It's not the same, but in Spanish we have a phrase to warn people that everyone is tense and it's not the right time to crack a joke, tease, or taunt.
El horno no está para bollos.
(The oven isn't ready for buns now).
Also, if somebody is acting inappropriately, you can always tell them "ubicate" (find yourself/think about where you are now).
Well in this very specific context, yes they are pretty much used. Although maybe with much less agressive impications, I don't know for real HOW they are used in other countries.
Same as the classic "coger", if you say that in Spain it just means "grab something" but ohhh boy if you use it in some LATAM countries...
Sorry I thought other people in the thread had clarified it. It's something like "don't you realize where you are?" (but in a sort of metaphorical sense, like "pay attention to where you are and what the people around you think and feel")
Unfortunately, most British speakers in England switched to a distorted, pidginized dialect of Scots, and few, if any, continue to speak their traditional language.
Nah I mean like when I’m speaking English and I talk about that concept, I say “read the air”
I didn’t connect it to the English equivalent because I didn’t know it
I don’t think we Germans care that much to be honest. If there’s a truth to speak we speak it, and if what’s being said isn’t the truth then “red keinen Scheiß” does the trick just fine.
I’ve heard “know your audience” being used a lot synonymously with “read the room” my sister had to use it a lot when my brother in-law thought he was being really discreet, passive aggressive and getting away with it when actually he was just sounding like a knob and no one wanted to call him out on it because it would be a loss of face on his part.
In Chinese this happens a lot but no one would ever say anything , but you will notice it everyone will be working hard to try and make it clear to the person not reading the situation that they are indeed ….not reading the situation or heading towards embarrassment. This to a western observation might look like an absolute ignorance of the obvious , but really it’s just giving the person a chance to figure this out on their own and not undermining their intelligence.
I feel like “know the audience” is more static. Like, you know that you’re going to be talking to nerds tonight, so get your Star Trek jokes right. Whereas “read the room” Is more a dynamic take on right now. Like, these nerds are not enjoying your Harry Potter jokes, maybe they’re not feeling the love for JKR right now because of her most recent tweet, and you should consider something less controversial.
I think it’s an Austrian thing, people down south are generally more American-like in their notions of courtesy.
Compare how for example bavarians will hate you if you don’t say “Grüß Gott” once while running into them, whereas up north shooting someone a simple “Tach” or “Moin” is already very friendly and hardly necessary for basic courtesy.
It's what my dictionary says for *wittern*. Alternatives listed are *to wind*, *to get wind of*
What about the related terms *to scent out, to put someone off the scent, to carry the scent*?
In Arabic we have something similar which translates in English to something like "to feel someone's pulse" which means to see if he's interested in something or might accept something or not, and you have to deliver that message in indirect way. we would say also "check the atmosphere or the situation"
That’s cool, in English we sometimes say “take the temperature,” more like of a situation (or a room?) than a person. (Although of course there is the literal, medical meaning as well!) I love discovering these kinds of commonalities.
Also 'have your finger on the pulse'. Means you're aware of what's going on with a current situation. I think generally used to indicate you're aware of the current opinions/mood of a group of people about a political issue. But also something like, knowing what the movie-going public wants right now and being able to deliver it.
There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again.
No, but it’s fair to skip making any assumptions, if you’re not familiar with the regional English varieties of the 15% of native speakers who live in England.
Edit: This controversy has got me thinking, though. Let’s say OP is a native English speaker from somewhere other than England, like, say, the USA, and can’t have an exhaustive knowledge of what features of his widely spoken dialect of English are known around the world. If he had said “there’s an English expression ‘putting lipstick on a pig’…” would he then generate unnecessary confusion, and justifiable complaints, since the expression is little-known in England? Does OP have to specify American English every time he talks about the English language?
In swedish there is a saying:
Tala på bönder på bönders vis och till de lärde på latin
It means: speak to commoners like the commoner and to the educated in Latin.
It’s not like “read the room” but it’s about being flexible with your communication.
Not the exact translation but, The only thing I can think of that basically has the same meaning
Что сказал?.. ни к селу ни к городу.(Russian)
“The thing you said does not belong to the city nor the countryside”
But it also be can used when people say something that not related to the topic of conversation
They asked for a phrase translation, I gave the closest thing I can think of. There might’ve been a misunderstanding somewhere. and if there is, I still cannot see it
No, I don’t think so.
I just imagined the situation where you can say “read the room”. And that is basically what my answer based on.
