Diver - 3-6-2006 at 11:06 AM
Check out this site for translation between many languages. It even seems to work for some slang and 4-letter words.
I'm curious to hear if you guys that are fluent in spanish think it works well.
http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr
bajajudy - 3-6-2006 at 11:42 AM
Funny
I just used it to send an email trying to get paid some past due facturas. The program I have it too European so I tried Babelfish which was one of
the first free translation sites and it seems a little less stuffy but still not Spanish as spoken in Baja.
Which brings to mind something. I took a 3 week course in Spanish in La Paz for that very reason...I wanted to learn how to speak to my neighbors not
someone in Madrid. A little drift off thread there.
Diver - 3-6-2006 at 12:02 PM
How was the course and school, schedule, cost etc ?
I am thinking about spending a few weeks in La Paz next time down for some dental work. My wife would rather fly down after my grouchies are gone.
I'd love to use the opportunity to improve my fledgling spanish skills. Anyone have any other language school suggestions in La Paz ?
bufeo - 3-6-2006 at 12:08 PM
Altavista's Babelfish is useful, but you have to be careful because the syntax and construction can be awkward. It's best if you have a working
knowledge of the language you're translating. Definitely proof-read the translation.
I'm not fluent in Spanish, but I am in French and Czech, and I can 'get by' in Spanish.
I've checked (no pun intended) the French several times and found many usuage errors. There are rare grammatical errors as well.
bajajudy - 3-6-2006 at 12:24 PM
I was at Se Habla, La Paz. I certainly learned a lot but one thing that I definitely learned was that your family is very important in how much you
learn. Not YOUR family but the family that you live with. If they dont speak english to you and help you with conversation at comida and around the
house, you learn much more. I also took a two week course in Guadalajara with the same school and learned so much more because my family helped me.
In La Paz, I was with a single mother who seemed to be more intent on learning english than helping me learn Spanish
And I agree completely with bufeo. If you use the translation without any editing, it will probably not make any sense. There are words that you
will need to change...por exemplo...people here use the verb checar freely for "to check", the translation programs will almost always use verificar,
which is of course correct but not used here.
I still say go to a school in Baja if you plan on being here.