Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Translate! Trabajo!

I think I should do something productive. Given the large influx of Spanish speakers who assault my cube on a daily basis: 75% to you know... the rest of the pie...being whatever languages remain out there, I am going to learn Spanish. I mean to say that I am going to learn functional Spanish- enough to let that 75% know that I don't know what I am doing at this desk and that I need to get someone who does know.

I can say the following things... although I may or may not know their meaning (emphasis on not knowing) :
1. trabajo
2. habichuela negro
3. bien
4. no comprende espanole (although this is apparently not spanish at all- this is just what my friend Fe La Human Translator told me to say on the phone to a Spanish-speaking person in a moment of crisis.)
5. una momento por favor
6. para para para perro perro

Today I have a task: translate a document from English to Spanish. I am confused because I have to use google translate... or my own knowledge... or just relabel everything habichuela negro, perro, perro, perro...
But here is a shining example:

The title of the document is: INTAKE FORM.
Google Translate says that in Spanish, the new title is: Toma Forma.
Fe La (offical Spanish speaking Human says this is ridiculous).
Self is so lucky to have Fe La Human translator to over-ride Google Translate.
Of course, Fe La tells me to choose another title, thus I choose....

Lava Caliente
Am I on the right Track?
I hope so. I love Spanish!
Trabajaba! Ole!

2 comments:

  1. okay, so this is 50% of my job, and wordreference.com is the bomb. Sorry for making a rhyme

    http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1445894

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Rush! Very Helpful. Better, I think than lava caliente.

    ReplyDelete