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> In Spanish, you “lend” attention. In Swedish, you “are” attention. In Hebrew you "place [your] heart" (lasim lev).

by lisper 1y ago

mrsvanwinkle 1y ago
Absolutely mind/world-expanding. Thanks for sharing. The Swedish version reminds me of (the now "disgraced" but his Proust book is cool journalist) Lehrer's chapter on Virginia Woolfe in Proust Was a Neuroscientist, where he claims that "attention _is_ consciousness" in Woolf's then-novel stream of consciousness style in To the Lighthouse.
- DisruptiveDave 1y ago
  This is buddhism and mindfulness in a nutshell. The only thing about your existence that does not change is that which is aware.
WA 1y ago
In German, you "direct" attention at something or "gift" attention to someone.
- lisper 1y ago
  What German phrase did you have in mind? Because the idiomatic translation of "to pay attention" is "aufpassen", which literally translates to something like "pass on" or "fit on".
  - epaga 1y ago
    "jemandem Aufmerksamkeit schenken", "Aufmerksamkeit auf etwas richten"
  - fainpul 1y ago
    You can't rip apart that word into "auf" and "passen" and then individually translate them literally. The result seems nonsensical. I would say "aufpassen" is literally "be attentive" / "be watchful". Edit: "to pay attention" is literally "Aufmerksamkeit zollen"
    - lisper 1y ago
      > You can't rip apart that word into "auf" and "passen" and then individually translate them literally. Sure, just like you can't separate "pay attention". Both are idiomatic. But you can separate "aufpassen" into "Paß auf". (For the benefit of non-German lurkers, "Paß auf" is a command to pay attention.)
    - camdroidw 1y ago
      Replying to your powershell comment from 30d back-- you won't use aliases, you'd type g-ci <tab> for get-ChildItem
  - 1718627440 1y ago
    I would translate "aufpassen" more with "to attend" or "to watch over". The literal analogue to "pass on" or "fit on" is "anpassen"; "auf" generally means "over", "on/to the top of".
- layer8 1y ago
  In German, you “give eight”. ;)
  - throw-qqqqq 1y ago
    This made me laugh :D!
iLemming 1y ago
In Russian, you "spare" attention by "making" it. The word 'уделять' shares the same root with the word that means - 'deed', 'doing', 'act' or 'affair'.
- laurent_du 1y ago
  No, it's a different etymological root. A better translation would be to say that you give a share of your attention (делить's meaning is to divide).
  - iLemming 1y ago
    Ah, right. I completely missed the difference between 'делать' and 'делить'.
ssttoo 1y ago
Ha, I was just recently thinking about what you do with attention in different languages. In my native Bulgarian (обръщам внимание) you “turn” your attention as in you “direct” it. Same word for when you turn a page. Like you have but a single attention and it’s up to you where you direct it. In French (correct me if I’m wrong) you “make” attention, « faire attention ». Like there’s unlimited amount of attention and you can always make more.
im3w1l 1y ago
> In Swedish, you “are” attention. Which phrase would this be?
- 1718627440 1y ago
  If it is similar to german, then it would be that you are attented.
- kakokiyrvoooo 1y ago
  ”Vara fokuserad” I think. Or ”vara koncentrerad”. Maybe ”uppmärksam” is a better translation of the word? But ”have” attention exists for both of those as well. ”Ha fokus”.
CGMthrowaway 1y ago
In Japanese (注意を払う), you pay attention, much like in English. However, the verb 払う also means "to sweep away" or "to clear" suggesting a sense of effort or focus in clearing distractions to direct attention In Korean 신경 쓰다 literally means "to use nerves." The idea of investing mental energy into something In Finnish, you fasten or attach attention (kiinnittaa huomiota)
- anticensor 1y ago
  In Turkish, you give attention, expending your mental capability.
SonOfLilit 1y ago
Huh, I never placed my heart to it
SonOfLilit 1y ago
Mandarin Chinese: 注意 (zhùyì) - "note/record intention" Spanish: prestar atención - "lend attention" English: pay attention - "give/spend attention" Hindi: ध्यान देना (dhyaan dena) - "give meditation/focus" Arabic: انتبه (intabih) - "be alert/awake" ... https://pastebin.com/3ghPnjb9 https://pastebin.com/3ghPnjb9
saxelsen 1y ago
In Swedish it's "var uppmärksam" which is more like "be attentive" - same as in English. They just use the adjective form more.

