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Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6483 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese
| Message 1 of 110 13 May 2007 at 11:30am | IP Logged |
This thread is for those who would like to practise and improve their foreign languages with the multilingual people on this forum. The idea is the following: I will post English texts of varying difficulty level and you can try to translate them into any foreign language you know. You are not required to translate them into all your foreign languages or even participate at all, just do the exercises for the languages where you consider it useful.
Important: this shall be a not-too-literal translation into one of your foreign languages, not into your native language. I have no doubt that native Spanish speakers can do a perfect translation of these texts into Spanish, but that's not the purpose of this.
You can post your translations in this thread and somebody will correct you. If you don't want a correction or if you want the correction to be made by private message, please clearly say so.
Okay, enough of a preamble. Here are the texts for now:
Beginner:
Hi Lisa,
here is a postcard of my town. It is not very big, but it is nice. Please tell me more about your town. How many people live in it? What is particularly nice about your town? Where do you go in the evenings?
John
Intermediate: (answer to having won a tour through the USA)
Thank you very much. I am so glad I won the prize. I would like to travel to the USA in July because of my job. Will I be able to see my cousin Ann in Dallas? I know the tour only goes through Houston... Also I would really like to go swimming in the ocean. I hope there will be time for that.
Yours sincerely,
Michelle Dubois
Advanced
I hardly knew my father. When he died at the age of 75, I wasn't yet 10 years old. I can remember the day very well. It was a sunny day in September and there was an unusual atmosphere in the house. I can see myself sitting all alone on a chair in the big room; a wasp was flying around but other than that the house was completely quiet. One of my older brothers had said: "Father is dying, but you should stay here". Everybody was with him, just I was "too small" again and therefore excluded. I don't know what made me more sad, this condition or my father's death, whose significance I of course didn't understand in the least.
One image of him impressed me the most: looking at his room from the corridor and seeing him sitting at his desk in the shine of a lamp. It was like seeing a light at the end of a tunnel.
Have fun!
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| justinwilliams Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6702 days ago 321 posts - 327 votes 3 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Italian
| Message 2 of 110 13 May 2007 at 12:57pm | IP Logged |
What a great idea that is. And I mean it. This'll make me a little bit more time-efficient! Too bad I'm not fluent in more than 2 languages. I guess I'm going to have to translate into my native French. Although I'd really like someone to post some texts in French too. I sure could find them myself but I'm never motivated enough to finish the texts I find or it simply takes me hours to choose a text I like.
It'd be great to have technical or ''object-related'' texts. I probably know all the words the is to know in newspapers, novels, conversation...but it's still hard for me to describe things like an illness and its symptoms, how to repair a car, how you could build a house...Bad examples but I guess what I mean can still be deduced from those.
Je connaissais à peine mon père. Quand il mourut à l'âge de 75 ans, je n'avais pas encore atteint mes 10 ans. Je me rapelle très bien de cette journée. C'était une journée ensoleillée de septembre et il y avait une ambience inhabituelle dans la maison. J'ai une image de moi, assis seul sur une chaise dans la grande pièce; une guêpe volait autour mais cela mis à part la maison était complètement silencieuse. Un de mes frères aînés m'avait dit: ''Père se meurt mais tu devrais rester ici.'' Tout le monde était avec lui. J'étais le seul à être ''trop petit'' et donc exclus. J'ignore ce qui qui m'attristait le plus, cette exclusion ou la mort de mon père, dont l'importance m'échappait d'un bout à l'autre. Une image de lui en particulier est restée gravée dans ma mémoire; regarder vers sa chambre à partir du corridor et le voir assis à son bureau dans l'éclat de la lampe. C'était comme voir la lumière au bout du tunnel.
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| awake Senior Member United States Joined 6649 days ago 406 posts - 438 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, Spanish
| Message 3 of 110 13 May 2007 at 1:43pm | IP Logged |
That's a great idea. I'll take a crack at them.
From english -> Esperanto
Begginer
Saluton Lisa,
Jen bildkarto de mia urbo. Ghi ne estas tre granda, sed ghi plachas al mi.
