ESL and translation issues

["Curtis Brautigam" <curtisb -at- nurserysupplies -dot- com>]

There seems to be a lot of discussion recently of Web sites in
poorly-written English and translation issues. We need to realize that there
are certain peculiar characteristics of the English language which cause
problems for non-native English speakers.

1. The verb-adverb combination is peculiar to English, as illustrated by
constructions such as "turn on,"  "turn off," "mark up," or "mark down". In
other languages, single specific verbs are used in place of the English
verb-adverb combinations. A construction such as "turn off" is highly
problematic because in English, it has numerous meanings. You can turn off a
light, or you can use the word "turn off" in the sense of something being
repulsive. For example, if you want to translate "turn off" in the sense of
turning off a light in other languages, in French, it would be "eteindre";
in Spanish, it would be "apagar"; in Russian, it would be "vyklyuchit'"; in
Hebrew, it would be "le-kabot." You would use a different verb in the sense
of turning off a computer. This is one peculiar aspect of the English
language that non-native speakers have a hard time grasping.

2. Split infinitives seem to have become accepted English usage. In other
languages, the verb infinitive has a specific form that identifies it as
such. The adverb would be used after the infinitive.

3. English syntax is very inflexible compared to other languages. English
goes by a very strict subject-verb-object structure. Other languages are
much more flexible. For instance, in Hebrew or Russian, the object can
precede the verb for the purpose of emphasis (in Russian, the object is
identified as such by means of the cases indicating direct or indirect
object). Also, pronouns must be used with the verbs; this is not the case in
other languages. For instance, in Spanish, Italian, or even Polish, you do
not need to use the pronouns with the verb because the verb endings indicate
the person. Then, of course, the syntax of German and Dutch is in a category
of its own, with verbs coming at the end of sentences under certain
circumstances.

4. Many languages do not use articles. Virtually all Western European
languages use articles. The Slavic languages (with the exception of
Macedonian and Bulgarian) do not use articles--this causes difficulties for
people with Slavic mother tongues learning English. Hebrew and Arabic have
definite articles, but not indefinite articles. Some languages do not use
the present tense of the verb "to be", such as Hebrew and Russian.

5. Another difficulty for non-native English speakers is the fact that
English is not a phonetic language. It is probably one of the most
unphonetic languages in the world (French probably comes close to English in
its lack of phoneticity).

6. Some English vocabulary is peculiar. Most European languages have two
verbs with the sense of "to know," one meaning to know a person in the sense
of friendship or acquaintance (French, connaitre; German, kennen; Spanish,
conocer, Russian, poznakomit'), and other meaning to know facts (French,
savoir; German, wissen; Spanish, saber; Russian, znat'). There are two words
for "law" in most European languages, one in the sense of a piece of
legislation (French, loi; German, Gesetz; Spanish, ley; Italian: legge;
Russian, zakon) and the other in the sense of the discipline of law (French,
droit; German, Recht; Spanish, derecho; Italian, diritto; Russian, pravo).
These two distinctions are even found in Hebrew, a non-Indo-European
language.

7. While English does not have as many grammatical inflections as other
languages (thus simplifying the grammar enormously), English verbs can pose
problems. The problematic areas are the enormous use of auxiliary verbs to
convey modes (subjunctive and conditional) that are indicated in other
languages by simple verb endings, and the large number of irregular verbs in
English. It seems that English has more irregular verbs than other languages
with which I am familiar.

8. American English especially has a tendency to convert nouns to verbs.
This is problematic for speakers of other languages who cannot as easily
convert nouns to verbs. Noun combinations such as "light emitter diode", as
well as compound nouns, also pose problems for speakers of other languages

   All of these peculiarities of English grammar often make it difficult for
non-native English speakers to get a full command of the language. It is
also difficult when it comes to translating English technical writing into
other languages. In fact, the size of the text often increases when one
translates from English to many Western European languages (this has
implications for text layout and DTP), and it often decreases when one
translates from English to Hebrew for instance. These are issues to bear in
mind when it comes to the internationalization of technical writing.
(I admit ignorance when it comes to Asian and African languages).

Curtis R. Brautigam
Technical Writer
Nursery Supplies, Inc.
Chambersburg, PA.