Literalness of English interpretationsHello Lawless Spanish,
I JUST found your excellent web site.
I've been using various means to learn Spanish over the last 1.5 years,
but your site seems to be the best resource so far. I'm still at A1 however.
Here's a
thought that I'd be interested to know your opinion on. Often while
reading an English interpretation of a Spanish phrase or sentence, I
think I would like to have the more literal translation rather than the
Spanish being re-worded in order to be a grammatical English sentence.
Because I don't care about English grammar or want my English reinforced
when I'm trying to understand how a Spanish speaker constructs their
thoughts linguistically. Do you know what I mean?
Take the example from the first exercise I happened to land on, Corro para estar en forma. It
would be helpful to see a more literal translation, then I get a better
idea of the words and structure a Spanish speaker uses. In the example,
"estar en forma" is re-interpreted as "to keep fit." That is quite a
departure from the literal. I think an English speaker is quite capable
of recognizing a more literal translation "to be in form" because it is
identical to the common English phrase "to be in shape." So while I know
authors are trying to be helpful with English re-interpretations, I
often feel cheated out of knowing a more literal construction and
wording, and in the process authors may even be making less-accurate
interpretations (such as "to keep fit" instead of the better "to be in shape.").
What do you think?
En 1 of 2 de ejercicio, la pista nos dijo que "Conjugate "ver" El Pretérito Perfecto Subjuntivo". Pero no hay nada tal selección en la lista. Lo mismo error es en 2 of 2 de ejecicio. No hay nada tal selección de "Conjugate "decir" in El Pretérito Perfecto Subjuntivo". Todos los subjuntivo artículos de las listas son El Presente Perfecto Subjuntivo.
Entiendo correctamente los ejercicios? Debemos elegir "Presente Perfecto subjuntivo"?
I am going to Costa Rica. Should I learn to use Vos? Or is it best for non-native speakers to stick to usted and maybe tú?
For the phrase: "... accompanied by rich hot chocolate" > "[una deliciosa rosca] acompañada de un rico chocolate caliente" -
- the hint which you gave us should read: "the adjective 'rich' is reinforcing 'hot chocolate' " ... (Instead, you put: "the adj. 'hot' is reinforcing 'hot chocolate' ").
Hello Lawless Spanish,
I JUST found your excellent web site. I've been using various means to learn Spanish over the last 1.5 years, but your site seems to be the best resource so far. I'm still at A1 however.
Here's a thought that I'd be interested to know your opinion on. Often while reading an English interpretation of a Spanish phrase or sentence, I think I would like to have the more literal translation rather than the Spanish being re-worded in order to be a grammatical English sentence. Because I don't care about English grammar or want my English reinforced when I'm trying to understand how a Spanish speaker constructs their thoughts linguistically. Do you know what I mean?
Take the example from the first exercise I happened to land on, Corro para estar en forma. It would be helpful to see a more literal translation, then I get a better idea of the words and structure a Spanish speaker uses. In the example, "estar en forma" is re-interpreted as "to keep fit." That is quite a departure from the literal. I think an English speaker is quite capable of recognizing a more literal translation "to be in form" because it is identical to the common English phrase "to be in shape." So while I know authors are trying to be helpful with English re-interpretations, I often feel cheated out of knowing a more literal construction and wording, and in the process authors may even be making less-accurate interpretations (such as "to keep fit" instead of the better "to be in shape."). What do you think?
Isn´t "haber" an irregular verb for the tú imperative since it is "he" rather than "ha"?
Of course numbers are read all kinds of ways, but I was always taught that in reading a number without a decimal (i.e., "20, 354") the word "and" is not to be used. Thus, your example "20,354" would be vocalized as: "twenty-thousand, three hundred fifty-four". No "and".
Pati Ecuamiga
The correct answer was listed as “La gente siempre quiere …”. My response was “Siempre la gente quiere …” Do you have any guidelines on word sequence/placement? It seems like I’ve seen “siempre” at the beginning of a sentence or clause in other contexts. As always, muchas gracias for your insights!
Why is the answer !Los coches que venden aquí son espectaculares!
It looks fairly similar to me?
Find your Spanish level for FREE
Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard
Find your Spanish level