Don’t get lost in translation. Listen to this episode to learn how to talk about going from one language to another.
Slow dialog: 1:08
Explanations: 3:14
Fast dialog: 17:39
Francine: Do you know the word in Mcquish for “partnership”?
Aziz: No, I don’t speak Mcquish. What are you doing?
Francine: Jim gave me this letter and this document to translate into Mcquish because I speak a little of it, but even with a dictionary and thesaurus, it’s slow going.
Aziz: Didn’t you tell Jim that?
Francine: I did, but he still wants me to try because it’s so hard to find a Mcquish-English bilingual.
Aziz: I’m not surprised. Other than you, I don’t know anyone who speaks Mcquish.
Francine: Yeah, well, I’m doing my best to translate these documents idiomatically because the literal translation won’t make any sense, but it’s a tough job. I simply don’t know enough business Mcquish to know the equivalent words and phrases.
Aziz: Can’t you just paraphrase and convey the general meaning by using a lot of loan words and cognates?
Francine: I’m trying, but I don’t think it’s turning out the way it’s supposed to.
Aziz: At least he didn’t ask you to interpret. You’d really be in the hot seat trying to interpret in a meeting or over the phone.
Francine: Yeah, at least I was spared that experience, at least for now.
Aziz: I wish I could help you, but the only language I speak, other than English, is gibberish!

Script by Dr. Lucy Tse