4 ms·

This is maddeningly common, even these days. Unfortunately, many mono-lingual people don't realise that language does not map perfectly from one word/phrase to

This is maddeningly common, even these days. Unfortunately, many mono-lingual people don't realise that language does not map perfectly from one word/phrase to another. When I used to translate people in the office would come up and ask me "What's xxxxx in English?". I would reply "Well, what situation is this?". More often than not they would switch off at this point.

pdpi 7y ago
I'm more or less bilingual (Portuguese/English), and it annoys me to no end how often I have the exact word I want, but it's in the "wrong" language. Often, the alternatives in the "right" language just lack the appropriate connotation/subtext.
- shifto 7y ago
  I feel this about language in general. Sometimes it takes way too many words or sentences to convey what I mean. I think it's time we develop some cool telepathy tech.
ljm 7y ago
I’m not fluently bi-lingual but this is my go-to answer whenever someone’s asked me how to say a certain thing in English, when they’re writing or figuring out how to talk to someone else. My questions usually would be: 1. How would you say it in [original language?]. This is on the off-chance I know what they’re talking about, or can reasonably guess. Sometimes this is good enough that they get what they want out of it. Also, I get to learn a little bit more of their language, if it’s one that I’ve also learned a bit about :) 2. What are you trying to say/what’s the context? This is to get around the X/Y problem, because usually the question isn’t so simple. It’s rare to have a straight up, correct answer the moment someone asks how to translate. And if it does come up so easily, they were already speaking good English in the first place. Just needed the vocab.
wolf550e 7y ago
There used to be a requirement that anyone receiving an academic degree has to demonstrate proficiency in a second language. The purpose is not so you could use the second language, instead the purpose is that learning a second language forces you to understand that all the details of your own native language are arbitrary, understand the abstract notion of "language" separately from your native one, and as part of that understand that many parts of your native language encode pieces of your native culture and are not universal, and thus cannot be translated directly. This understanding of how language works was part of what made you a "college educated" person, who has a better understanding of the world. Has this requirement been dropped, or are diploma mills able to graduate students who can speak a little Spanish but do not understand the important bits about how human languages work?

pdpi 7y ago

I'm more or less bilingual (Portuguese/English), and it annoys me to no end how often I have the exact word I want, but it's in the "wrong" language. Often, the alternatives in the "right" language just lack the appropriate connotation/subtext.

shifto 7y ago
I feel this about language in general. Sometimes it takes way too many words or sentences to convey what I mean. I think it's time we develop some cool telepathy tech.

ljm 7y ago

I’m not fluently bi-lingual but this is my go-to answer whenever someone’s asked me how to say a certain thing in English, when they’re writing or figuring out how to talk to someone else. My questions usually would be: 1. How would you say it in [original language?]. This is on the off-chance I know what they’re talking about, or can reasonably guess. Sometimes this is good enough that they get what they want out of it. Also, I get to learn a little bit more of their language, if it’s one that I’ve also learned a bit about :) 2. What are you trying to say/what’s the context? This is to get around the X/Y problem, because usually the question isn’t so simple. It’s rare to have a straight up, correct answer the moment someone asks how to translate. And if it does come up so easily, they were already speaking good English in the first place. Just needed the vocab.

wolf550e 7y ago

There used to be a requirement that anyone receiving an academic degree has to demonstrate proficiency in a second language. The purpose is not so you could use the second language, instead the purpose is that learning a second language forces you to understand that all the details of your own native language are arbitrary, understand the abstract notion of "language" separately from your native one, and as part of that understand that many parts of your native language encode pieces of your native culture and are not universal, and thus cannot be translated directly. This understanding of how language works was part of what made you a "college educated" person, who has a better understanding of the world. Has this requirement been dropped, or are diploma mills able to graduate students who can speak a little Spanish but do not understand the important bits about how human languages work?