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Kiah Green

Dr. Guadaño

Español 407

12/15/2022

Final Reflection: Integrative Learning

Experience: During this semester at Old Dominion University, I had the pleasure of taking

Advanced Grammar and Syntax (Spanish 407). What I have learned in the class refers to

methods that help improve modes of translation from Spanish to English and vice versa. Some

key topics from major translation exams and notes in class include how to avoid translation loss

and how to make compensations to preserve the key message. We have used modes such as

description to describe words that are unknown during a translation and generalization to achieve

equality between the goal language and the language needing translation. This is done by raising

the essence of one specific phrase or word using less specific terms that is equal to the message

being perceived.

I have used the major key topics and methods in my personal life that helped me thrive in

my co-curricular activities and community service opportunities. My co-curricular activity

includes the interpreting internship offered through ODU at the clinic. In translation exam three

posted above, I used compensation to translate the phrase “...hay un centro de escritura, centro

de tutorial de matematicas…” to say “there is a writing center, a math tutoring center”, which

shows the order change of words to achieve the goal message from the original language; that is
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the definition of compensation. I have also used this method at the clinic to help translate terms

to achieve what is needed to be communicated. The clinic was offering free Thanksgiving

pre-prepped meals to the patients and wanted to extend the give away event to all Spanish

speaking patients as well. I was afforded the opportunity to call these patients and used a term to

say “la comida congelada” and from the original english text “frozen meals”. This was

meaningful to me because I absolutely love holidays and want everyone to have the opportunity

for a good meal during this time.

Discipline: I took a summer social community cultural class, which talked about how to be

sensitive with language use to other cultures that are different from one's own. The class

involved topics centered around social communities with refugees and immigrants. Information

from this outside field connects with my translation course by helping my certain language

choice stay sensitive. When translating, I like anyone I help feel included and welcome to any

environment we are working in. In translation exam two, I talk about how some of the word

order was not flexible to translate from Spanish to English, however the goal does get achieved.

In the translation two prompt and passage, the last sentence in the spanish text says “Fue como

dormisrse de golpe”. The literal translation means, “ it was like a hit of myself sleeping”. I

cannot say this word for word because it does not sound sensitive in the English language and

can raise confusion and animosity to the receiver of the message; therefore; the translation said

“it was as if he had suddenly fallen asleep”. There is more context presented above in the

included documents. I understand the translation field more because it is always about helping

those in need in language, and in comfort when speaking an unknown language as well.
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Transfer: I will continue to transfer my knowledge gained in this class to future endeavors by

using key translation concepts (which I have mentioned in the paragraph labeled experience) and

modes to avoid translation loss to help solve difficult problems faced during Spanish translation.

For example, in the Spanish translation exam four, we focused on idiomatic translation to

communicate comedy and jokes that had underlying meanings throughout the text. One example

we had to translate was a Spanish equation that had a spoken joke attached to it. When I read it,

it basically stated that two farts together is poop. I had to find an English math joke that would

give the same comedic response for the new translation. I decided to use the calculator joke that

spells “boobies” when it is upside down. Our audience is centered for older, more mature teens

who can handle silly jokes. I will be utilizing this to have some jokes in my new social

conversations with my friends who speak Spanish. In addition, I would really love to travel to a

predominantly Spanish speaking country and this knowledge can help keep my spirits up when

speaking and try to make light hearted jokes during translations.

Integrated Communication: One way I can integrate this into further my communication skills

is choosing which verb tense to use when translating from English to Spanish. I have included an

example link which leads to a photo of some of my example comments and corrections for this

passage of text.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B4rgi08e6i97rE7y61gWyLLAhnjpA3I_/view?usp=share_link

La narrativa morfología y retórica.pdf

(The links are both the same).

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Self-Assessment and Reflection: All of my specific examples stated above show how I will be

utilizing this in the future. One of my major goals after graduation is to travel. My plan is to

continue to study Spanish to improve my fluency and go to perhaps Colombia, to further

immersion in the language. It is also a cheaper move financially. My dream is to travel to

Barcelona and see all the beautiful parts of Spain; I pray I can achieve this goal one day. I will be

taking all of these sources and translating knowledge with me.