Search results for 'tag:Verbs tag:Translation' matching tags 'Verbs' and 'Translation'

Re: Filipinisms/Filipinoisms? Ring a bell?

Mister Micawber — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:07:37 GMT

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I would consider this exercise damagingly prescriptive; most are neither uniquely Filipino nor wrong. However (and my comments refer to AmE/BrE):

1. Free subscription of... (Free subscription toâ¦) - prepo issue-- AmE/BrE uses the collocation subscribe to.
2. Can I speak withâ¦? (May I speak withâ¦) - To sound more polite/ask permission?-- Both OK. 'Can' is more casual but just as common.
3. Come again? (I'm sorry I didn't get quite get that / Excuse me? / I'm sorry would you please say that again?) - English trainers discourage agents to use this because they say that it could mean 'cum again')-- The English trainers are nuts. Come again is common and casual. Your examples in parentheses are overly formal for most situations.
4. It's for free! (It's free. / It's free of charge. / We're sending it to you for free.) - Filipinos have been used to saying 'It's for free'. How do I say that it should be avoided? What makes it wrong?-- Nothing makes it wrong; it's fine.
5. Hold your line/For awhileâ¦ (Would you mind if I put you on hold for a second? / Please hold) - hold your line is absurd. any comment? what about for awhile?-- I agree that 'Hold your line' is not natural in AmE/BrE. 'Please hold' or 'Could you hold, please' is the usual.
6. Open/ close the light/computer (Turn on/off the light/TV/computer) - how do I explain this? it sounds like opening/closing the tv for repair.- This seems to be a direct translation from Spanish? Tagalog? At least, it is the same error that Japanese make.
7. Do you mind waiting? Yes, I'll wait. (No, not at all. / No, I don't mind at all.) - YES is the issue. wrong response. any other feedback?-- 'Yes' is logically wrong but common when the tag ( e.g. 'I'll wait') is also present; speakers seldom have the opportunity to stop and think about the 'Do you mind?' form, and this includes native AmE/BrE speakers.
8. Anything? (Is there anything I can do for you? / How may I help you?) - fragmented, seems vague?-- Yes, it seems vague and fragmentary out of context.
9. I'll ask her an apology. (I'll apologize to her. / I should make an apology.) - this sounds illogical?-- Not a natural AmE/BrE formation.
10. We take lunch. (We eat lunch. / We have lunch (every Sunday).)-- 'Take' seems to be an occasional replacement in this context in many Englishes. It is not an egregious variation.
11. We accept repairs. (This shop repairs cars/cellphones, etc.)-- Seems fine to me.
12. We accept painting jobs. (This shop does painting jobs.)- Quite common.
13. Tuck out (Untuck)- Odd.
14. He was salvaged. (He was assassinated.)-- A new meaning for the word for me, and it is not in the dictionary. Perhaps some confusion with 'savaged'?
15. She delivered her baby yesterday. (She had her baby yesterday. / Dr. Smith delivered her baby.)-- This is fine. From the dictionary-- 'to give birth to: She delivered twins at 4 a.m. '
16. Xerox (Photocopy)-- Very common in AmE at least. Among my generation, 'to xerox' is perhaps more usual than 'to photocopy'.
17. Oppositor (Opposition member)-- A new word for me. Not a bad formation, but perhaps difficult to understand by foreigners.
18. Hand carry (Carry - on luggage)-- A new word, but reasonable.
19. It's traffic today. (Traffic is heavy.) -- It seems vague and fragmentary
20. Senatoriable (Senatorial candidate) -- Odder than #17
21. At around 2pm (At about 2pm) - around is Am? about is Brit?- Very common in AmE; it also appears with this meaning in the Cambridge dictionary.
