Learn Spanish FREE - Direct Translation

Guide To The Spanish Language
An introduction to Spanish without the grammar - A new and fresh perspective with some interesting items on language and the similarities between Spanish and English 

1.   Learn Spanish Introduction
2.   Spanish Grammar
3.   The use of Language
4.   Spanish Pronunciation
5.   Common History of Spanish and English
6.   Learn to Listen
7.   Language is Musical
8.   Reading Spanish
9.   Spanish is NOT the Official Language of Spain
10. Language Courses
11. Interpretation
12. Some fun items
13. Vocabulary
14. Cognates - Do you know what a cognate is?
15. Learn Vocabulary
16. Efficient Study
17. Mnemotechnics
18. The 146 Most Used Words in Spanish
19. How Do We Make Real Spanish Sounds
20. Vowel Sounds
21. Consonant Sounds
22. Asking a Question in Spanish
23. Masculine Feminine Words
24. Direct Translation
25. Verbs
26. Spanish phrases
27. Cognates continued

Learning Spanish - Direct Translation

Before we look at some useful phrases we need to remember that direct translation of phrases is really not much use at all. We have to THINK…..

..................................INTERPRETATION!

This is a very important concept to grasp if we are to learn Spanish.

As an example let’s take the simple question “WHY?” and consider how the Spanish people use the equivalent in Spanish. The Spanish equivalent is ¿Por Qué?

The direct translation is “for what?” which has been shortened from the full phrase which was “¿por qué razon?” This shortening happens a lot with phrases in both Spanish and English. The direct translation of the full phrase is “for what reason?” Remember we discussed clichés and sayings in language.

We need to understand that to think about direct translation will cause confusion. It also explains a lot when we see such words as qué and por used in a different context.

The point is that there is no equivalent word in Spanish for the English word “why”. They use a phrase or sentence, which is a longer way of saying the same thing. It is longer and more cumbersome and so through usage it has been shortened from “¿por qué razon?” to “¿por qué?” which is two words written but when spoken because of the effect of “elision” sounds like one word. This gets even more complicated when in Spanish we want to ask specifically about the purpose of something; “why go if we are not needed?” in this case we should not use “¿por qué? We should use ¿para qué……….?

By understanding this kind of translation issue we hopefully will accept that direct translation is useless and we will not be too confused when we see words in Spanish that look similar but mean different things because we will already know that we have to consider the context before we make a decision about the meaning.

As an example if we were to see the word “porque” - we should not jump to the conclusion that it means “Why”. We can see that the two words are joined and there is no accent over the letter é and no question marks. So we should be alerted to the possibility that this means something other than “why”. Porque written like this means “because”.

When we speak such words it is difficult to tell the difference between “because” and “why” or “¿por qué?” and porque. This is because there are no written indicators to inform us. This is overcome by taking into consideration the context in which it is used and also by the sound made.

When asking “¿por qué? We emphasize the last syllable and end with an upward sound, rather like the way Australians speak. When we use the word “porque” we do not emphasize the last syllable. Remember think interpretation not translation.