'You're getting on my biscuits': can you translate these world idioms? – quiz

With the 2018 Man Booker International prize winner to be announced on 22 May, nominated translators share their favourite sayings that don’t easily translate to English. Can you decipher the correct meanings?

Sam Taylor, Frank Wynne, Susan Bernofsky, Deborah Smith, Sarah Moses, Carolina Orloff, Camilo A Ramirez and Simon Pare

The South Korean saying "칭찬받은 고래도 춤춘다" translates as “even a whale will dance if you compliment it”. What does it mean?

No one is immune to flattery.

It's hard to resist a good dance session.

Whales are complete narcissists.

A Spanish saying used in Argentina, "Querer la chancha, los veinte y la máquina de hacer chorizos”, translates as “to want the sow, the 20 and the sausage-making machine". Which means?

To be a remarkably indulgent carnivore.

To want to have your cake and eat it too.

Someone who believes in the benefits of economic interventionism.

The French idiom "mettre la clef sous la porte” translates literally as “put the key under the door” – what does the idiom mean?

To quit doing something early because it doesn't seem like it is going well.

To close a business or stop performing an activity.

A sleazy approach by an older man.

In German, “Du gehst mir auf den Keks” means: “You’re getting on my biscuits." What's the English equivalent?

You’re getting on my nerves.

You're clumsy.

You're a brazen snack snatcher and I hate you.

In French, “Avoir le cafard” literally translates as “have the cockroach”. What does it really mean?

To be down in the dumps, or to have the blues.

To be saddled with a burden that is likely to never go away.

To have a desperate need to dance each time one hears La Cucaracha.

In South Korea, "배꼽이 빠져라 웃다" translates literally as “to laugh until your navel falls out”. What does this signify?

To split your sides laughing.

To be punished for laughing at something cruel.

To get fit with hilarious antics.

There is an Austrian saying – “Reden wie einem der Schnabel gewachsen ist” – that translates from German literally as “to speak the way one’s beak grew". What's the idiomatic meaning?

To talk straight, to be someone who doesn't mince words.

To speak in the language of your home country.

To wet one's beak.

The Spanish phrase “entre culo y calzon” translates literally as “between arse and boxer shorts”. What does the idiom mean?

To be trapped in a tricky spot.

To feel a liberating sense of freedom.

To be thick as thieves, or bosom buddies.

“An den Haaren herbeigezogen” translates literally as “dragged in by the hair". What does it mean?

To be dragged kicking and screaming.

Something far-fetched.

Like something the cat dragged in.

In Spanish, “Poner la mano en el fuego” translates literally as “to put one’s hand in the fire”. What does it mean?

To do something very stupid.

To attempt a task that is dangerous, but possibly lucrative.

To risk one's reputation for someone or something.

You got…

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