22. I failed in Accent training. (I failed accent training.)-- A common expression, though I prefer your alternative.
23. We were under Mr. Johnson. (Mr. Johnson was our teacher.) - Filipinos are used to saying 'That student is under my class' so this filipinism has started.-- In context, 'We were under Mr. Johnson' sounds fine, while 'That student is under my class' does not.
24. My brother is taking up law. (My brother is taking law. / My brother is studying law.) -- 'Take up' is common, but means the overall intention, not just the matriculation.
25. Where are you studying? (Where do you go to school? / What school do you go to?)- 'Where are you studying' is fine.
26. Pass by my office before you go. (Drop by my office before you go.) - Brit/Am phrasal?-- Not AmE, at least. 'Stop by' or 'Drop by'.
27. We have one participant only. (We only have one participant.) - should they say 'only one participant'?-- The 'only' can go in several places; at the end is one of those places.
28. I talked to her already. (I already talked to her.) - I need help on adverb order. This confuses all Filipinos and me too. Where should adverbs be placed?- Adverbs are relatively variable in their placement. In this case, both are all OK. More interesting is that AmE uses simple past more consistently with 'yet' and 'already' than does BrE, which prefers the perfect aspect.
29. Will you be at the office at 7am? Actually. (Will you be at the office at 7am? Yes.)-- Not AmE/BrE
30. Actually, I like Jennifer Aniston. (I like Jennifer Aniston.) - Actually/basically has become Filipinos expressions.-- I wouldn't say that it is unique to Filipinos; many AmE speakers develop the habit in various contexts. Too much is too much, however.
31. As per Paul, all request forms should be signed by him. (As per Paul's instructions, all request forms should be signed by him.)-- This is common bizspeak throughout the English-speaking world.
32. Wanted: Sewer (Wanted: Tailor or seamstress)-- Yes, it is certainly open to misinterpretation! But 'seamstress' is sexist.
33. Take home (Take it home / To go. / For take out)-- 'Take home food' seems like a regional variant of 'take out food'.
34. I felt kind of tired. (I felt rather tired.)-- 'Kind of' is very common in informal AmE.
35. As to the projectâ¦ (About the projectâ¦)-- A common formality in most Englishes.
36. Thank you for that/this one. (Thank you for the information. / Thank you.) - I need to send this in a few minutes and I still couldn't think of an explanation. Phrasing sounds awkward to me. But besides getting straight to the point, why did 'for that/this one' make it wrong?-- 'One' is wrongly used; 'information' is uncountable.
37. I do love playing basketball/volleyball. (I love playing basketball/volleyball.) - this may sound right depending on the flow of the conversation, right? e.g. you don't love playing... No, I do...-- You are correct. This is called the emphatic 'do'.
38. Currently, I live in Quezon City right now. (Currently, I live in Quezon City. / I live in Quezon City.) - redundant - now and currently.- Yes, redundant.
39. Actually, I like Microsoft, Symantec and Adobe (I like Microsoft Symantec and Adobe)-- The comma is necessary if Microsoft and Symantec are different softwares.
40. As per Mon, all request forms should be signed by him. (As per Paul's instructions, all request forms should be signed by him.)-- This is the same as #31, and OK.
41. I do apologize (I apologize.)-- This is fine indeed. It is the same as #37, and is more polite than your bracketed alternative.
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Re: As the tree falls, So Shall it lie.

