> Ah. I understand. I was thinking more about the issues of 
> English (or what
> ever the second language is) being translated into your 
> primary language in
> your head and that causing confusion. 

For me that does not happen. I read and write English, I often even
think in English. When I later want to translate something I have
written in English into Dutch I run into al sort of problems (grammar,
vocabulaire, word combinations).

> When I translate something, I try to find the 
> English words that
> mean "exactly that, only that, and nothing more" and it is 
> quite difficult
> to do just that.

Which is easier in English than in some other languages. English tends
to have different verbs for various subtly different things, which in
Dutch would be expressed by one verb and different adverbs. [ Now this
is something I had to bablefish: I never use the word 'adverb', and it
is the wrong word anyway, I wanted 'bijvoegelijk naamwoord' but the fish
did not get that. ] English also easily creates combination words. Dutch
prefers a chain of separate words. 

Another difficulty is that USA-english tends to make new words from the
physical appearance of a thingy ("penny-in-the-slot-machine"), but Dutch
prefers to use the function of the beast. So a literal translation of a
new word often feels wrong. But in most cases a new English word is
adapted unchanged anyway. That is: in the Netherlands. In Flanders they
often invent a Dutch-style word for a new thing. I always wonder what
they made (or would make) of a non-impact dot-matrix printer.

Also note that your idea of "exactly that, only that, and nothing more"
is shaped by the language you speak. I have seen cases (but I can't
recall one now) where an English word covers meanings A and B, and there
is another word for meaning C. Yet Dutch has one word for meanings B and
C, and a separate word for A. Without knowing English I would not even
realise that B and C are different concepts.

Wouter van Ooijen

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