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Mar 27, 2020 (posted viaProZ.com): Doing school district translations , English to Spanish. Helping kids and parents be aware of what's to come....more »
Freelance translator and/or interpreter, Verified site user
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English to Spanish: Intro fragment General field: Social Sciences Detailed field: Linguistics
Source text - English So, how do words refer at all if the concepts they convey are so hard to pin down? The answer to this riddle would seem to be that, for humans, concepts are useful rather than true characterisations of reality. They are frames that we place on the world and that seem to enable us to communicate successfully, most of the time, with other people. Words are often said to be arbitrary, in the sense that there is no especial reason why the concept of "chair" should be referred to using the word chair. What is often overlooked is that fact that the concept is not a necessary characterisation of reality either: it's just one that English-speaking people, at least, seem to find useful. We would not normally say that a bench is a kind of chair, yet there's no absolute reason why not - we simply choose not to include "bench" within the concept of "chair". One consequence of this is that the characterisation of a concept is not fixed, as there is no direct connection with the external world. A concept may be useful now, but not in the future. It might be useful for the concept of “palace” to concern the residence of an absolute monarch and for it to be used to refer to a large wooden hut with a thatched roof, at one time for one group of people, but not for another group at another time. Concepts are heuristics, ways of enabling us to think about reality, but with no direct connection with it: this might seem more obvious for "abstract" concepts, but it is also the case for more "concrete" concepts. In fact, both types of concept are abstract - we might even say a concept is abstract by definition, as it can only exist inside our heads. More "concrete" concepts are thought to have real counterparts, but, as we have seen, the reality of a basic concept as "river" is elusive.
The fact that concepts are so slippery is one reason, among many, why words are so vulnerable to change in meaning. From this perspective, seeing concepts as useful characterizations rather than ones which have a direct and permanent correspondence with reality, it is easier to understand why a word for “cheek” can change to mean “mouth” (Latin BUCCA > Spanish boca) If this is the case for nouns referring to such seemingly tangible objects such as rivers, chairs, and cheeks, how much more elusive and vulnerable to change might a verb be?
Translation - Spanish Entonces ¿cómo pueden las palabras representar algo si los conceptos que representan son tan difíciles de delimitar? La respuesta a este acertijo, al parecer, es que para los humanos, los conceptos son útiles, más que caracterizaciones fidedignas de la realidad que representan. Son marcos que imponemos al mundo y que parecen ayudarnos a comunicarnos de manera satisfactoria, la mayoría de las veces, con otra gente. Se dice a menudo que las palabras son arbitrarias, queriendo decir que no hay una razón en especial para que nos refiramos al concepto de “silla” utilizando la palabra silla. Lo que a menudo pasamos por alto es el hecho de que el concepto tampoco es una caracterización necesaria de la realidad: es algo que sólo a los hispanohablantes, al menos, parece serles útil. Normalmente no diríamos que un banco es un tipo de silla, aunque tampoco hay ninguna razón para que no sea así – simplemente decidimos no incluir “banco” en la definición de “silla”. Una consecuencia de esto es que la caracterización de un concepto no es algo inamovible, ya que no hay ninguna conexión directa con el mundo exterior. Un concepto puede ser útil ahora pero no en el futuro. Puede ser útil que el concepto de “palacio” implique la residencia de un monarca absoluto y que también se utilice para referirnos a un gran refugio de madera con techo de paja, una vez para un grupo de gente, pero no para otro grupo en otro momento. Los conceptos son heurísticas, formas de facilitarnos pensar en la realidad, pero sin una conexión directa con ésta: esto puede parecer más obvio para conceptos “abstractos” pero también es aplicable a conceptos más “concretos”. De hecho, ambos tipos de conceptos son abstractos – podríamos incluso decir que un concepto es abstracto por definición, ya que sólo puede existir en nuestras mentes. Los conceptos más “concretos” están concebidos para tener equivalentes reales, pero, como hemos visto, la realidad de un concepto tan básico como “río” es imprecisa.
El hecho de que los conceptos sean tan escurridizos es una razón, entre muchas, por las que las palabras son tan susceptibles de cambiar su significado. Teniendo esto en cuenta, pensar en los conceptos como caracterizaciones útiles más que aquellas que tienen una correspondencia directa y permanente con la realidad, es fácil entender por qué una palabra que significó “mejilla” puede cambiar su significado a “boca”, como es el caso de BUCCA, en latín. Si esto ocurre con sustantivos que hacen referencia a objetos tangibles como ríos, sillas o mejillas ¿cuánto más impreciso y mutable puede ser un verbo?
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Translation education
Other - IMIA - International Medical Interpreters Association
Experience
Years of experience: 10. Registered at ProZ.com: Dec 2014.
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Bio
Born in Valencia, Spain, but with a very international profile.
Ever since I was a kid I was interested in languages and what words and phrases meant, not just to the naked eye, but in between the lines, too.
I have always loved the art to convey messages and to translate them, so I incidentally got into the translation world when working for a language services provider from my city.
I take pride in being very thorough with my translations. I do not just translate the text in a first run, but I proofread the text at least one time once it is done in order to fine-tune the text to the expectations of the client and the public the text is intended to.
For more information, please feel free to contact me.