Mi petas, diru pli al mi pri via urbo. Kiom da homoj loghas tie? Kio estas
aparte bona pri via urbo? Kien vi iras vespere?
Intermediate
Respondo por gajni turneon tra Usono.
Dankege al vi. Mi estas tiom ghoja, ke mi gajnis la premion. Mi shatus
vojaghi al Usono en Julio pro mia laboro. Chu mi povos vidi mian kuzinon
ann-on en Dalaso? Mi scias, ke la turneo iras nur tra Hustono. Ankau, mi
tre shatus naghi en la maro. Mi esperas, ke estos tempo por tio.
Sincere la via,
Michelle Dubois.
Advanced:
Mi apenau konis mian patron. Tiam, kiam li mortis je la agho de 75, mi
ne jam havis 10 jarojn. Mi povas tre bone memori tiun tagon. Ghi estis
suna tago en Septembro kaj estis nekutima etoso en la domo. Mi povas
vidi min sidantan sole sur segho en la granda chambro. Vespo estis
chirkaufluganta, sed kontraue la domo estis tute trankvila. Unu el miaj
pli maljunaj fratoj estis dirinta "Patro mortas, sed vi restu chi tie". Chiuj
estis kun li, sole mi estis "tro eta" denove kaj do estis ekskludita. Mi ne
scias, kiuj pli tristigis min, chi tiu afero au la morto de mia patro, kies
signifo mi kompreneble ne komprenis iom ajn. Unu memoro de li plej
impresis min: rigardanta en lia chambron de la koridoro kaj vidanta lin
sidanta che lia tablo en la brilo de lampo. Ghi estis kiel vidi lumon che la
fino de tunelo.
Edited by awake on 13 May 2007 at 1:45pm
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| lastlife Diglot Groupie United States Joined 6486 days ago 85 posts - 93 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Japanese
| Message 4 of 110 13 May 2007 at 7:26pm | IP Logged |
がんばります
敬語で
こんにちはリサ、
これは私の町のはがきです。あまり大きくな いけど、いい町です。
リサさんの町のことを教えてください。何人 の人々が住んでいますか?
リサさんの町について、何が特に良いですか ?夕方にどこに行きますか?
Edited by lastlife on 13 May 2007 at 7:34pm
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| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7218 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French
| Message 5 of 110 13 May 2007 at 8:39pm | IP Logged |
Aquí está una tarjeta postal de mi pueblo. No es muy grande, pero si es bonito. Por favor díme más sobre tu pueblito. ¿Cuántas personas viven allí? ¿Qué es especialmente bonito de ello? ¿Adónde vas en la noche?
¡Muchísimas gracias! Se lo agradezco mucho. Cuanto me alegro que he ganado el premio. Me gustaría viajar a los Estados Unidos en julio por mi trabajo. ¿Podré ver a mi prima Ana en Dallas? Sé que la excursión solo va por Houston. También me gustaría nadar en el océano. Espero que habrá tiempo por eso.
Le saluda atentamente,
Michelle Dubois
Apenas conocía a mi padre. Cuando se murió a la edad de 75, yo ya no tenía 10 años. Puedo recordar muy bien aquel día. Era un día del sol en septiembre y hubo un ambiante raro en la casa. Puedo ver a mi mismo sentandome solito en una silla en un cuarto grande. Una avispa volaba, pero no había otro sonido en la casa callada. Uno de mis hermanos majores me había dicho, --Papá está muriendo, pero debes quedarte aquí. Todos estaban con él, pero porque estaba "tan pequeñito" yo fue omitido de nuevo. No sé lo que me hizo más triste, esta, o la muerte de mi padre, lo que no entendía en lo más mínimo. Una imagen de él me impresionó lo más: mirando a su cuarto del pasillo y lo ví sentado a su escritorio en la luz de una lampara. Fue como ver una luz al fin de un túnel.
