Translation Tips
Translation Tips: English to Spanish and Spanish to English
Translation is tested in both directions and requires precision, not creativity.
English → Spanish Translation (12 marks at Higher)
Step-by-Step
1. Read the whole passage — understand context before translating.
2. Identify each tense — past, present, future, conditional?
3. Translate phrase by phrase — not word by word (word order differs).
4. Check agreements — adjective-noun, subject-verb.
5. Check accents — missing accents are spelling errors.
Common Traps (EN → ES)
| English | Wrong | Correct |
|---|---|---|
| I am 15 | Soy 15 | Tengo quince años |
| I am hungry | Soy hambre | Tengo hambre |
| I play football | Juego fútbol | Juego al fútbol |
| I like it | Yo gusto | Me gusta |
| I have been learning for 3 years | He aprendido | Aprendo español desde hace tres años (present!) |
| I am playing | Soy jugando | Juego (or Estoy jugando) |
| Some bread | algún pan | un poco de pan or just pan |
| There are many things | Hay muchos cosas | Hay muchas cosas (cosas = feminine) |
Key Structural Differences
| English | Spanish |
|---|---|
| I have been doing X for Y | Present + desde hace + Y |
| I am doing | Present (or estar + gerund) |
| I like X | Me gusta X (X is the subject) |
| On Saturdays | Los sábados |
| At the weekend | El fin de semana / Los fines de semana |
Spanish → English Translation
Step-by-Step
1. Read the whole passage for context.
2. Identify cognates — build meaning from known words.
3. Use context for unknown words — don't leave blanks.
4. Write natural English — not stilted word-for-word.
5. Re-read — does it make sense in English?
Common Traps (ES → EN)
| Spanish | Common mistake | Correct |
|---|---|---|
| Hace buen tiempo | "It does good weather" | The weather is nice |
| Tengo quince años | "I have fifteen years" | I am fifteen |
| Me gusta mucho | "It likes me a lot" | I really like it |
| Había | "There is had" | There was / were |
| Hace dos años | "It makes two years" | Two years ago |
| Todos los días | "All the days" | Every day |
Decoding Unknown Words
- Root identification: trabajador → trabajar (to work) = hardworking
- Prefix/suffix: des- (un-), in-/im- (not), -mente (-ly), -ción (-tion)
- Context: surrounding words usually clarify an unknown term
- Cognates: gobierno, educación, información, importante, diferente
Practice Technique
1. Translate the passage
2. Check against the mark scheme
3. Log every error in a personal error diary
4. Revise your weakest patterns
Exam Tips
- Translation rewards accuracy over ambition — a simple correct version beats a fancy wrong one.
- Always write something — partial translations earn partial marks.
- Desde hace + present tense (for how long) appears frequently — learn it thoroughly.
- Practise with past paper translations — AQA recycles similar structures.
- In EN→ES, write numbers as words (doce, not 12).
- Watch for gustar-type verbs — they are the most mistranslated structure: me gusta, me encanta, me molesta, me interesa.
- Partitive concept: Spanish doesn't use partitive articles like French, but watch for "some" = algunos/as or just omit the article.