> In Spanish, you “lend” attention. In Swedish, you “are” attention.

In Hebrew you "place [your] heart" (lasim lev).

CGMthrowaway 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

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 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		In Turkish, you give attention, expending your mental capability.

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ssttoo 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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.

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iLemming 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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'.

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laurent_du 5 days ago | parent [-]

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 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		Ah, right. I completely missed the difference between 'делать' and 'делить'.

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WA 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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

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lisper 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

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".

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fainpul 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

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 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		> 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.)

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1718627440 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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".

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epaga 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

"jemandem Aufmerksamkeit schenken", "Aufmerksamkeit auf etwas richten"

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layer8 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

In German, you “give eight”. ;)

	▲	throw-qqqqq 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		This made me laugh :D!

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mrsvanwinkle 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		This is buddhism and mindfulness in a nutshell. The only thing about your existence that does not change is that which is aware.

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saxelsen 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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

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im3w1l 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> In Swedish, you “are” attention.

Which phrase would this be?

	▲	kakokiyrvoooo 5 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		”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”.
	▲	1718627440 5 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		If it is similar to german, then it would be that you are attented.

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SonOfLilit 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Huh, I never placed my heart to it

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SonOfLilit 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

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