There’s a small little secret about learning another language: Don’t overthink it.
The more you translate, the less you get it. A word-by-word translation WILL lead to a major misunderstanding, sooner or later.
I’m watching an episode of American Dad right now. The main character is complaining about his co-workers at the CIA. “I’m telling the President on you”.
That’s a hard call. If you think in your native language, i.e. Portuguese, the phrase makes no sense. If you translate it word-by-word, makes sense but not enough sense. The secret is:
You understand the context and the meaning of the expression. It does not translate exactly but you KNOW the meaning. Lots of common words work this way. “mastermind” has no direct translation, but anyone with basic English skills knows WHAT it means.
People don’t take it easy, they think one must translate EVERY word and then, by magic, you are understanding another language. Of course the result is a patchwork of words that don’t sound right. With a single look at a single line of those words, one can say if the words were written by an English-born speaker or not.
Obvious? Sure, but you will not believe how gullible people are. A friend of mine, a professional translator, could not realize that the text of a so-called U.S. School book about Amazon was clearly a fake. Her anti-Americanism blinded her. Actually the story was on headlines a few years ago, and even Brazil’s top military organizations didn’t got it as the fake it was.
Check it if you think I’m making it out.
I had a friend that after 5 years of a very intensive English course couldn’t speak himself out of a Starbucks. Oh yes, he had no idea about what the hell a Starbucks was.
Wanna learn another language? A few hints: grammar, syntax, are the beginning, not the end. If you want to speak more (but never exactly) like a native, you must understand the culture, the slang, the daily gossip.
If you think you know English and don’t understand expressions like “third base”, “mooning”, “corn dog” or “one of these days… Right in the kisser”, I’m sorry to say but you never got it. You can speak like a well-trained robot translator but you’ll never, ever pick up a girl at a party.
Am I being harsh? Maybe, but there’s no other way. Most of the local English schools train people to translate words, not ideas.
It results in people with English degrees demanding for subtitles, and not exercising their English skills unless it’s absolutely necessary. If with related western cultures it leads to a LOT of misunderstandings, I can’t even start to realize how hard Chinese translation can be.
Multilanguage bloggers must check their real language skills. There’s a thin red line between a cute foreign speaking the language and a plain useless rant from someone who doesn’t have a clue about writing in another idiom.
If you want to check someone’s skills, try the simple phrase, from another American Dad’s episode:
“want me to Irish that coffee for you?”
If your test subject can’t explain the meaning of “Irish”, ditch him.
Interestingly enough, you are not a native English speaker, and it shows in your writiing.
Very good point, though.
Comment by Michael J. Cohen — September 15, 2006 @ 1:17 pm
Of course it does, there´s no point claiming otherwise.
Comment by Cardoso — September 15, 2006 @ 3:29 pm