personalised translation

[highlander08 9]

Hello everyone I know we have google, bing, prompt translate ,ect... but they do not always do that good a job translating. I have been working with a man who studies languages who lives in Ukraine, who just started helping me with personalised translations of my letters.with his knoweldge of the culture in ukraine and russia he is able to suggest certain changes or additions to your letters. his fee is much cheaper than the going rate, about 20 hrvinia per 2,000 character page. naturally I checked his work on some standard electronic translators and I think he is really good. I am not posting this looking for profit for me just to help anyone who needs it in thier communications.

thanks everyone.

[dave97232 12]

One thing to be aware of is that hired translators are human, and will make mistakes, changing the meaning of what you said. He/she may know Ukrainian or Russian culture well, but maybe not your culture so well, and be confused by some figure of speech you use. Words are interpreted differently by different people based on their own experiences, and now you have another level of indirection. Remember those games played in school, where one child whispers something into the ear of another, and it goes around the circle, and you learn that the original and final versions are completely different? However, you and your partner will likely have high confidence because you have a hired translator to sort things out, and, thus, misunderstandings are less likely to be clarified.

Also, by depending on a hired translator, you and your acquaintance are not learning to communicate directly. How much basic English does she know? You will not get a chance to learn.

Couples should do whatever works best for them. If they feel much better with a hired translator, then use one, but maybe send the original writing along with the translated version, and find ways to practice communicating directly.

An alternative I would propose is to each write in your own native language and send that to each other. Each of you can then use online translation tools to translate what you received. You then get an opportunity to study and familiarize with each other's words. Of course these online tools are not perfect but she knows that also and can ask questions if something came out strange, just as you can.

Also, regardless of whether you use an online translator or not, be thoughtful of your choice of words. Try to avoid figures of speech, and use words as accurately to their dictionary meaning as possible, and avoid unnecessary complicated words or language.

Another thing that is helpful, which I am doing a poor job of here. Do not write a novel. Keep your letter short and to the point, break it into small sentences and paragraphs. If you ask questions, isolate those into separate paragraphs.

[randye80 24]

A translator is great when you are putting your life story together for your first letter to a new lady -- or in case of misunderstandings with a current one -- but imho it's never too early to start communicating in the way that you will live when you get her over here, And that's most likely going to be in English.

A lady that is truly interested in leaving her home to marry and live with you in America is not going to balk at spending an afternoon or evening with the dictionary and writing to you. A lady that can't be bothered and insists on translations is someone to be a little wary of.

I agree completely with Dave that you need to learn to write in a basic, straightforward manner, and use words that are unambiguous. And you're going to have to learn how to speak that way too, because it will likely be even harder for her to understand you without the benefit of words on a page.

Of course, YMMV, different things work for different people. There's one guy on this list who can't be bothered to string together a coherent sentence -- ever -- and his fiancee is either here already, or on her way.