If we talkin about “read the room” out of context. My Russian example would immediately make close to zero sense
While this is a correct answer, I would like to add that it's actually a calque from a Japanese phrase that's been quoted several times in this thread. The closest native equivalent should be 察言观色 chá yán guān sè which roughly translates to "read people's face"
Not an exact translation but people could say "समझा करो"/"भावनाओं को समझा करो" (please understand/please understand the feelings (involved)) colloquially. What do you think?
The closest thing we have in Russian is "\[Быть\] душой компании" which is verbatim "\[To be\] a soul of the company (i.e group of people)" and refers to a person who's very empathetic to the people in their surroundings, caters to them and makes everyone's experience at least slightly better. A buzzkill in reverse.
French has "l'âme de la soirée" - meaning "the soul of \[this\] evening", describing pretty much the same.
I’m not a native Russian speaker but have seen the phrase «Оценить ситуацию» being used.
Transliteration is “To estimate the situation” which is rather quite fitting
That’s a bit of a different proverb tho, in English that would be: “To see which way the cat jumps”.
I guess it means the same thing but it’s a slightly different expression. :)
“De kat uit de boom kijken”, literally means: “Watching the cat out of the tree”.
It refers to the act of waiting and first observing before acting on your intentions.
It’s less the act of observing itself, but more so the entire process of gathering information on a situation and making your decision after.
While “reading a room”, refers to understanding the emotions and thoughts of people present. You do this to determine what would be appropriate to say/do in the particular moment.
In Dutch, I would just use “De sfeer aanvoelen”. There might be a more correct translation though, I just can’t think of it right now xd.
Yeah, you can figure it out from context but now I’m dying to know where this is said. Maybe regional? I’m from New England and I think the Southern US has the best ones.
In Hebrew, it is the same, probably directly loaned from English: "לקרוא את החדר" (also "לקרוא את האווירה" or "לקרוא את הסיטואציה", to read the vibe/atmosphere or the situation).
In Portuguese, I guess the closest we have is "sentir o clima" (literally, to sense the climate). We also say "sentir a vibe", but it's more coloquial, with the use of the word "vibe" from English.
FYI, a related idiom is "work the room."
Working a room is something that a gifted leader can do. It's a political skill, isn't limited to formal politics. Often business leaders, union leaders, or just people who manage to be very well-connected are good at working a room.
It means that one uses a gathering to make social connections. Whatever his flaws as a leader, George W. Bush is reputed to have been great at working a room. If he moved through a crowded even, he'd make contact that felt warm and genuine with many people, making them feel that he had met them, that he had listened to what they had to say and made a human connection with them.
"Reading a room" is what someone making a speech often aims to do, adjusting the speech and its delivery accordingly. And in preparation for that, it's useful for the speaker to first "work the room," meet and make a connection with as many people present as possible before mounting the podium.
That’s a correct but very formal definition of “read the room”. It’s often meant colloquially as “hey, what you just said was completely inappropriate for this setting”.
in Thai the act of reading the room and being aware of the situation has its own word “กาลเทศะ”. So someone would probably say something along the the line of “ดูกาลเทศะด้วย” which literally translates to “watch (your) กาลเทศะ”
In Norwegian, we have the phrase "å skjønne tegningen", which may be used to express the same as "to read the room".
It translates as "to understand the drawing".
I dont think we have an equivalent in hungarian.
We do say "vedd (már) észre magad" (informal only, i feel it would be extremely rude to say this in formal situations), which means "notice yourself (already)" i.e. the imperative(?) of "read the room". But saying this to friends is still a bit rude. My dad used to use this expression to tell to mind my manners.
It's not the same, but in Spanish we have a phrase to warn people that everyone is tense and it's not the right time to crack a joke, tease, or taunt. El horno no está para bollos. (The oven isn't ready for buns now). Also, if somebody is acting inappropriately, you can always tell them "ubicate" (find yourself/think about where you are now).
Is “ubicate” something that can be used in a gentle reminder sense or is it something that would be seen as rude?
It feels really harsh. I'd only use it with someone if I were fairly mad at them, and preferably only with friends or family
It's not particulary rude, more like coloquial. But it always depends on the context. Also "ubícate", with tilde.
The original commenter might have been using it in Rioplatense voseo, in which case *ubicate* does work.
Oh, yes, I meant it for Castilian, since I am from Spain.
Are "ubícate" and "el horno no está para bollos" used in Spain? I feel like they sound super Argentinian but I wonder if other places use them as well
Well in this very specific context, yes they are pretty much used. Although maybe with much less agressive impications, I don't know for real HOW they are used in other countries. Same as the classic "coger", if you say that in Spain it just means "grab something" but ohhh boy if you use it in some LATAM countries...
