Google Translate?

[WGroleau]

Sign a little west of Pamplona:

 

[Kathar1na]

Buen Camino
Bon Chemin
Nice Path
Einen Guten Weg

Actually not Google Translate, just somebody without a good knowledge of English.

The French is obviously correct and the German has been put into the accusative form - which Google Translate would not know to do (I checked). "Einen Guten!" or "Guten Rutsch!" are similar ways of expressing a positive wish to someone else.

There, you learnt something new and it wasn't even yet another funny translation into English.

Buen Camino translates from Spanish into English as Buen Camino of course as we peregrin@s all know.

 

[Tincatinker]

Actually not Google Translate, just somebody without a good knowledge of English.

The French is obviously correct and the German has been put into the accusative form - which Google Translate would not know to do (I checked). "Einen Guten!" or "Guten Rutsch!" are similar ways of expressing a positive wish to someone else.

There, you learnt something new and it wasn't even yet another funny translation into English.

Buen Camino translates from Spanish into English as Buen Camino of course as we peregrin@s all know.

Actually, the nearest equivalent in English is: "Mind how you go".

 

[David]

Buen Camino in English doesn't really work as it would be the common 'goodbye' ... bye being an old English word, byeway, for a way, or small road.

 

[Kathar1na]

We don't know what the writer had been thinking, perhaps simply buen día / buenos días corresponds to (have) a nice day, and so buen camino corresponds to (have) a nice path.

 

[Kathar1na]

Actually, the nearest equivalent in English is: "Mind how you go".

"Buen Camino" is such a versatile expression in English, isn't it? It can mean "Hello" as well as "Hello to you, too" but also "You go off now while I will sit in this bar for a little longer, and like this we will put some kilometres between us."

And all the thinking that goes into it before you say it. You see a local out walking and coming towards you. You think to yourself: Do I say "Buen Camino" or "Hola" while the other person is thinking: Yet another Camino pilgrim. Do I say "Buen Camino" or just nothing at all.

 

[lalaone]

Interesting, this reminds me of ahlan wa sahlan in Arabic - hello; also, you're welcome; but the older literal meaning is something like "May your path be smooth, not rocky"

 

[dick bird]

Bide on is Basque, but I have no idea whether it is good Basque.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

"Buen Camino" is such a versatile expression in English, isn't it? It can mean "Hello" as well as "Hello to you, too" but also "You go off now while I will sit in this bar for a little longer, and like this we will put some kilometres between us."

And all the thinking that goes into it before you say it. You see a local out walking and coming towards you. You think to yourself: Do I say "Buen Camino" or "Hola" while the other person is thinking: Yet another Camino pilgrim. Do I say "Buen Camino" or just nothing at all.

It's when you return home and continue to say it to oblivious countryfolk you need to worry.

It reminds me of a passage from a book about another "pilgrimage":

“Good Morning!" said Bilbo, and he meant it. The sun was shining, and the grass was very green. But Gandalf looked at him from under long bushy eyebrows that stuck out further than the brim of his shady hat.

"What do you mean?" he said. "Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?"

"All of them at once," said Bilbo. "And a very fine morning for a pipe of tobacco out of doors, into the bargain.

...

"Good morning!" he said at last. "We don't want any adventures here, thank you! You might try over The Hill or across The Water." By this he meant that the conversation was at an end.

"What a lot of things you do use Good morning for!" said Gandalf. "Now you mean that you want to get rid of me, and that it won't be good till I move off.”

​

 

[Peter Fransiscus]

Bide on is Basque, but I have no idea whether it is good Basque.

When I'm not mistaking it is Bide Ona.

 

[Mendizale]

When I'm not mistaking it is Bide Ona.

Bide ona would be a good way/path you already know, as the "-a" is the determinant article (bide onA=way good THE, literary means "THE good way", EL buen camino", "LE bon chemin"). There is a joke about the order of words in sentences in basque, being similar to Yoda 's in star wars. In euskera the verb's place is the end of the sentence in short sentences.
Bide on would be buen camino.

 

[CWBuff]

The "t" is silent (and invisible)

Nice Way! OY!

So... I threw in Russian and Ukrainian for a good measure
Russian (Хороший способ) is waaaaaay off!!!! if "Хороший" (kho-rOh-shiy) is transalted as "good" - "способ" (spo-sOb)on the other hand is better thought of as "method" (so Way can be applied but as in its a good way of make something)
Ukrainian is just the same (хороший спосіб - same words slightly different spelling)

OY again

 

[CWBuff]

“Good Morning!" said Bilbo, and he meant it. The sun was shining, and the grass was very green. But Gandalf looked at him from under long bushy eyebrows that stuck out further than the brim of his shady hat.

"What do you mean?" he said. "Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?"

"All of them at once," said Bilbo. "And a very fine morning for a pipe of tobacco out of doors, into the bargain.

...

"Good morning!" he said at last. "We don't want any adventures here, thank you! You might try over The Hill or across The Water." By this he meant that the conversation was at an end.

"What a lot of things you do use Good morning for!" said Gandalf. "Now you mean that you want to get rid of me, and that it won't be good till I move off.”

I know that its LOTR but couldn't help but envision Pooh & Piglet

 

[Jeff Crawley]

I know that its LOTR but couldn't help but envision Pooh & Piglet

The Hobbit but you're right about Pooh and Piglet

 

[CWBuff]

On Camino Frances in January.

 

[KayfromUK]

It's a convenient phrase, when you don't know what language the person speaks, or if the person is a pilgrim. I just said "Buen Camino." If the person responds the same, then, I know s/he is a fellow pilgrim and could start more conversation. As I started in Portugal, I said Bom Caminho. After crossing the border to Spain, I was still saying the same..but managed to switch to Buen Camino sometimes... then confused between 2!

 

[CWBuff]

It's a convenient phrase, when you don't know what language the person speaks, or if the person is a pilgrim. I just said "Buen Camino." If the person responds the same, then, I know s/he is a fellow pilgrim and could start more conversation.

Not necessarily. I gad plenty of locals who responded in kind.

 

[Pelegrin]

It's a convenient phrase, when you don't know what language the person speaks, or if the person is a pilgrim. I just said "Buen Camino." If the person responds the same, then, I know s/he is a fellow pilgrim and could start more conversation. As I started in Portugal, I said Bom Caminho. After crossing the border to Spain, I was still saying the same..but managed to switch to Buen Camino sometimes... then confused between 2!

I wonder how many Spanish pilgrims say " Bom Caminho" in Portugal. I think very few of them.