Translation Both Ways: Irish and English

Translation both ways

Translation asks you to carry a message from one language into another so that it means the same thing. In your Irish course you translate short sentences both ways: from Irish into English, and from English into Irish. The goal is never to swap one word for the next and hope for the best. It is to understand the whole sentence, then say the same idea naturally in the other language. Along the way you watch the things that differ between the two languages, such as the order of words, the form of the verb, and the way the start of an Irish word can change. This module teaches how to translate accurately in both directions and how to check your work, so that marks are not lost to small, avoidable slips.

Words for translation

Learn these terms before the translation checks are matched up. They name what you look at when you translate.

Match each translation check to what it catches

Word-for-word against idea-for-idea

The biggest choice in translation is whether to swap each word one by one or to carry the whole idea across. Idea-for-idea wins almost every time. For example, in Irish the describing word follows the noun, so an teach mor means the big house, not the house big.

Which is the better translation?

You must translate the English the big house into Irish. Remembering that the describing word follows the noun, which is better?

• an teach mor, which places the describing word after the noun
• a word-for-word version that keeps the English order
• leaving out the describing word to be safe
• guessing an English-looking word

Watch the mutations when you translate into Irish

When you translate into Irish, the first letter of a word can change, and a translation that ignores this loses easy marks. These initial changes are triggered by the words around them, so once you have the right words and the right order, run back through and check the start of each word. It is one of the most common places to slip, and also one of the easiest to fix once you are looking for it. The same care helps the other way too: when you read Irish, recognising a changed word for what it really is stops you from reaching for the wrong meaning. Get the words, get the order, then check the starts.

Pick what to check in a translation

Select everything worth checking before you call an Irish translation finished.

• The order of the words
• The form of the verb
• The start of each word
• The colour of your pen
• How fast you wrote it

Order how to translate a sentence

Put the steps of translating a sentence well into a sensible order.

• Read the whole sentence first
• Work out what it really means
• Choose the right words for the idea
• Fix the order, the verb and the word starts
• Read your translation back to check it

Complete the translation facts

A good translation carries the _____ across, not just the words one by one. When translating into Irish, watch the initial _____ at the start of words. Irish and English do not always use the same word _____, so you may need to rearrange. Always read your translation _____ to check it makes sense.

Tap the two good translation habits

Read these four things a student might do. Tap the TWO that are good translation habits.

• reading the whole sentence before starting
• reading the finished translation back
• swapping each word one by one
• guessing at any word that looks familiar

Carrying goods across a river

Think of translating as carrying goods across a river by ferry. You do not hurl each crate over the water one at a time and hope it lands; you load the whole cargo, carry it across together, and unload it so it arrives whole and undamaged. A word-by-word swap is like throwing crates: some land, some sink, and the load turns up broken. A skilled translator carries the whole message across, repacking it to suit the far bank, so that a reader on the other side receives exactly what was sent. The goods matter more than the crates they came in.

The translation run

Answer each one correctly to keep your lives. Choose the best answer.

Make the right translation choice

Read each situation and choose the best answer.

• You meet an Irish word you do not know in a sentence. What is the best move?
• You have translated an English sentence into Irish. What should you do before finishing?
• The English says the big house. How do you order it in Irish?

Build a translation point

Choose the word for each gap to complete one point about translating well.

Explain how to translate well

A classmate finds translation hard and asks how to do it well in both directions. Using what you have learned, explain how to translate accurately between Irish and English.

• Explain why translating for meaning beats word-for-word
• Explain what to check about word order
• Explain why the start of an Irish word matters
• Explain how to handle a word you do not know
• Explain why reading your translation back is worth the time