2012/7/13 Goh Lip <[email protected]>: > On 07/14/2012 03:24 AM, Marja van Waes wrote: >> >> The only difference was in the interpretation: > > > Precisely. What often passes as a cultural difference is usually only a > matter of interpretation; especially where differences in the connotations > of words of different languages are not apparent. To take a mild example, > 'welcome' (to express appreciation for thanks) would be 'du jour', 'bitte' > etc, not 'bienvenu', 'willkommen' etc.
Actually the phrase is "You are welcome". This one is a good example of something called "synonym". An expression which translates into several different meanings, depending on the context. I learned English in school and right from the start I also learned that there are such synonyms in all languages. This is the main reason why such things like Google translator more often than not make really big mistakes. And it is the reason why German translations from English often need a lot more words than the original text (I've been experiencing that ever since I started to translate documents). "You are welcome" can be the reply to a "Thank you" or a greeting when you enter a house. It can also mean that your participation in a group or project is wanted and/or appreciated by other people in the group or project. This is one of the most known synonyms. There other (more local) expressions to reply to "Thank you", like "No sweat!" which means "it is/was not a big thing to help". It is quite normal to hit misunderstandings because somebody uses such a synonym, most of us are not learned translators. The more important is it to refrain from using too many of those and rather use a clear and precise phrasing of what we want to say. The essence of translating is to interpret the English language we are using here in the meaning of the English language, not in the direct translation of words (which could lead to wrong or sometimes very funny translations, like "It's raining cats and dogs", an English phrase for heavy rain). Or in other words: Sometimes we must interpret meanings, not words. So, if somebody writes "yes" or "no" then the meaning is "yes" or "no". Not the "yes" or "no" of your local language but the "yes" and "no" as used in the English culture. Otherwise we will run into misunderstandings or even conflicts all the time. (I'm sure that this could have been said in much less words - but as the majority of us I am not a native speaker of English!) -- wobo .
