A TRANSLATOR IN TROUBLE

I am the only one who is supposed to understand English in my village. People know me as someone who masters English very well.  Yes , I understand English when it is written or spoken very slowly. 

   Today a villager came to see me. He need my help: One of his relatives living in Europe , and speaking only English will make a phone call on Saturday 4th. And I have to translate the message into French so that he understands. But I am not sure that I will be able to do this translation. I have problems with English spoken fast. It will be a big shame if  I am not able to do this translation. I am afraid. My country is Burkina Faso. A French speaking country. In the country of the blinds the one eye man is a king. It is my case. I understand english just a little bit. People rely on me but I don't rely on myself. How to do? I demand your advice for this challenge. Please help me to get ready before that day. It's not a joke, I am serious.

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  • regarding  your  assignment tell them  you will do your best to your ability .

    Focus in learning and practicing   . Your  in the  correct  place here at EC . You could write  blogs 

    listen  to audios  regularly  especially the  Wednesday  news desk by Tara Benwell. All four skills are  presented . listening  reading  writing  (comprehension  questions)and  speaking  it out .

    Commenting  on other members  blogs  too boosts  confidence and  enhances  the vocabulary . 

    at  the chatroom  you could  observe  the chatters and  join them  . one  could  moderate  a topic of interest among st your selves .  you could  exchange  with those  who  wish  to speak your skypw  id  and contact  them for voice  discussions  . 

    listen  to videos and audios ,films and  good  drama  to identify accents  and  good  pronunciation .

    all the best your doing  well for  people to need you as their translator   :)

  • I'm glad you did a good job! Remember that practice makes perfect and you need not to be ashame of your english. Look how far you've come. Continue putting the same effort in improving your english skills and those of the people in your village.
  • Yes, I did the JOB yesterday. And it was well done.  My villager and his friend were happy;  so was I. They asked me to be available for next times. HUMMMM! My English will be better. I got a way to improve my English. I learned a lot from this site. The truth is that  I am an   English teacher in a french speaking country. I am just teaching English to the beginners. An English Teacher who doesn't master English! What a shame. IT is the reason why I am doing my best to be a good teacher , not a "killer".  Thanks again

  • So, how have you passed your translation?

    It is already Sunday 5th.

    Share your experience please.

  • Hi Ousmane!

    I'm not sure if I can help. Maybe you should find a native speaker friend OR watch any videos in Youtube where there is a speaker who speaks English. :)

    Happy learning!

  • "I understand English when it is written or spoken very slowly.

    I am of the same  Ousmane Ouedraogo.

    The only solution (In my opinion) is to listen to English (all kind of, American, British, European) a lot.  It is my personal experience, I am living in USA, now I am getting to understand this spoken "guttural" sounds little by little.

  • hahaha, I'm sorry but is a funny situation... At least you're honest with yourself when you say that in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is the king XD

    No worries, just translate the main idea, you'll get it just fine. But if not, you can always blame a bad connection or a very broad accent XD

    Good luck and let us know how it was.

  • Thanks a lot for these useful advice.  I'll take into account all these tips to succeed my first conversation with a native english speaker.  Your are very special persons for me. You accepted to share , to help. Be blessed. 

  • Your english ist good and I don't think there would be any problem understanding the other person. My advice to you would be to tell the person on te phone that he or she should speak slowly. And you can try to think in advance what the conversation will be about. So you can try to check out the vocabularies before the phone call. Good luck mon frère
  •   I think u won't find any difficulties  in translating  this phone call  . Because  , it will be the everyday  talk  with no obscurities  or hard to understand vocabularies  . So , go ahead and don't refuse  to offer help . If u are confronted by any kind of difficulties  , just  ask him to write the words and look them up in the dictionary  . Finally  , don't feel shy because  u are slow " No one construct  a city in one day " we all started learning  slowly  . BEST OF LUCK  :)

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