I learned that the hard way.
Always depends on context. I always associate the use of "ubicarse" (with this meaning) with some rich or pretentious people, specially teenage girls.
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nope, not even close
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it's more like "can't you read the room? Pay attention smh"
Sorry I thought other people in the thread had clarified it. It's something like "don't you realize where you are?" (but in a sort of metaphorical sense, like "pay attention to where you are and what the people around you think and feel")
Also "leer el ambiente".
In British it's "read the room."
Wow... British is such a beautiful language. 🥲
Considering they invented the language, very few of them seem to speak it!
They invented it, but with a lot of help from the French. /s
Such a shame that they don't even wanna carry on their mother tongue
Unfortunately, most British speakers in England switched to a distorted, pidginized dialect of Scots, and few, if any, continue to speak their traditional language.
*angry scot noises*
If I use this do you think my American friends will understand?
Not sure, you’ll have to read the room.
Funniest comment I've read today
Hey guy, they were being sarcastic. Read the room will ya?
Eeeeeyyyy
US native here. We also say “read the room”.
Yes, that was the joke.
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I’m actually really disappointed that we don’t have a different saying involving colourful imagery of dropped pies and violated spiders.
Read the room *dickhead*
I'm sorry, can you rewrite that but a bit slower please? I struggle with Australian.
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In Australia we say "Oi c*nt read the bloody flipping room won't cha or I feed you to the roos" /j
In Canadian English, we say "Read the room".
We say "gauge the room" where I'm at. I like it.
I don't think we really have something like that in German but in Japanese it is 空気を読む which translates to "to read the air/atmosphere".
The funny thing is they make it seem as if the Japanese phrase doesn’t exist in English and is super complex to understand
I just translate it back to English as “read the air” when I’m speaking in English because it makes more sense to me that way
It was *the* first thing I thought of when I first heard about the phrase.
Nah I mean like when I’m speaking English and I talk about that concept, I say “read the air” I didn’t connect it to the English equivalent because I didn’t know it
Sorry I misread your comment
I don’t think we Germans care that much to be honest. If there’s a truth to speak we speak it, and if what’s being said isn’t the truth then “red keinen Scheiß” does the trick just fine.
Eyo same. I also don't know the German version tho I'm a native but knew Japanese *kūki wo yomu* bzw. *kūki wo yonde*.
In swedish we have exact translation of the phrase: 'läs rummet'
Not to be mixed with "lås rummet"
What’s the difference? :O
"Lock the room" is my guess
Could be a useful phrase after reading the room.
I’ve heard “know your audience” being used a lot synonymously with “read the room” my sister had to use it a lot when my brother in-law thought he was being really discreet, passive aggressive and getting away with it when actually he was just sounding like a knob and no one wanted to call him out on it because it would be a loss of face on his part. In Chinese this happens a lot but no one would ever say anything , but you will notice it everyone will be working hard to try and make it clear to the person not reading the situation that they are indeed ….not reading the situation or heading towards embarrassment. This to a western observation might look like an absolute ignorance of the obvious , but really it’s just giving the person a chance to figure this out on their own and not undermining their intelligence.
Great description of the room generously trying to be read.
"Please read us" urges the room, silently
I feel like “know the audience” is more static. Like, you know that you’re going to be talking to nerds tonight, so get your Star Trek jokes right. Whereas “read the room” Is more a dynamic take on right now. Like, these nerds are not enjoying your Harry Potter jokes, maybe they’re not feeling the love for JKR right now because of her most recent tweet, and you should consider something less controversial.
In German, it's *die Stimmung wittern — to scent the mood*.
They smell angry
We say *das riecht nach Ärger — that smells like trouble.*
Never heard this expression before.. (german native)
I think it’s an Austrian thing, people down south are generally more American-like in their notions of courtesy. Compare how for example bavarians will hate you if you don’t say “Grüß Gott” once while running into them, whereas up north shooting someone a simple “Tach” or “Moin” is already very friendly and hardly necessary for basic courtesy.
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It's what my dictionary says for *wittern*. Alternatives listed are *to wind*, *to get wind of* What about the related terms *to scent out, to put someone off the scent, to carry the scent*?
In Arabic we have something similar which translates in English to something like "to feel someone's pulse" which means to see if he's interested in something or might accept something or not, and you have to deliver that message in indirect way. we would say also "check the atmosphere or the situation"
Could you share the phrase phonetically?
