The road block

I am pretty sure we have all faced it. You want to say something in a foreign language and then you realise you don't know a crucial word or phrase - or just cannot express what you want to say.

I call this the road block.
 
Here are some examples of English words and phrases which may be difficult to convey in a foreign language (if you are a non-native speaker of English, maybe you find these difficult to understand):

- I relish a challenge.
- Integrity
- To heckle
- Faced with this problem....
- To patronise (i.e. an unwelcome condescending attitude)
- A brief (i.e. a short description of a task to complete)
- To overstate a case
- To embrace the future

This list is potentially endless. I have just shared my latest list of words and phrases - which in this case are fairly abstract - to be able to translate into my foreign languages.

(If you have any ideas or thoughts about these you could Facebook message me www.facebook.com/russelljamesphillips)

Anyway, you come up against a road block. What to do?

First of all, your hearers (or readers) are waiting, so you have to find some way of dealing with the situation immediately. You need to 'reverse', metaphorically speaking, and find another way of saying this which uses words you do know. There are all sorts of creative ways of doing this. Sometimes I like to find an analogy or example, e.g. a situation where someone might relish a challenge - and the person I am speaking to might 'get it' and express it the way they would in their language. Quotations can also be helpful, e.g. from well-known books or films which have already been translated. Sometimes our translation in this context is less than 100% accurate, but at least we have got beyond the impasse.

Stage two is to come back to this situation and to find a better solution. Metaphorically speaking, instead of reversing, this is about rerouting, finding how you would have negotiated the impasse had you had more time or presence of mind. This might take time, raking through translation sites such as www.linguee.de or context.reverso.net, looking up references in books and doing Google searches. And always check with a native speaker (your 'stickler' - I will come back to this in another post).

Stage three (what Russians would call 'high flying' or высший пилотаж) is taking leave of your native language and culture altogether and simply engaging with situations in your target language. In this case we are no longer asking, "How do I say this in Russian?" because we are already in Russian. However, realistically, if you or I haven't learnt a language before the age of 7, this is an ideal to be strived towards but never quite attained. As foreign language learners we are doomed to be translating (paradoxically, I can think of a far better way of saying that in Russian: "мы обречены на то, чтобы переводить").

So, how do you negotiate a foreign language road block? Reverse, reroute and high flying!

If you are interested in language learning, follow this blog.

My name is Russell Phillips. I offer online video language tuition for English and Russian - and also German, Italian and French.

My rate is GBP 9 (nine pounds sterling) per block of 15 minutes (a typical lesson might be 45 minutes), payable in advance.  

Contact me via www.facebook.com/russelljamesphillips or on email at regnavit[at]gmail.com