www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I will be heading down to San Jose and Jaco for vacation next month. For those of us Spanishly challenged, are those pocket electronic language translators worthwhile?

Aldrich317

no, well maybe for a straight up newbie, but mine just collected dust. I think the Iphone or another smartphone has a good function or app that has voice recognition and then translates. I saw a commercial on TV

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* These are the "Good Ole Days". Enjoy Them.

* RENT but, "Don't Buy a Home in Costa Rica" until you have lived here for THREE years.

Whoever helps Aldrich on this one will also be helping me.

Thanks for what you know

One thing I've done when I needed to really explain something in detail is to use Google Translate. It has a 'listen' feature that allows you to type in your message and the girl can listen to the translation.

"I want to _____________ you. And then I want your girlfriend to __________________ with this _________________, at the same time, I want you to say ________________ and ___________ this ________."

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* These are the "Good Ole Days". Enjoy Them.

* RENT but, "Don't Buy a Home in Costa Rica" until you have lived here for THREE years.

Deleted positive post about Google Translate. It still seems to have significant problems.

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It's faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, and more money--Tom T. Hall
No man is a failure who is enjoying life--William Faulkner

Don't waste money on the talking ones. I have never used the voice recognition ones... but they are probably expensive.

I used this one when I was learning Spanish. It's great because if you misspell a word, it will give you a few choices if the word you type in isn't found. This feature is great since chicas can't spell for shit and if you use it to translate something they write, it's handy. I was learning Spanish a few years ago, so there's probably a newer model.

http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/Fr ... oduct.html

Don't mean to hijack the thread here, but a quick question or observation.
I thought it was only the chicas that email or text me that have horrible spelling in their native language, spanish. I have to interpret before I interpret.
Anyone else have this problem?
Red

Can any of these translators that do NOT need the internet...... translate common phrases or do they just translate words?

If you are an iPhone user, you can download "Spanish Free" dictionary if you just want to look up a word or two. I'm sure Droid has a similar app.

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Yo-Eleven!!
Pura Vida!

I hate online translators, but out of convenience I used them. For some reason, they love to use translate incorrectly. An example is the word "computer", will almost always translate to "equipo" which is really "equipment" or "team." Just about everyone in Latin America uses the term "computadora" and in Spain it's "ordenador." I have NEVER heard anyone use the term "equipo." Maybe Google's translator has changed, but it tends to drive me nuts http://translate.google.com/

One that I tend to use is Bing's translator http://www.microsofttranslator.com/ because it gives usage and dictionary information. After entering "computer" to translate to Spanish, that site says

Translation
equipo

Dictionary
informática español ordenador masculino, Latinoamérica computadora femenino; have something on computer tener algo en el español ordenador or Latinoamérica computadora

Notice that the translation is wrong, but the dictionary is correct?

Whatever translator you use, you have to use short phrases, not long sentences or else it all goes to hell. It's better to translate "I am going to travel to Costa Rica. Are you available on Wednesday?" as opposed to "I'm going to go to Costa Rica, will you be there on Wednesday?"

Think simple phrases. Do not attempted complicated phrases or long ones.

I wouldn't buy a specific device for translation as they tend to collect dust as Icantstayaway said. Instead, use apps for iPad/iPhone or Android apps. This makes your phone/tablet a multi-tasker.

Additionally, Spanish has conjugations of verbs that don't exist in English such as the subjunctive, which is really hard to explain to a English-only speaker. Basically, it's a verb conjugation of "possibilities," and people it get confused with the conditional or the future. Whereas they use a verb conjugation, we use phrases to express doubt or uncertainty. That is, if you use the wrong conjugation, not understanding what it means, you express a completely different sentiment.

When you learn Spanish, learn phrases as opposed to words that you try to transliterate into Spanish. Transliteration is a word for word translation and they don't construct sentences the way we do in English, so the sentences you put into the translators actually transliterate, not translate.

I'm about to buy a Kindle Fire to travel with because it is small and can get on the internet. I don't use a cell phone in CR.

Can an App. be downloaded from the internet to the Kindle Fire and then used to transliterate simple phrases on the Kindle where there is no internet service?

I've had several pocket translators the best was a $20 Seiko, well worth the money.

i have a ECTACO model P900 their top of the line model. has a lot of stuff on it, but i mostly use the translate mode. i found this very handy to get a word that i need, easy to use and the ladies always want to use it.
plus-- easy to carry, can be used any where, can ask the lady to help you then pronounce the word. since it operates like a game the ladies want to use it also. one factor is when working on the "deal" what you want and price there are no misunderstandings. and even as my Spanish gets better i still use it for price negotiations, i offer less then asking and hand it to the lady, she now can accept that or counter with out any of her friends knowing thus saving face. so i still use it for that . the look on her face when she hands back the unit with her price, and i just close the lid is a master charge minute, few seconds later she wants the unit back and i get anther offer.. and best of all the unit is not just for one language, a chip can be bought for almost any language you will need, so many more places it can be used. no need to worry about internet being available

minus-- cost, battery life is not the greatest, recharge almost every day of use, easy to use the unit instead of learning. works good for a few words, but longer the translate the farer it gets it wrong, so something complicated you have to do in parts

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My best friend was the clock on the wall, and he turned out not to be much of a friend in the end

The Google/Translate app works fine for me. It translates "computer" properly on my phone.

I had to go test this as, in the past, it was always wrong. It looks like Google finally got right! Wow! That took long enough.

Which reminds me, here is another verb that doesn't translate well: To Get. As English speakers, we'll all agree that "To Get" is synonymous with "to obtain" or "to acquire."

Now translate these phrases (which maybe used by many on this board)

1) "Got On" as in "I got on the girl" meaning you are on top of the girl.
2) "Got Off" as in "I got off the girl" meaning you are no longer on top of her.
3) "Got Off" as in "I got the girl off" meaning you enabled her to reach orgasm.

"To obtain," really doesn't apply, does it?

Google translates as follows

1) "I got on the girl" to "Tengo a la chica" meaning "I have the girl."
2) "I got off the girl" to "Me bajé de la niña" and I am not sure how that would be received.
3) "I got the girl off" to "Tengo a la chica fuera" which could mean "I have the girl outside"

The verb "to get" is one I would recommend not using in any translator. It means too many things in English.