Bridging the Translation Gap

Bridging the Translation Gap

by Alex J. Coyne © 2017 Great Bridge Links

Last link update Feb 2018

Die Eröffnung! Said…what? (That’s just opening bid in German, apparently…)

Bridge is enjoyed by more than 220 million players worldwide; that means you’ll encounter players from all walks of life. While tournaments are structured around this, you might still meet a player who speaks another language – or who just wants to show off.

For your enjoyment, Alex presents a list of links that will help you bridge the translation gap.

German / Deutsch 

Bridge-Verband

You can find the official German Bridge Federation’s website – in German, of course – over here. If you’re not too familiar with German, just click on Google Translate and see what you can pick up!

German Bridge Terms

The Bridge Guys, a pair of Bridge players consisting of Claus and Raymond, have set up a small dictionary of Bridge and card terms in German at their website. Oh, and don’t confuse ‘Bridge in German’ with ‘German Bridge’.

Amazon

There are also a fair bit of Bridge books in German if you’d like to add to your library.

  • Bridge für Anfänger (Thomas Alraun) (not currently available)
  • 8 Profitricks fuer Ihren Erfolg im Paarturnier (Thomas Alraun & Lothar Schmidt) (not currently available)
  • Bridge endlich verständlich: Locker erzählt und bunt bebildert 
  • (Regina Hornig & Peter H. Schürmann) (not currently available)

French / Française

You want to play Bridge in French because everything sounds cooler, and because they have terms like l’esprit de l’escalier (or ‘spirit of the staircase’) – that feeling where you think of a perfect response just a little too late, or as you hit the staircase…

Fédération Française de Bridge

The official website for the French Bridge Federation – in French, but with a translation available – is here.

France and Bridge Clubs

Another one courtesy of the Bridge Guys, here’s a list of Bridge Clubs in France, as well as links to useful Bridge websites and lessons in French.

French Vocabulary for Contract Bridge and Golf (not currently available)

You can read French Vocabulary for Contract Bridge and Golf by William Leonard Schwartz for free online at JSTOR by making an account, or you can download a copy for 5USD. We’re not sure just how contract bridge and golf are in any way related, but hey…

French Online Bridge Club – CanalBridge

This just came into our in-box today!  CanalBridge est un club de Bridge virtuel francophone gratuit qui permet à ses membres de jouer au Bridge entre eux de chez eux ou d’ailleurs sur Internet.

Afrikaans

Afrikaans is mainly spoken in South Africa, but you’ll encounter Afrikaans-speaking Bridge players the world over.

Bridge World List

Prolingua user Johan Dorfling took the time to compile an extensive 61-page list of bridge terms in Afrikaans and their English translations. Thanks, Johan!

Afrikaans Bridge Column

Brug – Ingewikkelde kaartspel
BRUG – Eerste treë
Brug – ‘n vernufspel met kaarte

A user on Die Vryburger called Kruistroef has a semi-regular bridge column in Afrikaans covering all the necessary basics.

Various

Playing Card Suits and Names (in Russian)

Lang-8 user AlexandraN compiled this handy list of playing card suit names in Russian – thanks! (By the way, that would be Hearts (Червы), Diamonds (Бубны), Clubs (Трефы) and Spades (Пики)).

Card Suits in Different Languages

Our Bulgarian is a little rusty but apparently, this is from the Bulgarian Academy of Science; our search-engine escapades managed to unearth this list of card terminology in different languages, including everything from Bengali through to Lithuanian and Korean.

Can you help us add to this list? Let us know more about bridge terms in your home language and we’ll turn it into the next article!