What do you call rollercoasters in your language?

30 comments

1. Achterbahn, so essentially 8-train. Since the shape of a very basic rollercoaster is roughly a figure 8.

2. In French it’s “montagnes russes”, or Russian mountains

3. In Portuguese it’s “montanha-russa” i.e. Russian mountain.

4. Rutsjebane (sliding path/track. The first part, rutsje, is borrowed from German rutschen). It is used both for roller coasters and the slides in playgrounds

5. Oh I remember this shitty ~~Atlasova~~ map by [this guy who always thinks he knows stuff](https://twitter.com/simongerman600/status/1529161567652433921) about it and half the languages were apparently not true… In Bulgarian it’s влакче на ужасите (“little train of horrors”).

6. In Finnish it’s “vuoristorata” translation mountain track.

7. “vlak smrti” = train of death

   Often tho, it is “vlakec smrti”, where vlakec is just a diminutive form of vlak, so like a cute little train of death.

8. Horská dráha = mountain rail or track or something like that

9. In Italian it’s either “montagne russe” = Russian mountains

   or “ottovolante” = “flying eight”

   I’ve seen both mentioned in the comments for other languages

10. As someone else already said, in Standard German it’s Achterbahn – railway in the shape of an eight.

    In some Austrian dialects it’s Hochschaubahn – a railway high up enough to provide a view.

11. We sadly don’t have a cool name for that. “Hızlı tren”-“Fast train” or “Lunapark treni”-“Fair train”

12. It’s “berg- och dalbana” in Swedish, which translates to “mountain and valley track”. Somewhat logical, I think.

13. Not a Russian but I know they call them American mountains too.

    Quite the funny contrast to latin language speakers calling them Russian mountains.

14. kolejka górska

    (means sth like a mountain ride or sth, not sure to translate. “górska” means mountainous, “kolejka” means like a small train? not sure how to translate kolejka.)

15. Kolejka górska (mountain train) but if someone said roller coaster (roler koster in Polish accent xd) everyone would know what you’re talking about.

16. húsenková dráha (caterpillar track)

    never thought of it but it’s a bit misleading translated verbatim

17. Horská dráha – Mountain tramroad/railway

    Also Húsenková dráha was used more often when I was a kid. Húsenková is from word Húsenica, which means caterpillar.

18. In lithuanian: amerikietiški kalneliai – American hills

19. Hullámvasút = “wave train” Is probably the closest translation.

20. In Italian its “Montagne Russe” which means Russian mountains. In Czech it’s “horská dráha” which means the mountain rail.

21. «Muntanyes russes», as in most Romance languages, I think.

22. In Bulgarian it’s “вклаче на ужасите”, which basically means a “horor train”. 🤔

23. In Lithuanian it’s “kalneliai”, which means small hills or just bumps. Probably accurate translation.

24. In Polish it’s “kolejka górska” – “mountain coaster”, but we often call it simply “rollercoaster”.

25. “Montaña rusa” in spanish, which means russian mountain.

26. We call them amerikietiški kalneliai, same as you braliukai

27. Voz smrti (train of death), or tobogan smrti (slide of death). The latter is funny because the word “tobogan”, out of this context, refers to [the kind of slides that kids use in public parks](https://aspace.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Haileybury-College-Berwick-34-web.jpg).

28. Irish just borrows and respells rollercoaster to fit Irish phonetics ‘rollchóstóir’

29. Les montagnes russes

    Американские горки

    Berg och dal

30. Primarily “ρολεκόουστερς” (*rolekousters*) in Cypriot Greek, in the written Standard you’ll most likely see it rendered as ρόλερ κόστερ (roler koster).

    The hellenised term appears to be τρενάκι λούνα πάρκ (trenaki luna park, ~ amusement park small train), but that term reminds me of [this ride](http://fantasypark.gr/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/trenaki.jpg) instead, so that namespace is getting very cluttered.