GCSE Spanish Translations Tasks

When you’re studying Spanish, you do a little bit of translation in your head all the time. For the translation questions, you just need to apply those skills -one sentence at a time- to a couple of short passages.

During your exam, you will have to do two small translations: a text from Spanish to English and another from English to Spanish. In any case, do not worry, because we will help you develop your translation skills so that on the day of the exam it will be a piece of cake, or as we say in Spanish «ser pan comido».

First, some tips that will help you to carry out both tasks:

• Read through the whole text before you get started so you know exactly what the text is about.
• Tackle the passage one sentence at a time. Work slowly can carefully through each one.
• Don’t translate literally, think about what each English sentence means and try to write it in the most Spanish way you know. Don’t worry, the translation is likely to include similar sentences to the ones you’ve learned.
• Work on the word order, remember that most Spanish adjectives follow the noun. If you need a double negative, remember to include both bits.
• Don’t try to write a perfect translation the first time. Do it roughly first and then write it up.
• Remember to keep an eye on the time!
• Once you’ve got something that you’re happy with, go back through and check that you’ve covered everything that was in the English one.
• Now check your Spanish text thoroughly, you will find very useful the list of points to double-check on the writing exam.