> In Spanish, you “lend” attention. In Swedish, you “are” attention. In Hebrew you "place [your] heart" (lasim lev).

by lisper 1y ago

> In Spanish, you “lend” attention. In Swedish, you “are” attention. In Hebrew you "place [your] heart" (lasim lev).

Absolutely mind/world-expanding. Thanks for sharing. The Swedish version reminds me of (the now "disgraced" but his Proust book is cool journalist) Lehrer's chapter on Virginia Woolfe in Proust Was a Neuroscientist, where he claims that "attention _is_ consciousness" in Woolf's then-novel stream of consciousness style in To the Lighthouse.

DisruptiveDave 1y ago
This is buddhism and mindfulness in a nutshell. The only thing about your existence that does not change is that which is aware.

WA 1y ago

In German, you "direct" attention at something or "gift" attention to someone.

lisper 1y ago
What German phrase did you have in mind? Because the idiomatic translation of "to pay attention" is "aufpassen", which literally translates to something like "pass on" or "fit on".
- epaga 1y ago
  "jemandem Aufmerksamkeit schenken", "Aufmerksamkeit auf etwas richten"
- fainpul 1y ago
  You can't rip apart that word into "auf" and "passen" and then individually translate them literally. The result seems nonsensical. I would say "aufpassen" is literally "be attentive" / "be watchful". Edit: "to pay attention" is literally "Aufmerksamkeit zollen"
  - lisper 1y ago
    > You can't rip apart that word into "auf" and "passen" and then individually translate them literally. Sure, just like you can't separate "pay attention". Both are idiomatic. But you can separate "aufpassen" into "Paß auf". (For the benefit of non-German lurkers, "Paß auf" is a command to pay attention.)
  - camdroidw 1y ago
    Replying to your powershell comment from 30d back-- you won't use aliases, you'd type g-ci <tab> for get-ChildItem
- 1718627440 1y ago
  I would translate "aufpassen" more with "to attend" or "to watch over". The literal analogue to "pass on" or "fit on" is "anpassen"; "auf" generally means "over", "on/to the top of".
layer8 1y ago
In German, you “give eight”. ;)
- throw-qqqqq 1y ago
  This made me laugh :D!

iLemming 1y ago

In Russian, you "spare" attention by "making" it. The word 'уделять' shares the same root with the word that means - 'deed', 'doing', 'act' or 'affair'.

laurent_du 1y ago
No, it's a different etymological root. A better translation would be to say that you give a share of your attention (делить's meaning is to divide).
- iLemming 1y ago
  Ah, right. I completely missed the difference between 'делать' and 'делить'.

ssttoo 1y ago

Ha, I was just recently thinking about what you do with attention in different languages. In my native Bulgarian (обръщам внимание) you “turn” your attention as in you “direct” it. Same word for when you turn a page. Like you have but a single attention and it’s up to you where you direct it. In French (correct me if I’m wrong) you “make” attention, « faire attention ». Like there’s unlimited amount of attention and you can always make more.

im3w1l 1y ago

> In Swedish, you “are” attention. Which phrase would this be?

1718627440 1y ago
If it is similar to german, then it would be that you are attented.
kakokiyrvoooo 1y ago
”Vara fokuserad” I think. Or ”vara koncentrerad”. Maybe ”uppmärksam” is a better translation of the word? But ”have” attention exists for both of those as well. ”Ha fokus”.

CGMthrowaway 1y ago

In Japanese (注意を払う), you pay attention, much like in English. However, the verb 払う also means "to sweep away" or "to clear" suggesting a sense of effort or focus in clearing distractions to direct attention In Korean 신경 쓰다 literally means "to use nerves." The idea of investing mental energy into something In Finnish, you fasten or attach attention (kiinnittaa huomiota)

anticensor 1y ago
In Turkish, you give attention, expending your mental capability.

SonOfLilit 1y ago

Huh, I never placed my heart to it

SonOfLilit 1y ago

Mandarin Chinese: 注意 (zhùyì) - "note/record intention" Spanish: prestar atención - "lend attention" English: pay attention - "give/spend attention" Hindi: ध्यान देना (dhyaan dena) - "give meditation/focus" Arabic: انتبه (intabih) - "be alert/awake" ... https://pastebin.com/3ghPnjb9 https://pastebin.com/3ghPnjb9

saxelsen 1y ago

In Swedish it's "var uppmärksam" which is more like "be attentive" - same as in English. They just use the adjective form more.