.

Godaddy is trying to grow its sales by all means. It keeps annoying its clients with their spammy emails. And it doesn't matter to them whether you unsubscribe - they will keep pushing their plain and unprofessionally composed marketing emails. This time this firm decided to join the National Small Business celebration by sending a similar marketing email about its so-called partner - Plant the Future.

The content of the email was poorly done. You can read it here: https://www.godaddy.com/garage/godaddy-plant-the-future-paloma-teppa/ But the company they advertised seemed interesting. After checking the company's works section, I stumbled upon this finding - here's a screenshot of it:

You don't have to be a linguist specializing in Slavic languages to regretfully discover yet another translation mistake done on what is supposed to be a welcome home sign of Midtown 29 condominium. The firm's website states that the custom moss mural (portrayed above) is supposed to "create a sense of home for their residents." The mural was installed in the lobby of the high-rise building in Miami. Well, it might help to create that sense of home to people speaking all those languages written on the sign except for those understanding the Russian language. Not because it goes last on the mural, but because it conveys nonsense. 

Here is why 

The phrase was supposed to mean Welcome home in all those languages. In Russian, the word "главная" translates to "main", "principal", etc. The Russian word "главная" can be translated as "home" only in one instance - home page of a website. And of course not home as in "the place where one lives permanently, as a member of a family or household."

I'm sure this mistake will give a lot of laughs and a sense of dealing with unprofessionals to those understanding the Russian language.

How to avoid this

To answer this question, one must see this:

Yes, if you input the word "Home" to the popular Google translate app, it will generate the exact word used by the condominium company. Even though Google translate got a lot better at doing its job, it still needs a lot of work and it surely makes mistakes. Even in simple words like "home". You can't fully rely on an online translation tool to make permanent signs like this. Instead, do a google search and look for professional Russian translation service. They won't charge you much to check on a single phrase - some might even do it free of charge.