🔤  Finding the right translation while learning a new language and becoming a polyglot | Polyglot ABC

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While being the best polyglot you can be and looking up words for learning a new language, you might've noticed that there's usually more than one option to choose from (at least in Google translate)…

Which option to choose?


Well, before we go into that question… You need to know that, at least Google translate, doesn't always give the right translation… I know, Shock! Haha


But neither do textbooks or apps always give the best translation!

Textbooks and apps tend to give very polite and quite formal translations, which don't always correspond with how native speakers actually use the language in everyday life.

For example:

All 🇨🇳 Mandarin Chinese teaching apps give "Ni hao ma?" as the translation for "How are you?", but Chinese people hardly ever use that to ask that question (I know this from firsthand experience but I've just stumbled upon a nice video explaining this, which I will post underneath here).

In 🇰🇷 Korean you get taught the word "Dangsin" for singular "You", but Korean people don't use it the way Westerners do (I don't actually study Korean myself, but I've seen this video, which I will also post underneath, where someone only learned that after a LEVEL 4 lesson… I was shocked to see this, and can you imagine this person actually got multiple levels of formal lessons before it was explained to them!?).

And I know that for Bulgarian, Dutch, English, French, German, and Spanish, some translations from textbooks and apps are also way too archaic and formal.

🇨🇳 CN


Clip for Mandarin Chinese from: "ChinesePod"

🇰🇷 KR


Clip for Korean from: "Talk to me in Korean"


But that doesn't have to be a problem!

When you have to make do with online or app translations, you just have to build in a little more checks.


For Google translate, one trick is to check through the 'Swap languages (⮀)' option and see if your original word/sentence stays unchanged.

When you type in a longer sentence and notice that your original sentence changes when you switch, then you'll probably have to check the words that change, or are left out, individually.


When typing in individual words, both in Google translate and certain apps, you should check the alternative translations to see if the definition actually corresponds the most to the one you are looking for. For example: For "Hello!" in 🇫🇷 French, the given translation is "Bonjour!"… but that is better used for actually saying "Good morning!". It is still a valid and correct "Hello!", but, looking at the alternatives, you can see that "Salut!" looks closer to being a universal "Hello!", one that can be used at any time of day.


When multiple alternatives look like having the right definition you are searching for OR there is only one 'right' translation AND that single translation looks 'long', it is also a good idea to do a general search for "[word/sentence] in [language]" to verify that that is actually the word(s) native speakers would use. Case in point: The given 🇷🇺 Russian translation for "Hello" is "Zdravstvuyte". That seems a bit too long to be a simple or frequently used "Hello" right? So, when searching for "Hello in Russian", you'll see that Russians actually use "Privet".


If all things look equal, with multiple words with the definition you're looking for, multiple ways that native speakers would say something, then it's up to you to choose the one you feel most comfortable with.

My advice: choose the shortest one! If there are multiple, equally short ones: your choice! :)


Give us some examples of your experiences with finding translations while learning a new language in the comments section below:
- Have *you* come across translations for a new language that looked/turned out to be 'off'?

Feel free to become a new language learning/polyglot friend on Facebook: Genaro van der Werff


Wikipedia entries on languages mentioned here:
French | Korean | Mandarin Chinese | Russian


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