Words, Words, Words

I am a language teacher (Spanish and English) and I am also a translator and interpreter of the same languages. Translators deal with words. Some people say that there are only three things you need to know about a word; its meaning(s), pronunciation, and how it is used in a sentence (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, etc.) But it's not that simple.

Words have many different aspects that need to be taken into account when learning a language or translating the words into another language. I will use the English word lovely as an example. Aside from the word's basic meaning (beautiful), pronunciation (lovely is made up of five separate sounds, two syllables, with the stress on the first syllable), and how it is used in sentences (as an adjective), all of which can be found in a good dictionary, there are other aspects of the word lovely that we need to be aware of. Following is a discussion of some of these aspects.

Connotations. Most words have connotations, which means that they can imply subtle emotions, feelings, and relationships to other words. Some connotations of lovely, are that it is usually used to described beauty in women ("She's a lovely woman" but not "He's a lovely man")and situations and cultural things(It's a lovely sunset.") Lovely has the feeling of softness. You might say that a painting or work of art is lovely, but you would probably not say that a car was lovely, no matter how beautiful the car was.

Differences of degree. Lovely is often described as a synonym for pretty or good looking or gorgeous. But for most people, these words would represent different points on a beauty "scale." A woman described as lovely would rank higher on the beauty "scale" than one described as pretty or good looking, but lower on the scale than one described as gorgeous. There are probably no true synonyms because of these small differences in meaning and usage.

Level of formality or register. Some words have a more formal, quaint, or "old fashioned" feel when you use them. Lovely is one of those words. Most teenagers and young people probably don't use the word lovely very much for this reason. They might prefer to use a more "modern" word like hot when describing a lovely woman.

Usage. Most words in English can be used equally by men or women. But there are certain words, like lovely, that are more commonly used by females than males. Men usually don't say lovely. Some other words that are used more often by women than men are divine, adorable, delightful, and sweetie.

Intonation reflecting attitude. Most words' meanings can be changed by the intonation used to pronounce them. If you say, "Well, that's just lovely !" stressing the word lovely and saying the sentence with a sarcastic tone of voice, you don't mean lovely at all. What you mean is that something is a mess, or a problem.

Most words are not as simple as they first appear. So we need to be careful with the way we use and translate them.