This site uses cookies.
Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site,
while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used.
For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Spanish to English translations [PRO] Science - Geography / Primary school materiasl
Spanish term or phrase:umbria / solana
la ladera que recibe más radiación solar se llama solana y la que recibe menos se llama umbría.
I'm translating primary school geography material and these two terms come up. I am tempted to put "south-facing slope" and "north-facing slope" but I'm not sure it's accurate.
Explanation: I think this question is a good illustration of how you have to think about translation functionally, at least in a case like this, rather than just translate the words.
Yes, if you need English words for "solana" and "umbría", you'll have to use "south-facing / north-facing slope" or "sunny / shady slope". We don't have any comparable terms to the Spanish ones.
But if you just replace one with the other, you'll end up with either this:
"The slope that receives more sunlight is called the south-facing slope and the one that receives less is called the north-facing slope."
or else this:
"The slope that receives more sunlight is called the sunny slope and the one that receives less is called the shady slope."
The second of these is frankly a bit ridiculous, isn't it? Talk about stating the obvious...
The first is more promising, but it doesn't really work in that form. It's the wrong way round. It's not a question of being "called" the south-facing slope; it "is" the south-facing slope.
The point is that the function of the Spanish sentence is to teach the children a pair of terms. We don't have such terms, so the point of the sentence is lost. We will have to use it to teach something else. Not that the sunny side is sunny, which is not teaching them anything, but that the sunny side faces south.
So this would work, up to a point:
"The slope that receives more sunlight is the south-facing slope and the one that receives less is the north-facing slope."
All the same, I don't think a teacher would actually say that to the class. I think he/she would say:
"The slope that faces south receives more sunlight, and the slope that faces north receives less."
That, I think, is beginning to be usable in class. It's a bit simple, but OK for young primary. __________________________
A possible further step with older children might be to adapt this to teach a useful geographical term: aspect. A south-facing slope is said to have a southerly aspect. So you could extend it, by saying something like this:
"If a slope faces south, we say it has a southerly aspect, and if it faces north it has a northerly aspect. A slope with a southerly aspect receives more sunlight and a slope with a northerly aspect receives less."
This is going beyond translation, and is probably not a good idea in an exercise, but if it were a professional assignment I might be tempted to discuss this idea with the client.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2014-11-20 14:37:54 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
All this, of course, is assuming we are in the northern hemisphere. Better make sure the book's not going to be used in Australia :)
IMO, the question is about 'amount of sunshine' not about 'cardinal points'. In both hemispheres, slopes (if it's an issue of slopes) are oriented the way they are oriented. Some of them occasionally may be, say, south oriented, or north, or east, etc. Those not right S- or N-oriented will receive more or less sunlight depending on their orientation and other circumstances. The one getting the most average sunshine is the sunny slope, the opposite the shady one. :-)
But we don't need all that information. We're just dealing here with basic principles. Other things being equal, at any point in the northern hemisphere a south-facing slope will always receive the most direct sunlight, unless there is a nearby obstacle, which is a very special case. Indeed a slope facing directly north will receive none at all. That's all I'm proposing we should say; it's enough information, it's very simple, very useful and not misleading. Indeed, the fact that the sun rises in the east, is in the south at midday and sets in the west is information everyone needs to know and just about everyone does know. It's extremely useful for finding your way around.
What do "solana" and "umbría" actually mean? Here's the DRAE: solana; "Sitio o lugar donde el sol da de lleno" umbría: "Parte de terreno en que casi siempre hace sombra, por estar expuesta al norte."
The associated compass points are directly relevant. This is elementary geography but also very important geography.
That's not the whole of it. East- and west-facing slopes can get a lot of sun, too. Where I used to live, they were the slopes that got the most sun. It also depends on the season and the latitude. The rest of the topography can make a difference, too, if a taller mountain is nearby. I just think it's too much information vis-à-vis the original text.
