For example, the sentence “Mujhe yeh karna hee nahin” means “I really don’t want to do this.” In this case, the word “hee” means “really.” However, most people in India translate this incorrectly as “I don’t want to do this only” which is not idiomatic in the English language.Īpart from grammatical issues and words with more than one meaning, there’s also the fact that certain words just don’t have counterparts in other languages. For example, the word “hee” in Hindi is usually translated as “only” or “just.” But sometimes, it can be used to underscore or emphasize a certain action or feeling. But, also consider the fact that one word can have more than one meaning in a language. So it’s best to avoid word-for-word translation, largely because it doesn’t mix with the different grammatical constructions in different languages. So basically, the phrase “Je m’appelle Jean” literally translates into “I me call Jean” which is not a grammatical English sentence. The word “appelle” means “call.” And “Jean,” being a proper noun remains the same. The word “je” means “I.” The word “me” which is shortened into “m'” here means me. For example, something as simple as the French phrase “Je m’appelle Jean” can become clunky if you translate word-by-word.
Often, you might come across something funny when you encounter word-for-word translation.
