Kampernaut Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5383 days ago 38 posts - 54 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French
| Message 1 of 6 16 February 2015 at 1:00pm | IP Logged |
As part of helping me to get started learning Italian, I'm trying to prepare a short script to introduce myself
and explain why I'm learning the language. This is what I would probably say in English:
"I believe it is polite to try and speak the native language of any country you visit rather than to expect
everyone to speak English."
Google translate comes up with:
"Credo che sia educato per cercare di parlare la lingua di un paese che si visita, piuttosto che aspettarsi che
tutti parlano inglese."
I understand Google translate can sometimes be a bit dodgy. Is this what I should say in Italian or could it be
improved?
Thanks
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tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4708 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish
| Message 2 of 6 16 February 2015 at 2:33pm | IP Logged |
I think your question is better posted on a site like iTalki where you can put this
phrase in your notebook and someone will answer it for you.
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Kampernaut Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5383 days ago 38 posts - 54 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French
| Message 3 of 6 16 February 2015 at 3:24pm | IP Logged |
Thanks tarvos, I'll do that.
My apologies if I'm trying to make inappropriate use of this forum.
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Donaldshimoda Diglot Groupie Italy Joined 4091 days ago 47 posts - 72 votes Speaks: Italian*, English Studies: German, Russian
| Message 4 of 6 19 February 2015 at 8:28am | IP Logged |
Credo che sia educato per cercare di parlare la lingua di un paese che si visita,
piuttosto che aspettarsi che
tutti parlano inglese.
- CREDO CHE SIA EDUCATO CERCARE DI PARLARE LA LINGUA DI UN PAESE CHE SI VISITA, PIUTTOSTO
CHE ASPETTARSI CHE TUTTI PARLINO INGLESE -
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pesahson Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5729 days ago 448 posts - 840 votes Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese, Norwegian
| Message 5 of 6 20 February 2015 at 10:33am | IP Logged |
I'd say to stay away from Google translate. It's not a language learning tool. It might be good to check for words in there, but an online dictionary will be a lot better. If Google translate was perfect, it could serve to check your answers. It still would be useless as a learning tool.
The point of writing exercises is so that you think by yourself how to say things. Which tense to use, whether to put the noun in singular or plural, what form of adjective to use, etc, etc. Figuring it out is when you learn a lot! When someone or something gives you the correct answer, all that it lost! Also, when you make mistakes and the teachers sees them, they know what you have problems with and they can address them. So I wholeheartedly advise you to work it out on your own and then ask your teacher or on italki or lang8 for explanations about what you got wrong.
You also should simplify your answers so that it's easier for you to translate them into English. Don't try to talk in Italian the way you talk in English, because you're a beginner. Almost every thought can be expressed in simpler terms.
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Kampernaut Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5383 days ago 38 posts - 54 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French
| Message 6 of 6 20 February 2015 at 10:39am | IP Logged |
Thanks for that excellent advice pesahson. I intend to follow it.
I've only just started with Italian and you're right, I was being too ambitious with my sentence. I even used
poor English too.
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