Faux Pas in
Foreign Language Writing
Here are some don’ts for success:
NEVER…
…never write in English—not even
one little word.
Your teacher sees that little word or two in English and could think, “this
student wasn’t careful enough to consult the textbook/dictionary/teacher” OR “this
student wants to take shortcuts instead of really thinking about a simplified
way of making sense in the foreign language.”
We know you worked hard on that composition,
that you devoted plenty of time to it, and that you applied what you learned
in class about how to simplify or paraphrase in Spanish or French—so
don’t give the wrong impression by throwing in English words.
…never use online translation programs to
help you write in a foreign language. 3 good reasons are:
- Plagiarism.
Using translation programs is tantamount to plagiarism.
The foreign language writing that comes from them is not the student’s
own work, but the work of a computer program.
- Awful writing.
Machine translation programs might help you understand
a web page in a foreign language but often they produce gobbledygook when
you translate something you’ve written into a foreign language. One
among many reasons is that idiomatic expressions are translated literally
and therefore do not make much sense to the reader: the French way to say “I
am hungry” is “J’ai faim” or “I have hunger.” Some
translation programs would not even catch that small difference (that all
students learn in beginning French) and would spit out “Je suis faim”—a
nonsensical sentence in French.
- Teachers always know.
There’s no way to fool your instructors when using
one of these programs because they have experience with the kinds of foreign
language vocabulary, grammar, and syntax that first-year, second-year,
and upper-level American students produce.
Want to see for yourself? Check out this comparison of
a professionally translated text and one done on an online translator: http://www.holmpage.com/holmpage/translation.htm
