# Help me translate to Spanish! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 26, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-translate-to-spanish/197773 "2003-08-26T16:23:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-translate-to-spanish/197773/21 "2003-08-30T01:18:30Z")
The thing **Grousser** et al is that we are all right. It all depends on context. So, as I said before, she should get a real translator or else the end-product could be laughable. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-translate-to-spanish/197773/22 "2003-08-30T02:44:02Z")
Get thee to a professional translator! ---
**Author:** ![Omnipresent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@Omnipresent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omnipresent)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-translate-to-spanish/197773/23 "2003-08-30T14:41:45Z")
I am a fulltime professional translator, and this is one of the problems we translators face daily, a company that is too cheap to hire a translator so they give the project to a bilingual person thinking that just because we he can communicate in the language he has the skills to translate. You do need a professional translor for this, especially since it is specific in nature (scientific language). You are asking for translation for this phrase, (context has to be considered for accurid translation), but there might be many others that present a challenge and you will not recognize. My advice, if you are not prepared to do this don’t do it, because when it turns out to be of poor quality they WILL point the finger!! Oh and by the way Babelfish is used in translation school as entertainment. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![parlo\_americano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b19c9b/32.png) [@parlo\_americano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parlo_americano)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-translate-to-spanish/197773/24 "2003-08-30T15:20:58Z")
What exactly is a professional translor? And where can I get one? 😉 Omnipresent, why can’t a bilingual person do a translation? I think it’s fair to say someone with only a dictionary will not do well with a translation, but someone who speaks both languages can do a good job of it. Besides from a professional translation company in Vienna, I read the following translation: German “Vielen Dank” American English “We give you many thank yous” **DeVena** Try contacting the EPA and ask them what type of resources they have for this sort of thing. Also there are a lot of downloadable information files on this site. > **[U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | US EPA](https://www.epa.gov/)** ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-translate-to-spanish/197773/25 "2003-08-30T16:20:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by **parlo americano** \* > Omnipresent, why can’t a bilingual person do a translation? I think it’s fair to say someone with only a dictionary will not do well with a translation, but someone who speaks both languages can do a good job of it. And not ANY professional _translor_ 😉 but one that knows the jargon. I am bilingual, but I wouldn’t tackle this project for I know nothing about HazMat dispossal. The end result could be in perfect Spanish but totally useless. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-translate-to-spanish/197773/26 "2003-08-30T16:21:39Z")
Oh, and by the by. Speaking two languages does not a translator make. I am sure you can agree with me on that. ---
**Author:** ![Omnipresent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@Omnipresent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omnipresent)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-translate-to-spanish/197773/27 "2003-08-30T22:17:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by parlo americano \* > \*\* > Omnipresent, why can’t a bilingual person do a translation? I think it’s fair to say someone with only a dictionary will not do well with a translation, but someone who speaks both languages can do a good job of it. > > \*\* Because, the same way that a person who only speaks one language may have trouble putting into words a description of an event, so too would someone who “just happens to speak two languages” would stumble at the precise intent of the meaning of the translation. In a court of law, it could be all the difference in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Grousser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Grousser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grousser)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-translate-to-spanish/197773/28 "2003-08-30T23:50:05Z")
I only said that I’m mexican, my native language is spanish and the translation I give: ¡NO ARROJE, ENTIERRE O QUEME LOS RESIDUOS DE LOS PRODUCTOS NI LOS ENVASES DE LOS MISMOS! from my spanish side, looks very professional. And it’s giving the exact sense of what the original phrase is saying. We’re not talking about deep meanings here. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-translate-to-spanish/197773/29 "2003-08-31T22:34:08Z")
Nobody disagrees with you Grousser, but we are not talking a phrase here but a whole booklet. That’s where my “get a pro do this” advice comes. ---
**Author:** ![parlo\_americano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b19c9b/32.png) [@parlo\_americano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parlo_americano)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-translate-to-spanish/197773/30 "2003-09-05T17:04:23Z")
I think that something must already be in print from the EPA or other gov’t org that DeVena could use to help her/him. Another point is that DeVena is producing this for regular people and not experts in the field of hazardous materials. It’s DeVena’s job and if DeVena can explain the situation to let’s say Grousser. And Grousser explains it back in English so that DeVena knows it’s understood by Grousser. Then Grousser could produce the Spanish or if Grousser doesn’t know the exact Spanish words then Grousser can read about it in Spanish and find the correct words. And Omnipresent I don’t think any person can “just happen to speak two languages”. Everybody has to learn a language. Just because a multilingual person doesn’t work as a profressional translator doesn’t mean that that person can’t translate. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-translate-to-spanish/197773/31 "2003-09-05T17:36:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by parlo americano \* > And Omnipresent I don’t think any person can “just happen to speak two languages”. Everybody has to learn a language. I have no idea what you mean by “Everybody has to learn a language”. Yes you learn your native language or languages and you can learn more languages later. So what? > [@](#): > > Just because a multilingual person doesn’t work as a profressional translator doesn’t mean that that person can’t translate. I disagree. 99% of native English speakers do not make good writers. They may understand a book or manual but they could not write it. A good translator needs to be a good writer in the destination language plus needs to master the topic being covered. Most Americans with a low level of education would make lousy writers or translators. Most Mexicans I have met in the USA would make lousy translators even though their native language is Spanish because they have a very low level of education. The fact that you can boil an egg at home and survive does not mean you are qualified to work as a chef in a restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-translate-to-spanish/197773/32 "2003-09-05T20:04:46Z")
I have had books I have written translated to Spanish, and at the moment I am involved in helping translate English text into Spanish. I have also edited books that have been translated from Spanish to English. There can be many, many pitfalls involved in translation. Many words have multiple meanings in both languages, and a translator, even a totally bilingual one, may not guess the correct connotation intended by the writer in the original language. A writer will often have to sit down with a translator and check to make sure they understood the intended meaning of every word. And it can be very difficult for a writer to realize the translator has not selected the correct word unless they have pretty good language skills themselves in the language it is being translated into. If this is something that is important for health and safety, it absolutely should not be being translated by someone with an imperfect knowledge of Spanish with the help of Babelfish. (And I mean no offense to you, **DeVena**. The problem is with whoever assigned you to do this task.) You absolutely need a professional. I speak and understand Spanish reasonably well (having live 11 years in Panama), but I wouldn’t dream of publishing or even circulating something I wrote in Spanish without having it edited by a native speaker with a very good language sense. And if I have something I wrote in English translated into Spanish, I read it over very carefully and check every unfamiliar word in the dictionary, and end up discussing many words in detail with the translator. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-translate-to-spanish/197773/33 "2003-09-05T20:05:34Z")
Relevant post in another thread supporting the idea that many people cannot write well even in their own language: > [@](#): > > originally posted by **troub** in [another thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=209383). > You may be surprised how many Ph.D.s and other academic “elite” can’t spell (or write) to save their damn lives. As an undergrad in Computer Science, I used to earn a little bit of money by editing research papers submitted to a scholarly journal. These people were researchers, writing research papers, and couldn’t construct a coherent fucking sentence if their life depended on it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-translate-to-spanish/197773.md?page=1)