[nabs-l] Spanish translation

[Hope Paulos]

Wow, Harry. Wonderful explanation!!! <smile> Also, the Spanish translators 
oftentimes don't properly consider noun/verb agreement or gender of words.
Hope and Beignet
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "V Nork" <ginisd at sbcglobal.net>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, November 13, 2009 11:00 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Spanish translation


> Dear Harry, Thanks for your illuminating answer  to my earlier question re 
> spanish translation programs.  My spanish needs to be refurbished, and I 
> wanted to ask you if you could recommend some Spanish phrasebooks for me 
> as a  good starting point.  In print, there are great  sounding phrase 
> books I have seen like "just Enough Spanish" and "Street Spanish", 
> "Spanish for housewives" and on and on.  When I went to find some 
> phrasebooks  I could use as a visually impaired person , I seemed to have 
> little luck.  My idea in getting some phrasebooks is that the verbs are 
> already conjugated in a constructed phrase, and the grammar and syntax can 
> be modeled, so it is a good memory jogger.  Living in Southern California, 
> I find my vocabulary for nouns and adjectives is still not bad, it is just 
> the grammar I want to work on.  So if you know of any Spanish phrasebooks 
> that are accessible, I would be very pleased.   I think I am  an 
> intermediate to advanced level right now in Spanish. Take care, Ginnie
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Harry Hogue" <harryhogue at yahoo.com>
> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, October 09, 2009 8:33 PM
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Spanish translation
>
>
> Hello,
>
> Without going into great complicated detail, the bottom line is this:
>
> Dictionaries, online translators, and other translation software packages 
> are used mainly to translate a short word or common phrase and are not 
> designed to translate longer passages of texts such as plays, novels, 
> essays, and the like.  No tool exists to meet this need for a very simple 
> reason:  the human translator is always superior to a computer for the 
> reason that a human can select the phrasing that works within a given 
> context, a nonstandard but nevertheless appropriate phrasal verb 
> construction in place of a more generalized and widely comprehended single 
> two-partEnglish verb (i.e. to manage vs. to deal with), and, also, the 
> less widely understood but equally important reason--culture.  Culture 
> plays a vital role in foreign language text translation, literary 
> interpretation, and sociological context.  A very simple example of this 
> may be seen with idiomatic expressions:  it's raining cats and dogs, give 
> me a break, take a load off, etc.  Each of
> these expressions will have their own variations in a given foreign 
> language, and this results from the way the people, who collectively form 
> the culture, interpret their environment.  The environment, of course, is 
> effected by geography, climate, livestock, varieties of foodstuffs, and so 
> forth.
> Now.  Was that sufficiently far more than you wanted to know?  <smile>
>
>
> If you've any more questions, please do not hesitate to contact me either 
> on or off list at harryhogue at yahoo.com.
>
> Best,
>
> Harry Hogue
>
> --- On Fri, 10/9/09, V Nork <ginisd at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
>> From: V Nork <ginisd at sbcglobal.net>
>> Subject: [nabs-l] Spanish translation
>> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>> Date: Friday, October 9, 2009, 9:22 PM
>> Dear list, Does anyone have any
>> advice on seeking Spanish to English translations on
>> line? I am enrolled in a three unit college classin
>> Chicano Literature here in San Diego, California.
>> While most of the texts were written in English or are in
>> translation to English, a couple of the texts have
>> sizeable Spanish passages interspersed within the
>> English text. For example, in the works of Luis
>> Valdez, his acto or short play called Soldado Razo is mostly
>> Spanish, and without knowing the language, you miss most of
>> the characterization and plotline. I was lucky enough
>> to find a bilingual student to translate the short playfor
>> me, but I wonder if there is a way to translate spanish
>> passages into English that is better than the google
>> language tool I have tried on the main page of Google.
>> I have taken a fair amount of Spanish, but it is a bit
>> rusty. Most of the class is bilingual, so I
>> am finding it interesting to experience, even in a minor
>> way, the obstacles faced by many ESL students on a daily
>> basis. Thanks for any thoughts on a translation
>> program or utility, Ginnie
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>
>
>
>
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