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Lost in Translation

When you are the person who knows the language and your companion does not, you are inevitably the interpreter. Sometimes this is straightforward, such as when you ask someone for directions and then translate them for the person who is driving. Restaurant menus can be a great source of entertainment, particularly if you have the menu in the local language and he has the menu in execrable English, and keeps asking you to explain the translation. But as the days passed, I found myself finding different ways of trying to convey some of the nuances of different conversations, so that G. could experience, albeit vicariously something of what I was experiencing, and I discovered that the way to do this was to find some sort of parallels in the language we both shared.

One afternoon we went to the village of Muxia, where there is a famous sanctuary to Our Lady of the Ship, located right next to the sea. There are some extraordinary sones, boulders to be more precise, along the shoreline just in front of the breaking waves, and two of these huge stones seem to be propping one another up, so that there is just space for someone to crawl under them at low tide. The Muxia shrine was built, according to the local tradition, on the site of an ancient prehistoric holy place, and is seen as one of several places in Galicia where Christian and pre-Christian rituals overlap. We were standing looking down over the great stones, when two middle-aged ladies appeared and deposited their bags ..

NB The words in blue form part of Questions 2, 3 and 5 and must not be used for any other answers.

1. Find and transcribe words with /ə/ in their strong forms.

2. Transcribe the sentence “Restaurant menus … translation”.

3. Transcribe: convey, conversations, language.

4. Find homophones (only one of the homophone pairs needs to be in the text): write the word in the text, the homophone and the transcription.

5. Make a syllable structure analysis of 'next'.

6. Find words which have the high/close front unrounded vowel (/i/)

ANSWERS

1. Transcribe the words with /ə/ in their strong forms

interpreter /ɪnˈtəprɪtə/

straightforward /ˌstreɪtˈfɔ:wəd/

experience experiencing /ɪkˈspɪərɪəns/ /ɪkˈspɪərɪənsɪŋ/

inevitably /ɪnˈevɪtəbli/ or /ɪˈnevɪtəbli/

vicariously /vɪˈkeərɪəsli/

discovered /dɪˈskʌvəd/

parallels /ˈpærəlelz/ or /ˈpærələlz/

afternoon /ˈɑ:ftənu:n/ /ˌɑ:ftəˈnu:n/

famous /ˈfeɪməs/

sanctuary /ˈsæŋkʧəri/ or /ˈsæŋkʧʊəri/

extraordinary /ɪkˈstrɔ:dṇri/ or /ekˈstrɔ:dənəri/ or /ekˈstrɔ:dɪnəri/

boulders /ˈbəʊldəz/

along /əˈlɒŋ/

another /əˈnʌðə/

under /ˈʌndə/

according /əˈkɔ:dɪŋ/

tradition /trəˈdɪʃn/

ancient /ˈeɪnʃənt/

several /ˈseʌrəl/

Christian pre-Christian /ˈkrɪsʧən/ /pri:ˈkrɪsʧən/

rituals ˈrɪʧʊəlz/ or /ˈrɪtjʊlz/

overlap over /ˌəʊvəˈlæp/ /ˈəʊvə/

appeared /əˈpɪəd/

2. /ˈrestrɒnt ˈmenju:z kən bij ə ˈgreɪt ˈsɔ:s əv entəˈteɪnmənt pəˈtɪkjʊləlij ɪf ju: ˈhæv ðə ˈmenju:w ɪn ðə ˈləʊkḷ ˈlæŋgwɪʤ ən i ˈhæz ðə ˈmenju:w ɪn ˈeksəkrəbḷ ˈɪŋglɪʃ ən ˈki:ps ˈɑ:skɪŋ ju/jə tuw ɪkˈspleɪn ðə trænsˈleɪʃṇ/

3. /kənˈvɪeɪ/ /kɒnvəˈseɪʃṇz/ /ˈlæŋgwɪʤ/

4.

word in text	homophone	transcription
you	yew, ewe	/ju:/
knows	nose	/nəʊz/
your	yore	/jɔ:/
not	knot	/nɒt/
for	four, fore	/fɔ:/
great	grate	/greɪt/
sauce	source	/sɔ:s/
but	butt	/bʌt/
days	daze	/deɪz/
passed	past	/pɑ:st/
I	eye	/aɪ/
ways	weighs	/weɪz/
to	too, two	/tu:/
some	sum	/sʌm/
so	sew, sow	/səʊ/
what	watt	/wɒt/
way	weigh	/weɪ/
we	wee	/wi:/
one	won	/wʌn/
where	wear	/weə/
there	their	/ðeə/
our	hour	/aʊ/
right	rite	/raɪt/
sea	see	/si:/
be	bee	/bi:/
in	inn	/ɪn/
breaking	braking	/ˈbreɪkɪŋ/
waves	waives	/weɪvz/
tide	tied	/taɪd/
site	sight	/saɪt/
place	plaice	/pleɪs/
seen	scene	/si:n/

5.                   'next'                /nekst/

                                /n/    /e/        /k/          /s/                  /t/

                            onset centre       coda

                              initial              final      post-final        post-final

/n/ voiced alveolar nasal

/e/ mid front short vowel

/k/ unvoiced velar plosive

/s/ unvoiced alveolar fricative

/t/ unvoiced alveolar plosive

6. Transcribe the words which have the high/close front unrounded vowel

inevitably /ɪnˈevɪtəbli/ or /ɪˈnevɪtəbli/

Lady /ˈleɪdi/

holy /ˈhəʊli/

vicariously /vɪˈkeərɪəsli/

sanctuary /ˈsæŋkʧəri/ or /ˈsæŋkʧʊəri/

extraordinary /ɪkˈstrɔ:dṇri/ or /ekˈstrɔ:dənəri/ or /ekˈstrɔ:dɪnəri/

NB The text also contains five homonyms:

can - modal verb or container for drink or food /kæn/

found - past tense of 'to find' or present tense of 'to found' (to establish, begin) /faʊnd/

right – opposite of left, or correct, or opposite of wrong /raɪt/

just – adverb (only or precisely), or fair (justice) /ʤʌst/

down – adverb (opposite of up) or goose or duck feathers /daʊn/