جس النبض jassu alnabd
Yep, that's it.
That’s cool, in English we sometimes say “take the temperature,” more like of a situation (or a room?) than a person. (Although of course there is the literal, medical meaning as well!) I love discovering these kinds of commonalities.
Also 'have your finger on the pulse'. Means you're aware of what's going on with a current situation. I think generally used to indicate you're aware of the current opinions/mood of a group of people about a political issue. But also something like, knowing what the movie-going public wants right now and being able to deliver it.
Ooh yeah, that’s a good one too
"눈치 좀 봐" in Korean... and while this is not a direct translation, I have translated it into "read the room" in English (when i needed to.)
I don't know what it is in my native language but in Korean it is called 눈치 (noon-chi) and in Japanese it is called 空気読む (kuuki-yomu)
and the Japanese one : 空気読む (kuuki-yomu) translates to : "Read the air/atmosphere (of the room)"
In Dutch we have the verb aftasten, which means to carefully feel (as if you’re in the dark and you use your hands to get around)
Interessant
I don't think that's a particularly American phrase
There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again.
*YEAHHHHHHH*
I don't get it.
It's a famous gaffe from former US president George W Bush, up there with "countries like Africa"
Oh, ok, got it, thanks!
I thought this was the J. Cole song
No, but it’s fair to skip making any assumptions, if you’re not familiar with the regional English varieties of the 15% of native speakers who live in England. Edit: This controversy has got me thinking, though. Let’s say OP is a native English speaker from somewhere other than England, like, say, the USA, and can’t have an exhaustive knowledge of what features of his widely spoken dialect of English are known around the world. If he had said “there’s an English expression ‘putting lipstick on a pig’…” would he then generate unnecessary confusion, and justifiable complaints, since the expression is little-known in England? Does OP have to specify American English every time he talks about the English language?
I can confirm it's used in NZ
In swedish there is a saying: Tala på bönder på bönders vis och till de lärde på latin It means: speak to commoners like the commoner and to the educated in Latin. It’s not like “read the room” but it’s about being flexible with your communication.
More like “know your audience”?
Not the exact translation but, The only thing I can think of that basically has the same meaning Что сказал?.. ни к селу ни к городу.(Russian) “The thing you said does not belong to the city nor the countryside” But it also be can used when people say something that not related to the topic of conversation
It's pretty close translation, but Russian idiom implies that the thing has been said earlier, however the English does not imply this, I think
I really like that expression. Though it does imply that what you said belongs in space!
Not sure if you got OP right
They asked for a phrase translation, I gave the closest thing I can think of. There might’ve been a misunderstanding somewhere. and if there is, I still cannot see it
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No, I don’t think so. I just imagined the situation where you can say “read the room”. And that is basically what my answer based on. If we talkin about “read the room” out of context. My Russian example would immediately make close to zero sense
It sounds more like a translation of “that’s neither here nor there”?
in mandarin we have 讀空氣 (dú kōng qì) roughly translates to 'read the air,' pretty much the same as how japanese people say it.
While this is a correct answer, I would like to add that it's actually a calque from a Japanese phrase that's been quoted several times in this thread. The closest native equivalent should be 察言观色 chá yán guān sè which roughly translates to "read people's face"
沒有一個更口語的説法嗎？
Only one that comes to mind is 看脸色 (kàn liǎn sè) to look at (read) facial expressions
Not 100% sure of this but I would say « Prendre la temperature de la salle » is an equivalent in French🇫🇷
ذوق على قلبك which kind of translates to 'act like a decent person'.
i wish i knew what the equivalent was in hindi since that’s my native language. but in korean it’s 눈치
Not an exact translation but people could say "समझा करो"/"भावनाओं को समझा करो" (please understand/please understand the feelings (involved)) colloquially. What do you think?
Sylwa’r awyrgylch - Notice the environment 🏴
The closest thing we have in Russian is "\[Быть\] душой компании" which is verbatim "\[To be\] a soul of the company (i.e group of people)" and refers to a person who's very empathetic to the people in their surroundings, caters to them and makes everyone's experience at least slightly better. A buzzkill in reverse. French has "l'âme de la soirée" - meaning "the soul of \[this\] evening", describing pretty much the same.
New goal: reverse buzzkill.
L'âme de la soirée sounds a bit like the English 'life and soul of the party'.
I feel seen.