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| rafaelrbp Pentaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 7026 days ago 181 posts - 201 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Spanish, English, French, Italian Studies: German
| Message 6 of 110 13 May 2007 at 9:45pm | IP Logged |
Please correct me if I'm using an incorrect or odd expression. Good idea, by the way.
English -> French: Basic
Salut Lisa,
Voilà une carte postale de ma ville. Ce n'est pas très grand, mais c'est un coup d'oeil. Parlez-moi un peu plus de votre ville, s'il vous plaît. Combien de personnes habitent là? Qu'est-ce que c'est particulièrement beau de votre ville? Où allez-vous les soirées?
Jean
English -> French: Intermediate
Je suis très heureux de gagner le prix. Je voudrais voyager aux États-Units en juillet à cause de mon travail. Est-ce que je pourrai voir ma cousine Ann en Dallas? Je sais que l'excursion ne va qu'à Houston. Et aussi, j'aimerais nager dans l'océan. J'espère qu'il aura de temps pour le faire.
Edited by rafaelrbp on 13 May 2007 at 9:45pm
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| justinwilliams Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6702 days ago 321 posts - 327 votes 3 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Italian
| Message 7 of 110 13 May 2007 at 10:40pm | IP Logged |
I wanted to see how close our two versions could be! Good job by the way Rafael!
Qu'est-ce que c'est particulièrement beau de votre ville?......Would have to be either like I translated it or something else...
I'd put 'some word' before 'les soirées' like 'durant' or 'pendant'
'de gagner' as to be in a past tense
À Dallas
J'espère qu'il Y aura DU temps pour le faire.
Salut Lisa,
Voici une carte postale de ma ville. Ce n'est pas très grand mais c'est beau. Je te prie de m'en dire plus à propos de ta ville. Combien de personnes y vivent? Qu'est-ce qui est particulièrement beau à propos de ta ville? Où vas-tu durant les soirées?
Merci beaucoup. Je suis si fière d'avoir gagné le prix. J'aimerais voyager aux États-Unis en juillet à cause de mon emploi. Serai-je en mesure de voir ma cousine Ann à Dallas? Je sais que le tour passe seulement par Houston...De plus, j'aimerais vraiment aller nager dans l'océan. J'espère que le temps le permettra.
Sincèrement vôtre,
It'd really incredible how many ways there are to translate one given line however simple it may be!
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| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6881 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language
| Message 8 of 110 14 May 2007 at 2:38am | IP Logged |
Here's one for German:
A few things: I used a dictionary for the words "image" and "significance" and the last sentence "a light at the end of the tunnel"...I'm not sure how that would be translated into German, if it is an idiomatic phrase or not, and since I wanted this to be a real test of what I could do with as little dictionary/ grammar help as possible, I just changed the wording to "a lighthouse in a storm"...trying to convey the same feeling, but with a different expression...I don't know if that works.
Corrections welcome. :-) Danke sehr!
I have to run to class, later I'll try my hand at the two smaller texts.
Ich haben meinen Vater kaum gekennt. Er ist gestorben als 75 jähriger, ich war auch noch nicht 10 jähriger. Den Tag kann ich mich gut erinnern. Es war ein sonniger Tag im September, und in dem Haus gab es ein auβergewöhliches Gefühl. Ich kann mich ganz allein auf einem groβen Stühl sehen; eine Wespe fliegt hin und her aber auβerdem war das Haus total Still. Einer meine ältere Brüder hat gesagt „Vater stirbt, aber du solltest hier bleiben.“ Die ganze Leute waren bei ihm, nur ich war „zu jung“ und deswegen musste weg bleiben. Ich weiβ es nicht, was hat mich trauriger getan: diese Zustand, oder der Tot meines Vaters, dessen Wichtigkeit ich konnte natürlich noch nicht überhaupt verstehen. Eine Vorstellung von ihm hat mich am meistens beeindrückt: sein Zimmer von der Flur ansehen und ihn beobachten, als er sich an dem Schreibtisch saβ in dem Lampelicht. Es war genauso wie ein Lichthaus in einem Sturm finden.
Edited by Journeyer on 14 May 2007 at 2:40am
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