Skrej — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:48:52 GMT

The bible reference comes from ecclesiastes 11:3 "If the tree fall toward the South, or toward the North, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be."

However, I think the statement, as written, does seem to be a Chinese proverb.

http://seawan.nyist.net/kle/showproverb.php?id=918

Added material:

However, the proverb seems to also exist in English via the Bible text. It may originate with this translation of the theological writings of Ladislaus Boros.

As the tree falls, so shall it lie;
As a man lives, so shall he die;
As a man dies, so shall he be;
Through all the aeons of eternity.

Re: translation into English: text 11/03 (Patrick)

MrPedantic — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:35:34 GMT

Hela
2) On se connaÃ®t depuis si longtemps, lui et moi.
"It has been a such a long time since we have known one another."
Not "it has been a such a long time"; perhaps "We have known each other for such a long time".
Why not? Is it because of the verb "to know"?

More because of "since": it implies in your "It has been..." version that the phenomenon of "knowing one other" somehow ceased, after the point in time that "since" designates.

Back for #3 later!

MrP

Re: translation into English: text 11/03 (Patrick)

Hela — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 16:34:03 GMT

Hello MrP,

1) Would you please tell me the dfference in meaning between "has/had finished" and "finishes/finished" in this sentence?
"he called me to say that he is going to Ireland as soon as he finishes / has finished his exams."

2) On se connaÃ®t depuis si longtemps, lui et moi.
"It has been a such a long time since we have known one another."

Not "it has been a such a long time"; perhaps "We have known each other for such a long time".

Why not? Is it because of the verb "to know"?

3) Il n'est pas nÃ©cessaire de mettre tout le monde au courant de ce qu'on a envie de faire. Il y a des tas de gens qui rÃªvent bruyamment d'accomplir de grandes choses et ne sortent jamais de chez eux. Quant Ã son niveau d'anglais, un sÃ©jour de deux mois ne peut que l'amÃ©liorer.

"you don't have to / you neednât / there's no need to tell everyone what youâre up to / want to do / feel like doing all the time. Lots of people dream aloud (?) about accomplishing / achieving (?) great things they're going to do and then never give it a try (?) / make it real (?). As for his English, a two-month stay / sojourn (?) in England can but / just (?) improve it.

That's a bit too difficult to answer, in that form â there are so many permutations!

Ok, I'll do it again

You needn't / There's no need to tell everybody what you feel like doing all the time. Lots of people dream aloud / out loud (?) about accomplishing / achieving great things and then never try to make them real (??). As for his English, a two month's stay can but/only (?) improve it.

Thank you very much for your patience.
Hela

Re: The above sentences are not in accordance with the accepted and standard...

Cool Breeze — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:12:06 GMT

Jackson6612

into another language, what if translating into the same language, perhaps translating into a more simpler version of that language? Would you use some other word instead of translation for such a case?

word by word is not an adjectival attribute, then what is it?

I probably would if I could think of a good word. Translate is not the best word.

An adverb of manner.

Re: The above sentences are not in accordance with the accepted and standard...

Jackson6612 — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:51:53 GMT

Cool Breeze
Hi Jackson
Sentence 2 is a borderline case. In is not the preposiotion usually associated with translate. You can translate something to or into another language. Also, as word by word is not an adjectival attribute, I see no reason to hyphenate it. Word for word could be more common. Some may consider placing word by word between a verb and its object ungrammatical. I am not one of them.

Hi CB,

into another language, what if translating into the same language, perhaps translating into a more simpler version of that language? Would you use some other word instead of translation for such a case?

word by word is not an adjectival attribute, then what is it?

Re: Google translation

Kooyeen — Tue, 27 May 2008 20:37:12 GMT

CalifJim
The student looked up "fly" and found "mosca" in the dictionary. Not realizing it was the insect "fly", he then constructed a sentence in Spanish intending to say that on his next vacation he was going to "fly" to Madrid. If you know Spanish, it may be funnier, because he actually attached the correct verbal ending on the noun! Voy a moscar a Madrid.

LOL, that's what happens when you don't have the slightest idea how to express a certain concept in another language. Dictionary, direct translation... total nonsense. That's why I believe every learner should use a monolingual dictionary "for learners", where everything is explained simply and there are plenty of examples to learn from. That way you are much less likely to use a simple verb or word the wrong way, because the most common usage patterns are highlighted.
Direct translation is what most automatic translators do, so as long as there are no machines with artificial intelligence that are able to learn a language like a human, automatic translations will always be of bad quality. I tried translating that text with Google... In Italian, you would understand the general meaning, what they are talking about, but some expressions are almost meaningless. Not too bad anyway, I thought it would come out worse, LOL. And "Employs" was translated as "gives work to" in Italian too...

