No more fooling around
Here's what my Spanish classes are going to translate this week. No more fooling around.
No, it's not a translation class. Sue me. We've done all the grammar. It's time for them to put it together.
- What money?! The money (that) my girlfriend gave you to give me. The money (that) you had promised to give me! Gimme it now!
- The truth!? Don’t tell (it to) her. Let me tell (it to) her. If you tell it to her, she will be sad that we (had) lied to her.
- That song, you all! Sing it to us again! Sing it so that we will be happy, like when you all sang it the night of the wedding, after the mean people finally left.
- Chinese? Let’s all learn it before we lose the opportunity. Our parents will be glad that we’re learning something useful, and if we speak it well, we can hang out with our Chinese friends in Tiananmen Square.
- Mmm, tacos! Chop me some onions, we can go buy fresh tortillas after my mom gets home. If you can’t wait, we’ll go to the taco bus on Rainier Ave. Then we can eat us some tacos.
- As soon as the teacher shows up, tell us “quiet.” We will hide ourselves,; Billy should turn off the lights. As soon as he enters the room, Billy should turn them on again, and then everyone should yell (at him) “Thief! Liar!”
- I can’t believe it! What an idiot! If he doesn't apologize to us for it, I am going to write a letter to his boss. Let the boss know everything! I’m sick of that idiot always coming around here and saying stupid things to us!
- Oysters? Buy them small. Let them not be too big. It’s not easy to eat the big ones. Wait a moment, let me open it for you. Eat it up as soon as I open it.
- Teenagers! If I had had the opportunity to study Japanese painting as a student, I would have done it seriously. They’re not going to have another opportunity! But don’t waste your time telling it to them; they don’t listen to adults!
- I hate to wash dishes. I hate that nobody washes my dishes. Please wash them for me, you all. If I paid you all a hundred dollars, would you wash them for me?
2 comments:
"Then we can eat us some tacos"
Does the mangled English grammer make the Spanish translation easier?
It does! In the wild, Spanish sentences tend to contain more grammatical information than their English equivalent.
In this case, I'm asking my students for an indirect object that would be expressed in Spanish, but omitted in Standard English.
Post a Comment