5 Mistakes Everyone Makes in Latin Translations
Don't make these common Latin errors
I don't want you to make the same mistakes that I see time and time again, so I'm going to give you five really quick and easy things that you can do to improve your Latin.
Mistake Number One: People do not read the context
Every time you're given a Latin passage, you are given a bit of English at the beginning, even if it's just the title, to help you understand what is going on.
This might give you some names of people, it might give you some place names, and it gives you a general gist of what has happened just before that passage, so you know what you're going into. It is supposed to help you.
This is a really easy thing to miss if you are just diving straight into that translation or that comprehension. But take a breath, take a second, read the context, it will really help.
Mistake Number Two: They ignore the glossary
First of all, I would always say just read the glossary when you first open that paper because it will have names and places.
Again, just like the English at the beginning, it will give you context.
But it's also really important that you know what people's names are, because in the translation, you might get penalised if you keep a name in the genitive, for example, and you don't change it. You might see Caesaris, meaning “of Caesar”, and you may write “Caesaris” as his name. But you should have just written Caesar! And the glossary would have told you that.
Also, if there's lots of difficult terminology about weapons, or if there's some really niche vocabulary about grain, you know what the context of this passage is, and you're not going to be spooked when it turns out to be a treatise on farming!
So do look at the glossary, it will give you a bit of a hint about what's going on.
Mistake Number Three: They change what they know to be true
You've gone through your sentence and you know there is an accusative plural and a verb. The verb ends with -mus, it's a “we” ending, but you see the accusative plural and you think “Oh, I don't have a nominative, so I know that's accusative plural but I'm actually just going to make it the subject of the sentence. That’ll be fine”.
Don't do that.
You know that the verb is a “we” ending, and you know that's an accusative plural. Try again. You have not figured it out yet, look at it again!
Do not change what you know to be true to make it fit with the translation that you're trying to give.
Mistake Number Four: People do not cross off words as they translate
It's really easy in a Latin translation or a Latin comprehension to miss out words. So one thing I always say is, once you've translated a word in a sentence or once you've finished a sentence, just go back through and double check you've translated every single word.
This is a really good thing to check if you have extra time - I hate it when people tell me they finished an exam with “ages” to spare! I want them to use this time to check they have done every word!
If you miss out a word, it can be a whole mark immediately lost. So it's really easy to stop doing that. Just go back and put a dot above each word, or put a little tick.
Don't cross the word out completely because you might need to go back and look again at that word, especially if you suddenly remember a crucial bit of vocab or a piece of grammar, but just indicate somehow so you know, if you look back, that “yes I have translated every single word in that sentence”.
Mistake Number Five: Their sentences do not make sense
You should be reading back through your translations and your comprehensions, and your sentences should make sense.
The Latin makes sense, so your translation should as well!
These are stories, these are histories, these are poems. They might be weird, I'm not going to lie. It might be a random myth where someone gets turned into a tree (which was my GCSE exam passage). But they should make grammatical sense in English.
Do not submit something that doesn't make sense. You can get more than half marks if you get the sense right. So even if you are struggling to figure out what's going on in the sentence, give it a good go and make your attempt make sense in English. Don’t just submit a page full of jumbled words that don't make any sense.
The Latin makes sense. Your translation should make sense.
Exam Checklist
So a brief recap for your exam checklist of what you should do.
Read the English at the beginning of a passage to give you context
Check the glossary for those key terms to help you guide your translation
Stick to the facts that you already know to be true about Latin. And don't change things to make them fit your idea of the translation.
Check off words as you go through to make sure you've translated every single part.
Make your translation make sense.
I hope this has been helpful. If you need some extra help and guidance, then you can download my free guide here: Three Simple Steps to Instantly Improve Your Latin Translations.
What’s your biggest problem with translations? What do you struggle with most? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks so much for joining me, and I'll see you next time on bambasbat.