Reading Practice: Comprehension and Translation into English - My Neighbourhood

You already know the words

This module assumes the vocabulary. The places, the prepositions, the contraction rule: all of that is behind you, and a reading paper simply expects it. What it tests instead is precision. A candidate who knows every noun in a passage can still lose the question by dropping one small word. So everything below works on a single short paragraph, written for this module, and every task points at a different way of getting it slightly wrong.

Two ways a translation fails

These pull in opposite directions, which is why translation is a skill rather than a lookup.

Five rules that cover almost everything

Apply these in order and most translation marks look after themselves:

Match each phrase to its English

Where does the time change?

Here is the passage, written for this module. Tap the phrase that shows the writer has moved from the present into the past.

• J'habite dans un petit quartier à côté de la gare. Il y a une bibliothèque et deux magasins, mais
• il n'y a pas de piscine
• . Avant,
• il y avait un cinéma, mais il a fermé l'année dernière
• . Ma mère travaille à la mairie, et moi, je vais souvent à la campagne le week-end parce que
• c'est plus calme qu'en ville
• .

Which words flip the meaning?

Same passage. Tap the part that would turn the sentence into its opposite if you left it out.

• J'habite dans un petit quartier à côté de la gare. Il y a une bibliothèque et deux magasins, mais
• il n'y a pas de piscine
• . Avant,
• il y avait un cinéma, mais il a fermé l'année dernière
• . Ma mère travaille à la mairie, et moi, je vais souvent à la campagne le week-end parce que
• c'est plus calme qu'en ville
• .

Which translation is correct?

How should "Il y a une bibliothèque, mais il n'y a pas de piscine" be translated?

• There is a library, but there is no swimming pool
• There is a bookshop, but there is no swimming pool
• There is a library and a swimming pool
• There was a library, but there was no swimming pool

Which would lose marks?

Select the TWO that would cost you marks in a translation.

• Translating la bibliothèque as "bookshop"
• Leaving out pas, so the sentence becomes positive
• Writing "quieter" rather than "more calm"
• Answering in English rather than in French

The words that look helpful

French hands an English speaker a great deal for free, which is why the small number of words that LOOK free and are not do so much damage. la bibliothèque is a library. The bookshop is la librairie. le magasin is a shop. A magazine is le magazine. la campagne is the countryside, not a campaign. The rule that saves you: if a word looks obvious, that is exactly when to check whether the rest of the sentence still makes sense with your guess in it. "There is a bookshop, but there is no swimming pool" makes sense, which is why nobody notices.

Order the method

Put the stages of translating a sentence into a reliable working order.

• Read the whole sentence before translating any of it
• Identify the tense of each verb
• Note the small words: negatives, comparatives, quantifiers, adverbs
• Write a first version that keeps every element
• Reread it as English and reword anything you would not say
• Check that nothing has been added and nothing lost

In the exam

Three decisions during a translation question. Choose what you would do.

• There is one word in the sentence you genuinely do not know.
• Your literal version keeps every element but does not sound like English.
• You notice your English is in the present tense but the French verb was in the past.

Complete the translation

I live in a small neighbourhood _____ the station. There is a _____ and two shops, but there is _____ swimming pool. Before, there _____ a cinema, but it closed last year. I often go to the _____ at the weekend because it is quieter than in town.

Translate the whole passage

Translate the whole passage into English, without looking back at the cloze. "J'habite dans un petit quartier à côté de la gare. Il y a une bibliothèque et deux magasins, mais il n'y a pas de piscine. Avant, il y avait un cinéma, mais il a fermé l'année dernière. Ma mère travaille à la mairie, et moi, je vais souvent à la campagne le week-end parce que c'est plus calme qu'en ville."

• Translate every sentence, leaving no gaps, even where a word is uncertain
• Keep each verb in the tense the French uses, including where it changes partway through
• Make sure the negative and the comparative both survive into your English
• Read your version back as English, and reword anything you would not actually say