One day last week the second grade teacher was absent from school. As per the norm, the second grade students wanted to leave school when they realized their teacher was not present. One of the students asked me and I attempted to make the following statement to our assistant principal:
In transliteration, this sentence is pronounced as
Tolaab as-suf ath-thaanii gaaluu bedhom yarowhu.
Effectively this sentence means
The second grade students said they want to leave.
However, when you directly translate this sentence word-for-word, it comes out as follows:
Students the grade the second said they desire their go they.
Nevertheless, the dialect of Arabic that I speak is not considered to be Standard Arabic and therefore is not a written language. For this reason, it really is inappropriate for me to type the sentence in Arabic above as I did. It would have been more appropriate for me to type the following sentence (which has the exact same meaning as the original sentence):
In transliteration, this sentence is pronounced as
Tolaab as-suf ath-thaanii takelamuu innahum yuriiduun an yadhhabuun.
However, when you directly translate this sentence word-for-word, it comes out as follows:
Students the grade the second said they that to them want they to go they.
My hope in sharing this post is to give you just a small glimpse into how different are the two Arabic languages that I am learning here, as well as how different both are from English.
.طلاب الصف الثاني قالو بدهم يروحو
Tolaab as-suf ath-thaanii gaaluu bedhom yarowhu.
Effectively this sentence means
The second grade students said they want to leave.
However, when you directly translate this sentence word-for-word, it comes out as follows:
Students the grade the second said they desire their go they.
Nevertheless, the dialect of Arabic that I speak is not considered to be Standard Arabic and therefore is not a written language. For this reason, it really is inappropriate for me to type the sentence in Arabic above as I did. It would have been more appropriate for me to type the following sentence (which has the exact same meaning as the original sentence):
.طلاب الصف الثاني تكلموا إنهم يريدون أن يغادرون
Tolaab as-suf ath-thaanii takelamuu innahum yuriiduun an yadhhabuun.
However, when you directly translate this sentence word-for-word, it comes out as follows:
Students the grade the second said they that to them want they to go they.
My hope in sharing this post is to give you just a small glimpse into how different are the two Arabic languages that I am learning here, as well as how different both are from English.
I think a better theme for this post would be the severe limitations/contradictions/meaninglessness of "word-for-word" translation.
ReplyDeleteEven non-Arabic speakers should be quick to notice that the Arabic sentences have half as many words as the English versions you give. But while I know you are trying to illustrate the different grammar structures, your translations are a bit misleading.
For example, يريدون does not say "want they" or even "they want". Same story with "said they" and "go they." The sentence doesn't contain the word "they" at all! It is "want" with an attached suffix indicating "they". "(They) want" would really be the most revealing way to express it.
While word-for-word translating is a fun way to learn about idioms, it is a counterproductive way to make sense of a foreign language.
That being said, I applaud your efforts to learn fus'ha.
Thanks Jon! It's good to hear from you. How are things back in the US?
DeleteI completely agree with everything you said. Word-for-word translation rarely if ever works between two languages.
At this point in my language development I am comfortable speaking fluently with lots of grammar mistakes, but my aim here is to highlight all of things that I need to consider when I do make an effort to speak correctly.