Search results for 'tag:Translation tag:Speaking English' matching tags 'Translation' and 'Speaking English'

Re: another covering letter!

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 19:45:16 GMT

Hi!

Thanks to you I had this reply:

Dear Goulven,

What is it again that you are studying? Because we are looking for people studying Translation or Languages applied to translation.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Beatriz ***

Project Manager

Here's my reply. Could you take a look at it before I answer? They seem to look for people who already study translation whereas I m not yet in a Professional Master. But I wanted to show that I could fit ... I precise they re looking for people speaking English and German (it's even better with French, as they said). Tell me about mistakes but also what you think about it , in general. Thank you!

So here it is:

Dear Mrs Romero

Firstly, I would like to thank you for answering so quickly.

Iâm actually doing a bachelor in Foreign Applied Languages (Langues EtrangÃ¨res AppliquÃ©es= LEA).

We are taught two main languages (English and German in my case). We learn for example a whole range of economic terms by studying texts. We also have Anglo-American and German civilisation courses.

In addition to these language courses, we have translations courses, still in both languages. We translate texts from and into French. These texts are tourism brochures, technical instructions, newspapersâ articles etcâ¦ Our translation teachers are professional translators and are in charge of the Master in Translation and Technical Writing of the UniversitÃ© de Bretagne Occidentale in Brest.

We translate texts but we also learn in the meantime the different âtechniquesâ that are used by translators. For example, Iâve learned how to stick to the style, the presentation and the register(or language level???) of the original text. Iâve also learned in particular the importance of collocations. We have regular exams but also some specific projects. In my first year in Brest, I had to translate with some other people a whole tourist Welsh website.

This semester, I chose the option Consecutive translation. Itâs harder than written translation but it is a very instructive exercise.

Apart from languages, I also have an international marketing course, a general course about global economics and a law course.

The goal of LEA is to prepare us to a rather wide range of careers opportunities. It can lead to different kind of Masters in Translation (Interpreter, translatorâ¦) but also to Masters in international trading or marketing or Masters specialised in the tourism industry. The common point of all these masters is that all these masters prepare us for an international job. Thatâs why teachers send some of us abroad as part of the ERASMUS student-exchange programme to get some international experience. As I already said, I had in Germany the occasion to do a German-English translation course which was quite tricky for me since none of these languages was my mother tongue.

I know Iâm not yet studying exclusively translation in a Master, but translating is quite a big part of my bachelor.

I would like to add that the work placement has to be 3 to 6 month long to your convenience.

I hope I havenât been too long.

Kind regards,

Goulven LE GOFF

Re: Check my translation please!

CalifJim — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 06:09:52 GMT

How did the birds get beautiful? By speaking English?

Idioms: Piece of Cake or Hard Nut to Crack?

Sindy — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 18:56:30 GMT

Howdy

This is the article I've written a while ago. I hope that it can be interesting for someone. This is one of my first attempts to bring all my thoughts together.

"A language is a living substance, which evolves under the influence of different factors. Being very flexible English language constantly enriches its vocabulary with the words invented by the language speakers, making it more colorful with new idiomatic expressions, and at times refills its stocks with the borrowings and neologisms. English just amazes by its extraordinary linguistic diversity.

It is a language rich in exceptions and spelling traps, where almost every rule is valid 90% of the time. English is a language with a vast idiomatic basis, which makes its learning very exciting and intriguing. There are about 4,000 idioms used in the American English. Wikipedia suggests that âto even explain what they mean needs about 2000 words of the vocabulary. â

Idioms derived from the culture of the nation and from day-to-day life. In real context idioms explain themselves: 9 times out of 10 times, idioms carry their own explanation. The main function of idioms is to paraphrase what is going on, and what is being said.

Idiomatic expressions pervade English with a peculiar flavor and give it astounding variety, bright character and color. They help language learners understand English culture, penetrate into customs and lifestyle of English people, and make a deeper insight into English history.

Idiom is defined as an expression that does not mean what it literally says. Hence, its meaning is often quite different from the word-for-word translation.

The meaning idioms convey is non-compositional. It implies that you cannot understand the meaning of the whole phrase putting the meanings of each word together. If you look at the individual words, it may not even make sense grammatically. Idiom has the meaning only as a unit.

Professor Koonin defined idiom âas a stable combination of words with a fully or partially figurative meaning.â This definition emphasizes two inherent and very important features of the idiomatic expressions.

Idioms have lexical and grammatical stability. It implies that they are fixed in their form, hence any substitutions and rearranging in their structure can lead to complete loss of their primary meaning.

Idiomatic expressions are integral units. It literally means that idioms possess indivisible completeness, so all the components are bound within one idiom.

Idioms are used in both spoken and written English, and often appear in newspaper articles. They are frequently utilized by native speakers, who feel the language at inborn genetic level.

One of the approaches to defining this linguistic phenomena stresses that an idiom is a manner of speaking that is natural to native speakers of the language. It proves that only people who are very good at speaking English can adequately and to the point use idiomatic expressions in their speech.

Though, learning idioms present a host of difficulties to English learners, primarily because they donât know the culture and history behind English idioms. Thatâs why they often use idioms incongruous with the situation. Indeed, English learners utilize idiomatic expressions very carefully, being afraid of using them incorrectly and being misunderstood. They find idioms very problematic to both understand and memorize.

Whilst, the majority of native language speakers can not always know the origin of idioms they use, though as long as they utilize them in every day communication, they know its meaning and feel where it is appropriate to use this or that idiom.

Undoubtedly, the correct usage of the English idioms is a finesse, which makes the language of the speaker more vivid and exciting."