{"id":2623,"date":"2016-01-01T09:00:08","date_gmt":"2016-01-01T17:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=2623"},"modified":"2020-12-10T13:44:31","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T21:44:31","slug":"when-english-doesnt-translate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/when-english-doesnt-translate\/","title":{"rendered":"When English Doesn\u2019t Translate"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a recent post, I talked about the value of using your native language to aid your English understanding and production. For the most part, your native language is a valuable tool for your ESL studies. However, there are a few exceptions. Sometimes a word or term in English simply doesn\u2019t have a direct equivalent in your first language.<\/p>\n

For instance, \u201cgreat grandchild,\u201d a common family term in English, has no direct translation in the Hmong or Bengali languages. Speakers of those languages would instead need to say something like \u201cthe child of the grandchild.\u201d For that matter, the closest term Korean has to \u201cpumpkin\u201d is a general term referring to a wide variety of squashes and gourds. There is no exact Korean term for \u201cpumpkin\u201d as it\u2019s thought of by most native English speakers. In fact, the \u201cpumpkin\u201d in the English sense (pictured below) isn\u2019t really grown or eaten on the Korean peninsula.<\/p>\n

\"wedt_img1\"<\/p>\n

Photo by\u00a0Brendan Borrell<\/a><\/p>\n

There are other times when an English word may translate well into your native language, but relying on your native language can still <\/em>cause confusion. In Italian, the verb \u201cto schedule\u201d is fissare<\/em>. This word sounds very similar to the English word \u201cfix.\u201d As a result, a lot of native Italian speakers will talk about \u201cfixing\u201d a meeting or appointment. They hear the word \u201cfix\u201d in English and assume it\u2019s a synonym for schedule. In fact, fix isn\u2019t really used that way in English.<\/p>\n

Additionally, sometimes there can be a general term in English that is divided into a bunch of much more specific terms in your native language. Just as the single Korean word for pumpkin is divided into a few different words in English (pumpkin, squash, gourd, etc\u2026), sometimes an English word is too general to translate well into another language. English family terms, for instance, are very simple compared to a family words in many other languages. Your language may have different words for your father\u2019s sister, your mother\u2019s sister, your older brother, your younger brother, and so on. But in English, we just have the words \u201caunt\u201d and \u201cbrother.\u201d And of course, there\u2019s a very famous example of this in US culture— the way that indigenous language speakers in Alaska have many different terms for snow<\/a>. In contrast, English speakers on the mainland have just a few words for snow (snow, flurries, sleet, etc\u2026).<\/p>\n

And of course, there may very well be words in your language that simply don\u2019t translate very well into English<\/a>, for linguistic or cultural reasons. Take the German and Finnish vocabulary words illustrated below:<\/p>\n

\"wedt_img2-600x401\"<\/p>\n

Photo by\u00a0huffingtonpost<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"wedt_img3\"<\/p>\n

Photo by\u00a0emiliaelisabethblog<\/a><\/p>\n

As you\u2019re learning vocabulary in your English studies, there are times when it definitely helps to connect English to your native language. At other times, however, English vocabulary will not<\/em> connect well in your language. When a word doesn\u2019t translate, you\u2019ll want to focus your thoughts on the English word, and not try to think the word in our own language. So whenever you come across an English word that \u201cdoes not compute\u201d in your native tongue, make note of it and memorize it, exactly as it is.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a recent post, I talked about the value of using your native language to aid your English understanding and production. For the most part, your native language is a valuable tool for your ESL studies. However, there are a few exceptions. Sometimes a word or term in English simply doesn\u2019t have a direct equivalent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13604],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13630],"class_list":["post-2623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vocab"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhen English Doesn\u2019t Translate - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/when-english-doesnt-translate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When English Doesn\u2019t Translate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a recent post, I talked about the value of using your native language to aid your English understanding and production. 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Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT. David has a BS and MA from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew"],"knowsAbout":["TOEFL","IELTS","TOEIC","PET","FCE","BULATS","Eiken","SAT","ACT","GRE","GMAT"],"knowsLanguage":["English","Italian"],"jobTitle":"Content Creator","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/author\/davidr\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":13630,"user_id":80,"is_guest":0,"slug":"davidr","display_name":"David Recine","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Recine","first_name":"David","description":"David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT.\r\n\r\nDavid has a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. His work at Magoosh has been cited in<a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C50&q=Recine+magoosh&btnG=\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> many scholarly articles<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/minds.wisconsin.edu\/handle\/1793\/65479\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> his Master's Thesis<\/a> is featured on the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.readingwithpictures.org\/2013\/09\/research-highlight-teaching-english-language-learners-with-comics\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Reading with Pictures<\/a> website, and he's presented at the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.witesol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-WITESOL-Program-FINAL-10-28-14.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> WITESOL (link to PDF)<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/interoff\/docs\/nafsaregionv_2014conference\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> NAFSA<\/a> conferences. David has taught K-12 ESL in South Korea as well as undergraduate English and MBA-level business English at American universities. He has also trained English teachers in America, Italy, and Peru.\r\n\r\nCome join David and the Magoosh team on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew\"> Youtube<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning\"> Facebook<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/magooshenglish\/?hl=en\"> Instagram<\/a>, or connect with him via<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/\"> LinkedIn<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2623"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}