On the language exchange where I have a couple of pen-pals in French and Italian, I've noticed that the mistakes that people make when they write me in English are often the very same ones that I make in their language.
For example, the indefinite articles (a, an) are not used in Italian nearly as much as they are in English. Whereas in English I would say 'I am a teacher,' it would be 'I am teacher' in Italian. I suppose, though, that most Italians would not be too perturbed by this small point, but there are other cases where it's much more subtle--and difficult.
The main thing is that one almost always gets into trouble when attempting to render something in the target language by trying to phrase it the way you would in the source language. Each language has its own word order and usage that often does not translate smoothly.
So, I guess what this leads me to believe is that there's more memorizing to do, entire phrases and sentences. Many times the difference seems to go beyond grammar rules.
Testing comment box.
ReplyDeleteSunday night redux. I try, yet again, to get 'published.' Will tenure ever elude me??
ReplyDeleteAnother thing to consider is context, especially social context. In Korean, social context is everything, or nearly. For example, the textbook "thank you" would be downright laughable in many, if not most, social circumstances, as I found out early on, when the young man I thanked literally rolled on the floor in hysterical laughter. (The textbook "thank you" might well have been better translated as "I appreciate that very much, Your Highness."). Going from English to French or other European languages, we don't run into this degree of difficulty, but I think there are still problems in social context which make our French (say) laughable. Can you think of any examples? In English, for example, the blunt "Wanna drink?" would hardly be appropriate if we were talking to the president. These distinctions are obvious to native speakers, but they are rarely if ever dealt with in textbooks.
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