On Language and Culture

[SamsoniteDelilah]

Rather than hijack the mofo photo thread with this, I thought I'd break it out into a thread...


Just a question here, not trying to be langcist:

Why is it (In the U.S. anyway) that if one is majoring in English they are probably trying to become either a teacher or a writer, but any other language major is like something eccentric or a translator?

Because we speak English here?

Seems like a simple answer doesn't it?

However many Europeans, South Americans and even some Canadians don't understand this. Like I said, we are very much culturally isolated from the rest of the world. IMO culture to a large extent equals language. The subjectivity of Japanese, for example insinuates itself upon the culture or vice-versa. (Chicken and egg) The culture and the language are inextricably linked. In many ways our culture and our language grew in a vacuum. It's hard for many other nationalities to understand why we don’t study other languages for the sake of KNOWING then instead of doing so in the name of a career or "business." In many places being multi-lingual isn’t a choice it is a matter of daily nessessity.


But, and I know you know what I was getting at.................., bleh nm.

Ok, this interests me. I get the feeling I'm coming across as being obtuse, but in all seriousness: I'm missing something in this conversation.

Perhaps this is because I actually have studied two other languages just for the sake of knowing them. Perhaps it's because I recognise that yes, the US is rather insular, but that it also is vast and varied, both culturally and linguistically.

So, school me, please. Por favor. Bitte.
Why would a native English speaker study English in order to get a job as a translator?

[Darth Stujitzu]

Probably more to do with the structure of the language than anything else, probably easier to explain or compare structures, verbs, nouns etc with other languages.
Most of my english class' at school were taught around the structure of the english language and how best to use it in various situations.
Compared to many other languages, english is fairly straight forward, most of the latin based languages have slightly different pronounciations of words depending if they're directed to a man or a woman, and a lot of words have different genders.
As for German, if I never have to explain the verb, verb or superlative, or messed up sentance structure of that language again, it'll be too soon.
I love languages and travel, although German was hard to master, I liked the spoken language and managed to get my Higher along with French, and a smattering of Portugese and Spanish as well.
The Latin based languages are very similar in structure and can sound quite similar too once you've mastered one, it can be easier to get a grasp of the others.

Would love to learn Japanese, but the Scandanavian languages baffle me!
Probably Frog would have a better explanation of this, he fluent in quite a few languages.

[Piddzilla]

So, school me, please. Por favor. Bitte.
Why would a native English speaker study English in order to get a job as a translator?

My sister works as a translator (English to Swedish). During her education they had to study A LOT of Swedish too of course (she allready had a degree in English). If you want to be able to make correct translations you have to be very knowledgeable about to the language you translate into, not only the one you translate from, so to speak. There are many ways of saying things in English or American English that are impossible to translate into Swedish. Then you have to know, firstly, what the specific expression means in English, then you have to know an expression in Swedish that expresses the same thing, but with a completely different set of words. Perhaps with just one word. And that is connected to culture, specific meanings in specific situations among diffrent groups of people. So, then to be a really good translator (this is probably the most important when it comes to translating books) you have to know a great deal about not one, but two different cultures. So, it's important to study culture, which is a social fact, to gain great knowledge about language, another social fact. And I guess that is what lingvists do; study culture through language. No?

[Tacitus]

I don't know anyone who graduated in English with me from Lancaster Uni in '94 who became a translator as I'd say from that experience that nobody I know would have studied the subject purely to take up that career (if they were a Native speaker in the first place).

When I studied English language to degree level (I don't often get to bum about my education so indulge me :D) it wasn't to learn what words mean but why they mean.

That's not to say that English graduates don't eventually become translators because our career paths take us in many different directions.

Pete - did your sister always want to become a translator or was it a path which opened to her after she did a foreign language degree?

This, I think, is where the distinction lies - if I wanted to become a translator I'd start with whatever foreign language degree which interested me the most (ie, the one which brought in the most moolah) then possibly augment it with a qualification in the etymology of my native language.

But whadda I know? My degree took me into the motor trade (and I'm bloody thankful for it). :)

With that....I'll get back to my sick bed. :sleep:

[Piddzilla]

Pete - did your sister always want to become a translator or was it a path which opened to her after she did a foreign language degree?

The second alternative sounds pretty close to the real story.

[quote]With that....I'll get back to my sick bed. :sleep:

Bummer. Get well soon! :yup:

[Tacitus]

Bummer. Get well soon! :yup:

Thanks, my friend. I'm on the mend (blokes are such big babies). :)