21 Comments
893
An interpreter (en tolk) translates in speech and a translator (en översättare) does it in text.
It is interesting because an engineer would rather look of a translator, not an interpreter. Because the engineer works with engines, not with people. If an engineer doesn't understand what people say, that's those people problems, :D He must only contruct/create/repair engines
- 263
Your image of what an engineer does is a bit limited. The information about what needs to be constructed or repaired comes from people. If he or she has a conversation with the client, I think it would be useful to have an interpreter. In a conversation you can immediately check if you understand each other well and if necessary you can make something clear with a sketch.
- 468
Am I the only person who thinks the English translation is very odd? It is awkward at best to say "...finds no" anything in English.
- 370
As a native English speaker, every time I see this example the translation hurts my brain because not only does it sound incredibly awkward, I don't know what it is supposed to mean. Is this implying the engineer is looking for an interpreter and cannot find one? Or that he does not need an interpreter? I accept the literal translation of the sentence but I can't imagine a scenario where this would ever sound natural in English.
It hurts my brain too despite the fact that I'm not a native English speaker. The meaning is ambiguous, vague
Apparently, even if the engineer doesn't know a language, his job is to work with engines
- 893
No, an interpreter is en tolk but a translator is en översättare. Actually there is also a work title 'en translator' (pronounced the Swedish way, not like in English), used for authorized translators.
Could you also say "The engineer finds nobody to interpret". I don't know how "tolk" works
- 893
The verb is tolka, so that would be Ingenjören hittar ingen som kan tolka. Tolk is just a noun for the person who does it. Tolken tolkar = 'The interpreter interprets'.
Obviously one could figure out which one is implied by context but is this correct? tolkar= interprets tolkar= interpreters
My SAOL app for showing all of the forms of words lists for "tolk" three possible meanings, one of which is "'ett mätverktyg". This sounds to me like a much more likely sort of "tolk" that an engineer might look for whilst working. Is this a general term for any tool used for measuring, or is it a specific tool? If the latter, which one is it?
