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Quick Level Test - Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6142 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 1 of 10 24 April 2012 at 3:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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Given the difficulty, and ambiguity, in assessing your level in a level, I was wondering if a simple translation test would provide some guidance. Unfortunately, I don't think a generic test is possible across languages, but maybe we could have specific tests for some language families. The translation test would be from English to your target language. Using the following example, if you can translate the English into Spanish, that provides a rough guideline as to your actual level.
A1 Translate: My name is John, and I live in America (your country). I'm not a student, but I work in an office. I've been studying Spanish for four weeks now. A2 Translate: I was in Spain last year. It was a fantastic trip. I visited the museums in Madrid, and ate a lot of delicious food. My favourite food is prawns, but I also like lamb and chicken. B1: Translate: It turned out that the film I saw was by Pedro Almodovar. It resembled a thriller, but it also had aspects of science fiction. The script was particularly brilliant. Basic Fluency B2: Translate: If I'd known the economy would pick up, I could've made a killing on the stock exchange. I don't wish to highlight the inadequacies of the current government, but there are many. C1: Translate: Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. (This might be a little easy for C1) Advanced Fluency C2: Translate: In the last years of the Seventeenth Century there was to be found among the fops and fools of the London coffee-houses one rangy, gangling flitch called Ebenezer Cooke. I wonder what sentences could be used to test other languages ? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5372 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 2 of 10 24 April 2012 at 5:33pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ok. I've been a professional translator for about 12 years. If I had to translate these back into my mother tongue, French, I'd get hung up on a few things starting as low a A2. "ate a lot of delicious food" is a bit tricky -- nous avons bien mangé? goûté à de nombreux mets délicieux? Then in B2, "made a killing on" is worth a pause. "I don't wish to highlight" -- Je n'ai pas l'intention de souligner...? Sans vouloir mentionner...? There are many different ways to say this and I'm not sure which would be best without more context.
The problem with a translation test is that if you wish to do it accurately, you have to be a good translator -- which is not necessarily the same as knowing the language well. Any native bilingual would get tripped up by many of your sentences. Edited by Arekkusu on 24 April 2012 at 5:35pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Michel1020 Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5008 days ago 365 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Dutch | Message 3 of 10 24 April 2012 at 5:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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I agree and on the other hand you can be great in translation but understand nothing from the radio or understand the radio but not be able to read anything. You also could be better in grammar than the average native but still nowhere in your new language skill.
Edited by Michel1020 on 24 April 2012 at 5:52pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| fiziwig Senior Member United States Joined 4856 days ago 297 posts - 618 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 10 24 April 2012 at 6:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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I like the idea behind the test, but I wonder if testing the ability to "translate" is as useful as testing the ability to say essentially the same thing in one's own way.
It's interesting, though. I can translate A1 at conversational speed without even thinking about it. A2 I have to stop and think about it a bit. B1 I get out paper and pencil and work through a few rough drafts before I'm satisfied with the translation. B2 I think could manage given a dictionary, a reference grammar and 30 to 45 minutes to work on it. In a way, it's discouraging because after studying Spanish for just over a year, and being able to read at the Harry Potter level, I'm still not able to produce the language without difficultly. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5121 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 5 of 10 24 April 2012 at 6:42pm | IP Logged | ||
Not only that, but depending on the target language, certain tenses and expressions just aren't used. The B1 example has an idiomatic expression ("it turned out") which, while common in English, isn't all that common in some other languages. I certainly wouldn't expect a B1 speaker to know how to say the equivalent in, say, Turkish. In the C1 example "Many years later... Col. Aureliano Buendía was to remember..." isn't something I'd even use in my own language, even though you'd be able to find plenty of example uses in literature. You're right. The test is a measure of translation ability, not necessarily language usage. R. == Edited by hrhenry on 24 April 2012 at 6:45pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5253 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 6 of 10 24 April 2012 at 7:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ironically, the C1 example is a translation from Spanish into English from Gabriel García Márquez' opening sentence in "Cien años de soledad" or "One Hundred Years of Solitude": "Muchos años despues, frente al pelotón de fusilamiento, el coronel Aureliano Buendía había de recordar aquella tarde remota en que su padre lo llevó a conocer el hielo". Translating back into Spanish from translated English won't produce Gabriel Gacía Márquez. If I could write or express myself like Gabo, I'd be C5.
That's one reason why I am so glad to have Spanish as a second language. Gabriel García Márquez just isn't the same in English. Edited by iguanamon on 26 April 2012 at 12:38am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6588 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 7 of 10 25 April 2012 at 12:55am | IP Logged | ||
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BTW passages for translation (whether normal or crazy:)) are very welcome in the small challenges thread.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6142 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 8 of 10 25 April 2012 at 10:23am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the feedback. The test was designed specifically with Spanish in mind. That's why I wondered about the equivalents in other languages. It's actually very hard to work out sentences appropriate for each level. I based the sentences roughly on previous exam papers, and course material, used by the Cervantes Institute for each of the levels. The Cervantes tests don't have translation exercises. The reasoning behind my sentences is as follows,
A1: Basic communication using the present tense. A2: Ability to relay simple information around travel plans using the past tense. The simple rendering of "a lot of delicious food" is "mucha comida deliciosa" B1: The Spanish verb, resultar, is popular at this level. Also the ability to discuss news, cinema, and general interests. B2. Tests the past subjunctive. Also the use of idiomatic expressions. E.g. hacer su agosto (to make a killing\fortune). The verb, destacar (to highlight\stand out), is mentioned a lot at this level, as debate style essays are common. C1: This is the opening lines of "100 days of solitude". I was a bit stuck how to test this level. C2: This is the opening lines of Gadsby. A novel which never uses the letter E. The idea behind the test is too act as a simple guide to help people determine their level. I might attempt a French equivalent at some point by looking at the DELF material. Any ideas what it would look like for other languages ? 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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