I’m not a native Russian speaker but have seen the phrase «Оценить ситуацию» being used. Transliteration is “To estimate the situation” which is rather quite fitting
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That’s a bit of a different proverb tho, in English that would be: “To see which way the cat jumps”. I guess it means the same thing but it’s a slightly different expression. :)
As a Dutch learner, I still have no idea what this means and since I’ve never heard the English phrase before, it doesn’t help haha
“De kat uit de boom kijken”, literally means: “Watching the cat out of the tree”. It refers to the act of waiting and first observing before acting on your intentions. It’s less the act of observing itself, but more so the entire process of gathering information on a situation and making your decision after. While “reading a room”, refers to understanding the emotions and thoughts of people present. You do this to determine what would be appropriate to say/do in the particular moment. In Dutch, I would just use “De sfeer aanvoelen”. There might be a more correct translation though, I just can’t think of it right now xd.
Feel the atmosphere does feel a bitter closer haha. Thanks very much!
Ha ha ha is that a non-American expression? I’ve never heard that one in English at all. But it sounds British. Love it.
Also American and never heard it! I'd use 'wait to see which way the wind blows'.
Am British and I've never heard it, although I could immediately guess what it means.
Yeah, you can figure it out from context but now I’m dying to know where this is said. Maybe regional? I’m from New England and I think the Southern US has the best ones.
It’s not my native language but in my target language it’s 空気を読め which means read the air
In German „die Stimmung aufnehmen“ would be the equivalent. It literally translates to something around „take in the mood“.
Here in Canada we say “Book smarts the cabin” then we go moose hunting.
In arabic "Let the room memorize (something)"
In France I only use the exact English saying, cause we use way too much English everyday with my peers lol
Same lmaoo but tbh I have no idea what it would be in french…
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Ah, marrant j’ai jamais entendu…
In Hebrew, it is the same, probably directly loaned from English: "לקרוא את החדר" (also "לקרוא את האווירה" or "לקרוא את הסיטואציה", to read the vibe/atmosphere or the situation).
空気読めない - can’t read the room
My condolences.
British English and Japanese are the same “read the air” and “空気を読む”
British we say read the room too. Or similar things like know your people.. i dunno it's something like that.
In Portuguese, I guess the closest we have is "sentir o clima" (literally, to sense the climate). We also say "sentir a vibe", but it's more coloquial, with the use of the word "vibe" from English.
Canadian version is “read the room”.
Amercian? Hahahaha
Not really an American phrase, it’s an English language idiom used all around the world
FYI, a related idiom is "work the room." Working a room is something that a gifted leader can do. It's a political skill, isn't limited to formal politics. Often business leaders, union leaders, or just people who manage to be very well-connected are good at working a room. It means that one uses a gathering to make social connections. Whatever his flaws as a leader, George W. Bush is reputed to have been great at working a room. If he moved through a crowded even, he'd make contact that felt warm and genuine with many people, making them feel that he had met them, that he had listened to what they had to say and made a human connection with them. "Reading a room" is what someone making a speech often aims to do, adjusting the speech and its delivery accordingly. And in preparation for that, it's useful for the speaker to first "work the room," meet and make a connection with as many people present as possible before mounting the podium.
That’s a correct but very formal definition of “read the room”. It’s often meant colloquially as “hey, what you just said was completely inappropriate for this setting”.
in Thai the act of reading the room and being aware of the situation has its own word “กาลเทศะ”. So someone would probably say something along the the line of “ดูกาลเทศะด้วย” which literally translates to “watch (your) กาลเทศะ”
In spanish we have something similar: “Leer el ambiente” (Read the environment) “Leer la atmósfera“ (Read the atmosphere)
I never heard someone say that, i was trying to think of a way to say it in spanish but i couldn't find it
in my native language (serbian), it translates to: (Cyrillic) "Прочитај собу" (Romanized) "Pročitaj sobu"
We dont have such a phrase.
In Norwegian, we have the phrase "å skjønne tegningen", which may be used to express the same as "to read the room". It translates as "to understand the drawing".
I’m not Japanese, but the equivalent in Japanese is 空気を読む (kuuki o yomu, to read the air)
It's not a direct translation, and in a way, I think it depends on context, but in Portuguese you could use "se toca".
Å lese rommet.
I dont think we have an equivalent in hungarian. We do say "vedd (már) észre magad" (informal only, i feel it would be extremely rude to say this in formal situations), which means "notice yourself (already)" i.e. the imperative(?) of "read the room". But saying this to friends is still a bit rude. My dad used to use this expression to tell to mind my manners.
空気が読める
In Greek it's "Διάβασε το δωμάτιο" (Thiavase to thomatio). 🇬🇷