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Translating
Translating

Learn English meaning of translating

Date: Oct 11 2019

Themes: Family, Travel

Grammar: Past Progressive Tense

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Being able to speak more than one language has so many benefits. Traveling to new countries is easier. You can make more friends and learn about their cultures. You can enjoy and understand more music, books, and movies. And scientists have learned that people who learn to speak a second language have skills in school that people who speak only one just don’t have.

When looking for a job, knowing a second language is especially helpful. People who can translate one language into another are more and more important in a world where new business partners can be found just using the internet. If you can tell someone all about your company in another language, it’s possible that your company will grow and make more money. Be sure to put translation skills in your resume!

Sara and Marni are talking about the subtleties of translating. Find out who is a translator in her family in this week’s English lesson.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Marni

Marni

Sara_R

Sara_R

Marni:  I was watching this movie, and there were no subtitles, and it was in German. And I realized, I have no idea what’s going on. I need a translator here. I’m not getting the full story.

Sara_R:  It’s very important to have a translator for something like that. My aunt is from Mexico and I sometimes translate for her.

Marni:  I didn’t realize that you were fluent in Spanish.

Sara_R:  I am partly fluent in Spanish. It’s hard sometimes to translate the subtleties of the conversation…

Marni:  Sure.

Sara_R:  ... and the nuances of what people are saying. Sometimes meaning gets lost.

Marni:  Right.

Sara_R:  Sometimes it’s hard for her to keep up, but I try.

Marni:  I think as long as you’re conveying the meaning, right? That she’s getting the general sense of what’s being said.

Sara_R:  I try to convey the meaning. Sometimes the word is just on the tip of my tongue and I can’t find it.

Marni:  That’s so frustrating. I feel that way, too, when I try to speak in other languages, which I’m not very good at, but…

Sara_R:  Well, we can both keep practicing.

Marni:  OK. Sounds like a plan.

 

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Discussion

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Marni tells Sara that she was watching a movie when she realized that all the actors were speaking German. Unfortunately, Marni doesn’t speak German, so she didn’t understand what was going on! She wished that she had a translator with her who could explain exactly what was happening.

Sara shares with Marni that she often translates for her aunt who is from Mexico. Sara feels that translating can be difficult for her because she isn’t completely fluent in Spanish. A language can have a lot of nuances that are hard to explain to someone who didn’t grow up speaking it.

Can you translate one language into another? What makes someone a good translator?

 

Comments

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Elisa1

Elisa1

Spain

I think it’s very complicated to translate into another language which it’s not your mother tongue because there are a lot of nuances that will be lost in the translating. In addition it’s very hard to learn perfectly a foreign language and it will take you a lot of time and very effort. You wil be only able to speak fluently another language if you speak all the time in this tongue, so probably you have to live some time in a foreing country.

07:00 PM Oct 10 2019 |

felibunnies

Philippines

I always thought I was lucky to be born into a multilingual family and community. Although I live in the Philippines, I am fluent in English, Filipino, and Chinese. As such, I’ve always considered translating to be my special skill. However, I’m constantly on the lookout for more language learning or strengthening classes and workshops because I still really want to improve on my linguistic abilities. 


I can tell from experience that knowing to speak another language can really help in translation. It will be easier to find the right words in another language because one would find him or herself being immersed in a different culture in the process of speaking another tongue. I believe cultural knowledge is a very relevant factor when it comes to success in translation. Additionally, I believe that having a good hold or grasp of a lanugage’s grammar and syntax really helps one to correctly convey thought and meaning.

07:55 AM Oct 15 2015 |

1 person likes this

Djana

Djana

Algeria

I Always wanted to be a translator,because i find very intresting in it’s self,especialy translating from english to another Language.When i’m with my friend Sarah,or my other friends,especialy at schools,i kind of turn into a translator,i almost translate to my friends what have been said in english if they don’t get it.


Translating is not just about transforming one word to another in the other language,it is about giving the right meaning using the right words.Sometimes i find it pretty hard,to translate from english to my native lang,or Arabic,maybe cause i’m still learning and not fluent yet,but i think over the i’ll be able to translate in a perfect way,and that’s my goal :).

08:07 AM Oct 10 2015 |

1 person likes this

hilalyksl

hilalyksl

Turkey

I can translate from english to turkish. But i can speak fluent. In fact , if i can speak fluent english, that not enough. Because a languge has a lot of nuances so someone has to know their cultures for good translator.

10:05 AM Oct 06 2015 |

GrammaristSuper Member!

United Arab Emirates

After looking through this lessen, I spontaneously took back to a story that happened long time ago when we visited Iran. The main reason for such visit was to perform a surgery for my mothers’ left eye.. At first blush, it was so frustrating that no body communicated in our native language, and for this particular reason, we had to hire a translator. When he was with us, everything went smoothly and according to the plan. However, during his absence, we had to draw things that we need to convey the meaning, and it was somehow helpful, especially when the meaning relevance to objects.



Anyway, I appreciate the experience with this kind gentleman. Not only he helped us throughout the medical procedures, like translating what doctors prescribed or suggested, but also in other things, such as bargaining with sellers while shopping, taking us back and forth from the our apartment to the hospital, and escorting us while visiting new places in the town.

luisucab

luisucab

Venezuela

Sometimes, my family ask me to translate some english´s word to spanish, I do not like to do it, because, I am trying to think in english, and when I watch a movie, I try to focus to understand, and I feel bad if translate for someone I lost my work. I still missing some words, but I am improving my english.



 

09:33 PM Oct 05 2015 |

Olivine

Olivine

Indonesia

in subtitle translation, 1 sentence should be less than 42 characters and 2 lines maximum for convenience reason, that makes it difficult to translate the script especially if the sentence has long meaning. But they have different regulations regarding to this subtitle translation I guess, depends on the company.

07:57 PM Oct 05 2015 |

luisalfonso

Colombia

hello how are you

07:43 PM Oct 05 2015 |

luisalfonso

Colombia

hello how are you

07:43 PM Oct 05 2015 |

1 person likes this

The Last Joke

Yemen

OOps !


Marni  is someone who always pay an very important role in my life. I often say that Marni is someone WHO helped me put my feelings into words without being too wordy !


Dear Marni : Have A beautiful DAY !

05:19 PM Oct 05 2015 |

1 person likes this

The Last Joke

Yemen

By the way : 


Marni :


Marni is a book written in ten languages all beautiful , none one of them  you can understand !



05:13 PM Oct 05 2015 |

The Last Joke

Yemen

In fact : It is very hard to translate classical Arabic poetry into English. Arabic in general, and the language of the ancient poets in particular, is an amazingly rich language, where complex notions can be expressed with very few words; there is also a huge cultural difference which makes it hard to translate many concepts.


Moreover, the division into short and long syllables on which the Arabic  is based, is impossible in English, and the consistent rhyme, though perhaps possible, is very difficult to achieve.



05:08 PM Oct 05 2015 |

Wuthering

United States

Translating to another language is an art . Sometime , in the other language has just a word  but we have to use a long pharse to translate it ….. lol  

03:12 PM Oct 05 2015 |

La Princesse de la vie

Egypt

I’ve been learning English for years now, but I don’t think I can do Arabic-English exchange translation till the moment.


I believe that practice is the key to excel anything, so you can be a good translator if you practice it well after you master the four skills, listening, speaking, reading and writing. I’m not a language expert, but I think when you reach a good level in all the four skills, you can start to practice translating from your native language to the other one. 


NIJ321655

NIJ321655

United States

A translating is cool.

01:03 PM Oct 05 2015 |

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