Language Trainers Blog

I always enjoy visiting Engrish Funny for some translation laughs. This image, from sister site Failbook, presents some interesting cultural differences.

In English, the  π symbol (meaning the number) is of course pronounced as “pi,” thus making the phrase on the t-shirt amusing to English speakers. However,  the Greek letter π is “p,” with the pronunciation the same. It’s also pronounced as “p” in French, Spanish, Lithuanian, Slovak, Bulgarian and Portuguese. It seems that English is the odd one out in the way we pronounce it.

Do you know of any other languages that pronounce π “pi”?

Ensuring you get the correct spelling, in any written language, is paramount. You can get away with slight mispronunciations is most cases, verbally, but on paper you can and will appear not to have an appropriate attention to detail. The consequences can range from implying something you didn’t intend, to not getting a job because you have misspelled a single word on your CV.

Oh, the irony.

Using spell check sometimes just won’t cut it. Some words which sound the same when vocalised are often used incorrectly in the written form. These can be spelled correctly but often misused. There/their/they’re, two/to/too, and your/you’re are all commonly used incorrectly.

You wouldn’t think to submit an essay or letter without proof reading first in your own language. The best spell check you can use when recording text in another language is someone who is a native speaker of the language which you are writing.

Some debate regarding language usage has been stirred up recently, after respected French language body L’Academie Francaise placed some English words on their blacklist of words to “ban”.

In reality, only two words/phrases have been listed so far – “le best of” and “impacter,” a word which means “to impact” and is a mixture of French and English. This move is intended to preserve and enrich the French language. It does not include English words such as “weekend” and “sandwich” which are in everyday use in France. Other words, such as “email,” are encouraged to be abandoned in favour of the correct French, in this case, “courriel”. Here in the UK, a lot of French phrases have been incorporated into everyday language; soiree, raison d’etre, baguette, rendezvous, and deja-vu, to name a few. The difference is that my keyboard doesn’t have the necessary accents to type the words correctly!

Both the French and English languages are historically in no way “pure”, they derive from the Latin and Germanic languages respectively, and have evolved throughout time, incorporating and adapting words from other languages. Whilst it is admirable that steps are being taken to preserve a language, a few crossover words, especially in an ever changing multi-lingual world, surely can’t hurt as long as they are recognised as foreign words?

With the ease of online translation these days, it is hard for me not to get lazy sometimes and just run text through a translator to get the gist of what it’s saying. Often this is enough for me, but sometimes it’s just so I know what the text is about before looking at it more closely. Usually it also helps with speed (I read and comprehend slowly sometimes).

The other day, I threw some text through a translator, but what it gave me was tantamount to rubbish. The original text was mostly phrases that didn’t have much context, and so the result was even more garbled. I had to struggle to work out exactly what was happening. Then, when I looked at the original text, and looked up a few words, I was better able to work out the intended meaning on my own.

It was a bit of a wake up call for me, both to tell me that my skills were a bit better than I thought, and to tell me that I shouldn’t take the easy way out all the time. No matter how difficult translation may be for learners, it is beneficial as a teaching tool, and may also be the more effective method!

Language learning can be challenging at the best of times, but what about learning a third language in your second language?

I have quite a few friends and acquaintances who are doing this very thing, and they have my utmost respect.  Living in China, they are learning Chinese in English, even though their native languages are French, German, Spanish, and others.  Some Chinese language teachers speak Japanese, French, and a few other languages, but they the minority (and their English is usually better than the third and fourth languages).

This works out fine if both parties have a good grasp of English, but when they don’t, it can be confusing.  Also, not all concepts exist in all cultures, so sometimes it can be difficult to understand explanations, or express what it is you need to know.

How can this process be made easier?  Well, for beginners, it’s not such a big deal, as a lot of the language is easy to directly translate.  It may take a little longer for the learner to translate through a third party language, and a couple of dictionaries may be necessary, but it is manageable.  For learners at more advanced levels, I would recommend ditching the third language as much as possible.  Try to carry out all explanations in the target language, even if you have to use very simple words and structures.  It will give you more practice as well!

As an added bonus, though, a friend has reported that while she has been learning Chinese in English, her English skills have also improved because of it!

On the major Chinese television network, CCTV, newscasters have been told to stop using commonly-understood English acronyms in their broadcasts.  Instead of using short forms like NBA and WHO, TV presenters have been told they must use the full Chinese translations, which are sometimes very long and might in turn be confusing to viewers.  If newscasters accidentally use the abbreviations, they must use the full translation immediately afterwards to establish what they are talking about.

