2012年ESL之商务英语 23 Translating a Document

（单词翻译）

Translating a Document 

Francine: Do you know the word in Mcquish for “partnership”? 

Aziz: No, I don’t speak Mcquish. What are you doing? 

Francine: Jim gave me this letter and this document to translate into Mcquish because I speak a little of it, but even with a dictionary and thesaurus, it’s slow going. 

Aziz: Didn’t you tell Jim that? 

Francine: I did, but he still wants me to try because it’s so hard to find a Mcquish-English bilingual. 

Aziz: I’m not surprised. Other than you, I don’t know anyone who speaks Mcquish. 

Francine: Yeah, well, I’m doing my best to translate these documents idiomatically¹ because the literal translation won’t make any sense, but it’s a tough job. I simply don’t know enough business Mcquish to know the equivalent words and phrases. 

Aziz: Can’t you just paraphrase² and convey the general meaning by using a lot of loan words and cognates? 

Francine: I’m trying, but I don’t think it’s turning out the way it’s supposed to. 

Aziz: At least he didn’t ask you to interpret. You’d really be in the hot seat trying to interpret in a meeting or over the phone. 

Francine: Yeah, at least I was spared that experience, at least for now. 

Aziz: I wish I could help you, but the only language I speak, other than English, is gibberish! 

Script by Dr. Lucy Tse