Translation Fridays!

Learning French through stories

Welcome, aspiring polyglot! This Friday and for the foreseeable future, we will be taking a look at translations of a story. While the translations will get better over time, there may or may not be some mistakes that are waiting to be corrected by you in the comments. If you are not learning French, try translating a sentence or two, or the whole thing, in the comments below and we will take a look and review the work you do to help you get better.

The goal of these translations is going to be giving you a place to start and a peek behind the curtain. On Fridays the translation will be posted and a week later we will post the same translation with annotations, along with the next week’s story and draft translation. One thing that you should understand is that nothing is perfect the first go through.

These are intentionally rough translations to challenge your eye and show you that where you start is not where you need to finish. Over time, the goal will be having a debate over terms in the comments, but I understand it may take time to build to that, especially as many here are new to the French language. If there is enough demand, there may be a Spanish version of these in due time. For now, though, let’s take a look at the first excerpt and related translation.

ORIGINAL

Lost, cold, forgotten in the obscurity of shadows that dance even in darkness. Every fiber of his being craved something, but without knowing what he was wasting away. The pain was overwhelming, yet dulled by years of continuous abuse. Not from anyone else, no. This abuse he faced came at his own hands. Whether or not it was merited makes no difference. What matters is, she did not know about it. Perhaps, if she had, the pain would have ended sooner. Since she did not, however, and so he turned to something half as powerful to numb it. This feeling of seeming freedom never lasted long, though. 

Translation

Il était perdu, oublié par le monde autour de lui, et coincé dans les ombres qui dansent même dans l'obscurité. Il avait une appétence écrasante pour quelque chose, mais il n’avait aucune idée de ce qui lui plaira. Il dépérissait sans savoir où il trouverait la solution. La douleur était accablante, mais les années d'abus qui sont passées l’ont rendu terne. Même alors qu'il a souffert cet abus à ses propres mains. Que cela soit mérité ou pas ne fait aucune différence. Ce qui est important c’est qu’elle n’en savait pas. Peut-être, si elle savait, la douleur serait terminée plus tôt. Cependant, elle ne savait rien, et donc il s’est tourné vers quelque chose avec une moitié de la puissance, seulement pour engourdir le mal. Pourtant, ce sentiment de liberté apparent ne dure jamais longtemps.

Conclusion

There are many ways to learn a language, translation is one of the better ones, in my opinion. By translating the things you write in your native language you will learn to speak your target language in a similar way. You are already going to spend time thinking of new ways to say things, there is no reason to also change the vocabulary you already use to express yourself. Learning to speak a new language the way you already think and speak your native language is powerful. That is why we are going to go all in on translation as a language learning tool.

Becoming bilingual is difficult, but you can do difficult things and be great. So go do difficult things and become great. Here I’ve given you some of the tools, but in the end, there is no comprehensive guide, no tips or tricks to carry anyone across the finish line. Language acquisition requires time, effort, and consistency. That said, it is something that anyone of any age is more than capable of accomplishing. I’ll be here rooting for you and watching your progress.

For more content find me on Twitter or Instagram. If you are learning Spanish and struggling to keep track of your progress, be sure to check out the first of many in our Language Learning Logbook series! I look forward to seeing everyone’s progress in the months and years to come.