EDIT: Ok, I'm going to post the translation, in case "some Italians" come across this thread.
L'autore, N. Taiwo, dÃ lavoro a un approccio molto singolare che svela le cause alla radice (fattori) che producono o erodere il rispetto tra le persone. Il risultato Ã¨ un potente rivelazione che offre una profonda esaminare comportamento umano e processi di pensiero che rimodellare il lettore sta pensando.
Il concetto di rispetto Ã¨ presentato in una nuova luce e prospettiva, e una forte caso Ã¨ fatto sul ruolo rispetto svolge nella definizione e promozione di successo nella vita. Genitori, giovani, adulti e giovani professionisti stand trarre enormi benefici da questo innovativo e intrigante all'autoresponsabilizzazione libro sul rispetto.

The underlined parts are where there is something wrong (either the term, or the grammar, or something missing).

Re: Google translation

Cool Breeze — Thu, 22 May 2008 08:00:27 GMT

Hi Jim

Unfortunately I cannot give good answers to your questions. Your improvements were obviously ignored or lost in cyberspace. I sent an "improvement" to Google Earth a couple of years ago because a Finnish city called Tampere was located in Lake NÃ¤sijÃ¤rvi - or to be more precise, the name of the city was. They corrected the error, but it took about two years!

My information about this translation service is from Finland's biggest daily, Helsingin Sanomat, which mentioned it a few days ago. The translator may handle other languages better. It would be interesting to hear how well it translates Spanish, Italian and French, for example. Germanic languages might be easier for it due to grammatical similarities.

Some of the mistakes the translator had made (my first post) were due to it having chosen the wrong meaning for an English word. To employ can be used to mean to hire people, to give work to people, and that is the meaning the translator assumed the verb had in the text. Badly wrong, and the result is completely unintelligible to a Finn. To play is another verb the program got wrong. In English you can "play" the guitar, you can "play" tennis and you can "play" with a toy. In Finnish a different verb is needed in all these contexts and the translator made the wrong guess.

I was at my wits' end when I contemplated translating the Finnish text back into poor English as to how I could translate the incorrect Finnish translation of play back into English without using play! I just had to give up.

Cheers, CB

translation of song INTO English (check my work, please)

marcopolon2 — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:45:50 GMT

Hello! CHECK SOMEONE MY TRANSLATION OF LYRICS INTO ENGLISH, PLEASE! My friend is a member of music band. He gave my his lyrics (they are short texts) and asked me to translate them into English. But I'm not good enough in English to translate lyrics - I lack knowledge about phraseal verbs, slang and grammar constructions. Please, write me private message or e-mail on my address (Place email address in Profile, please -- MM) so that I can send you my translations and you'll check them and correct them. Thank you very, very much in advance!

Re: Preposition: For

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:04:23 GMT

Words have many meanings and uses. For to doesnÂ´t exist in English as one is trying to put a preposition in front of a infinitive verb.This is a very common translation error in Spanish.For- is used in questions about the purpose ,destination beneficiaries What is this for? I left for Mexico. Here is a gift for you. He had potatoes for dinner.For is used in time expression concerning the duration over a period of time. For + length of time (for ages) (for a month, day, year, week, 5 hours etc)For all = notwithstanding , even if (For all I know he is crazy.) For= considering that (ItÂ´s a fine day for mid-DecemberFor = in favor of, on the side of, ( He is for going to the park) or ( I am for the death penalty)But for = a negative condition, exception or absence. I would have got here on time but for the traffic jam.For can be a conjunction: For connects a fact with its cause Mary went home, for she was sick.They are late, for they got lost.Common collocations of FOR: apologize for, blame for, care for, excuse for , fight for, forgive for, hope for, pay for, pray for, substitute for thank for vote for, bad for, difficult for eager for, easy for, good for ,grateful for, hard for, hungry for, known for, prepared for, qualified for, ready for, remembered for, responsible for, sorry for, suitable for, thirsty for, for example, for the love of God. for instance.