The reasoning behind this move is that government officials do not want the Chinese language to be infiltrated by English and become some sort of mongrel in a few years.  I’m not sure how likely that is to happen, but it is somewhat reminiscent of the Académie française’s crusade to keep French pure.

I don’t know if this move will help maintain the grand traditions of the Chinese language, but it definitely won’t be saving the CCTV (err, China Central Television) anchors any time.

Source: CNNGo.

Ever wanted to know what your beloved pet budgie was really trying to tell you?  Now, with the help of an Android-compatible phone, you might be able to find out.

Technology giant Google has finally released what animal lovers everywhere have been waiting for - Google Translate for Animals. Using their huge language database and state of the art technology, Google is able to help everyday people understand their pets, and many other animals they might meet.  Google Translate for Animals is now available in cat, dog, bird, rabbit, guinea pig, hamster, tortoise, horse, chicken, sheep, donkey, and pig.  Unfortunately they are only able to translate to English right now, but other human languages are in the pipeline.

If you’re lucky enough to have an Android phone, you can download the application and start talking to the animals right away!

I’ve talked about free translation services recently, but there are a few other types of translations out there, from live interpretation to specialised technical translation.  Arguably the most difficult, though, is translation of artistic writing, such as poetry or fiction.

Often, translators aren’t given that much credit for the jobs that they do, and sometimes people think that it’s a simple task that anyone who speaks two languages could do.  Especially for artistic translators, I have to disagree.  Can anyone who speaks and writes a language become an author or a poet?  Not really.

Edith Grossman, a prominent translator (known for her translations of Love in the Time of Cholera and other works by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, as well as the classic Don Quixote) has recently released Why Translation Matters.  The book addresses the importance of translations that are not only accurate, but still carry the author’s original intended meaning and tone.  any bilingual person can get a translation technically correct, but it takes a special talent to be able to properly interpret and translate a great work.  In some ways I think it’s more difficult than the author’s job.

In any case, it sounds like an interesting read, so hopefully I can get my hands on it sometime soon!

Source: The Huffington Post.

Subtitles are a great way to watch foreign films and TV shows and be able to understand them, and using them can help if you need a bit of help with your listening comprehension.  There are a couple of other things you can do with them, besides the standard native language subtitle, though.

Make sure you’re hearing all the words correctly by using subtitles in the same language as the audio.  It will also help if you miss a word here or there, and help towards improving your reading recognition, spelling, and comprehension.  If you are a beginner, or the material is particularly complex, it will help to watch the film a few times using your native language first, and/or pause and review frequently.

Another option, if the film has it, is to listen to it dubbed in your language, with the subtitles in the original language.  This will make sure you understand what is going on, but give you more exposure to the written language.  If you are learning a non-alphabetised language, it will help with your recognition, too.  Obviously, pausing a lot will help here, too.

You can always try watching your favourite shows dubbed or subtitled in your target language, but bear in mind that subtitles (as with many translations) may not be correct.  If something seems a bit wrong to you, it very well might be.  Don’t let this put you off though, as there are a lot of benefits to watching and understanding interesting material.  Note down anything weird or interesting, and show it to your teacher or look it up later.

Have you benefited from watching foreign language material?  How did you do it?

Image: meaduva.

What is your motivation to learn a language?  For some people, it helps to have a concrete goal like successfully understanding a favourite book in its original language.  Some people choose a famous novel or poem or writer to use as their inspiration for continuing their language study.  As good as translators can be these days, they can never capture exactly the original feeling that the author intended, and it’s a wonderful thing to be able to read and understand the majority of an original piece of writing.

Whether you are learning a language for business or personal reasons, it can be really helpful to have a target like this, especially when it is a book or piece of prose you know you will enjoy.  Of course, for professional reasons you may wish to read material related to your own industry, but the comprehension of this is also rewarding.

If you are new to a language, start with achievable goals, like reading children’s stories, newspaper articles, or simple short stories.  Using a Dostoyevsky epic in its original Russian as your first goal might be a bit ambitious, but you could always use it as a long-term aim.  Also bear in mind that reading classical stories in outdated languages might not help you with your conversational vocabulary.

Some websites and publishers also provide side-by-side translations of books and texts, so you can refer to the translated text whenever you come across something you don’t understand.  Remember that to understand something, you don’t have to know every single word.  Even native speakers stumble on vocabulary sometimes.  Look words up when you need to, but don’t let difficult words interrupt your enjoyment of reading.

I came across an interesting discussion thread about people’s ‘books they’d learn a language for’, which includes suggestions about great books in contributors’ own languages.  Which books do you want to read in their original forms, and which would you recommend to learners of your language?  Have you achieved any of your language goals?