Translations

[claudia castellani]

Great description! Your "translation-askers" (whoever they are!) must be a
nightmare!!!!
Luckily my experience with the people I walked the Camino was different.
Actually there was a very nice Spanish guy from Logrono who kept talking and
talking and talking, trying to communicate his deep (indeed) knowledge of
Spanish history, traditions and witty proverbs (very interesting) to the two
"foreigners" of the group, me and the American guy. And I kept translating
every single sentence into English for the poor American, who actually
didn't seem so much interested in all the (excessive) details.

The knowledge of foreign languages is, in my opinion, both a "gift" and a
question of personal effort. There are people who learn languages more
easily than other people do and have an innate desire to be a part of those
cultures. But it is also true that, for example, we, Italian people, used to
speak no foreign languages at all a few years ago, while now something is
changing. This depends partly from the fact that we travel more than we used
to do in the past, and as nobody in the world speaks our beautiful language,
we are obliged to learn English, at least. Which is very good, because
learning a language does not only mean learning words, verbs, phrasal
construction, but also culture, habits, mentality. It is charming reading
foreign literature in its original language: walking the Camino and meeting
Spanish people and hearing of the endless competition between different
Spanish regions, I couldn't avoid thinking of Cervantes' very famous and
critical description of "Vizcainos, manchegos, aragoneses, valencianos...."
(people from the Basque country, La Mancha, Aragòn, Valencia, etc) in his
“La tìa fingida” short story.
And it is very .....uncanny realizing that speaking in a foreign language
makes you also behave differently from what you are used to do: there are
languages such as German, for instance, which do not allow talking without
exactly knowing what you want to say. In Italian you can start talking and,
while expressing your thought, you can change your mind and modify your
sentence (very useful when you realize you are making a “gaffe”, a
blunder!); in German you can’t, which obliges you to think very well to what
you are going to say: no second thoughts!!!

Thank you Rosina for starting this very interesting subject!  Claudia



From: Rosina Lila <BlaroliaAOL.COM>

>Thank you Richard,
>I've gotten a few messages bemoaning my selfishness; one said that speaking
>several languages is a "gift" that as its own reward  it should be shared.
>Perhaps.....but, picture this:  you are at dinner reading the menu and
>trying
>to decide what to order when you are called upon  to translate the menu for
>the others..., almost dish by dish;  when it seems that the companions have
>made their selections  you go back to trying to make your own choice
>during
>which process, inevitably, one of the companions or another interrups you
>to have
>you ask the waiter  "what comes with it"? or "how is it cooked"?  or etc.,
>etc., etc.
........................

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