OK, if that's your considered judgment, so be it. As I say, I think it is certain that the children to whom this is addressed will already be familiar with the concepts of north and south, so it can't be a leap for them in terms of sophistication. After all, they're expected to be able to handle a term like "radiación solar", not to mention "solana" and "umbría". If you mean that it is out of place because it is outside the scope of this particular lesson, well, that may be true, though I think it's unlikely, given that this lesson addresses the orientation of slopes with respect to the sun. As for exceptions, well, most general principles have exceptions, but we still teach them. If the exceptions really matter we can say "normally", and then explain them later.
On balance, if this sentence is to be translated literally I would favour cutting it completely; it really has no function.
I realize that the suggestion I support is a tautology, but I still think that introducing 'north' and 'south' is a leap that's not appropriate. It's also not universally applicable (I can think of exceptions, but I don't want to muddy the discussion). I'm the first one to go for a dynamic equivalent, but I don't think this is the place for it, even if the literal translation is not very informative.
What I meant was that you did not seem to have got the point about the non-equivalence of "solera/umbría" and "sunny/shady" in educational or linguistic terms: the fact that using that translation turns a sentence that teaches something into a sentence that teaches nothing.
But if your point is that the concept of north and south was too confusing for children in elementary school and only suitable for an adult audience, well, I'm very surprised. It's really very, very basic. A lot of early geography teaching in the US is based on maps. Children are expected to be able to handle concepts like north and south by the 3rd grade. Here are the key points from a K-3 lesson plan:
"Key points Maps use the directions north, south, east, and west to help locate objects or features. Many maps have a compass or a small drawing in the legend to help identify the directions north, south, east, and west. Lesson objective: Students will learn to use north, south, east, and west to identify relative locations and provide directions." http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb//pubs/teachers-packets/mapadventure...
I disagree. I was taught about south facing/north facing slopes at the primary level, 7-8 years old (of course, that was many moons ago!). Not only was it geography, but it was building vocabulary. Regards.
What the Spanish is saying, in effect, is: "There's a special word for the slope that receives more sunlight: it's called the _________." But in English there is no special word for it. So it's actually untranslatable because it's language-specific; it's just about vocabulary.
I freely admit that what I'm proposing to do is to say something different from what the Spanish says. But you can't say in English what the Spanish says, so it's either that or just cut the sentence completely, and I don't think that's a good idea.
You say that mentioning north and south is "adding information that is not in the text", which would be confusing for children. Forgive me, but I don't think you're thinking this through. It could only confuse them if they were comparing the English text with the Spanish, which of course they aren't. The information in the English text is whatever we put there.
Certainly mentioning north and south is introducing information that is not in the Spanish text at this point. But it's not inherently confusing at all: it's perfectly clear and simple, and much more useful, actually, than what's in the Spanish, which is just a couple of technical terms, whereas teaching the relationship between sunlight and compass direction is teaching an important geographical concept.
The point is that the Spanish is teaching something you can't teach in English, because English doesn't have analogous terms to these. So if you translate it as you're suggesting, you end up with a sentence that doesn't teach anything at all and just sounds ridiculous, because it's a tautology. This is why I say you have to think functionally. I'm sorry you don't seem to have got that point.
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
46 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +3
shady / sunny side | slope
Explanation: :-)
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 49 mins (2014-11-20 14:18:43 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Modern Planting On A Shady Slope Design Ideas, Pictures ... www.houzz.com › All Rooms › Modern 551 planting on a shady slope Modern Home Design Photos. Search Tips: To search for all words in exact order, you can use quotes around the term. Example: ...
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 52 mins (2014-11-20 14:21:57 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
How to Landscape on a Sunny Slope Location - Home Guides homeguides.sfgate.com › ... › Home Decorating Styles A mainly sunny slope needs specific plant species preferring full sunlight and some ... Combining too many plants from varying climates creates a mismatched ... Sunny Slope Trees www.sunnyslope.net/ Sunny Slope Trees - Wholesale Tree Nursery in Orange County. Home of Wholesale Trees | Our Wholesale Trees | About OC's Tree Nursery | OC's Tree ... Tree Nursery Location - OC's Tree Delivery Service - About OC's Tree Nursery
peer agreement (net): +3
