Translation skills (English to German)

Spot the differences

The German and English texts are not quite the same! Underline the differences in the German text.

Ich wohne in einem Dorf etwa 10 I live in a town called Wolfenbüttel

Kilometer westlich von Braunschweig,
das Vechelde heißt. Wir haben ein
Doppelhaus in der Dorfmitte. In
Vechelde gibt es eine Bäckerei, eine
Metzgerei und einen kleinen Bahnhof,
aber keine Buchhandlung. Ich wohne
nicht gern in Vechelde, weil es zu ruhig
ist.
about thirteen kilometres south of
Braunschweig. We have a detached
house on the edge of town. There is a
castle, a church and a small supermarket
in Wolfenbüttel but no cinema. I like
living in Wolfenbüttel because it’s very
quiet.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spot the differences

The German and English texts are not quite the same! Underline the differences in the German text.

Ich wohne in einem Dorf etwa 10 I live in a town called Wolfenbüttel

Kilometer westlich von Braunschweig,
das Vechelde heißt. Wir haben ein
Doppelhaus in der Dorfmitte. In
Vechelde gibt es eine Bäckerei, eine
Metzgerei und einen kleinen Bahnhof,
aber keine Buchhandlung. Ich wohne
nicht gern in Vechelde, weil es zu ruhig
ist.
about thirteen kilometres south of
Braunschweig. We have a detached
house on the edge of town. There is a
castle, a church and a small supermarket
in Wolfenbüttel but no cinema. I like
living in Wolfenbüttel because it’s very
quiet.

© www.teachitlanguage.co.uk 2014 23231 Page 1 of 3

 Translation skills (English to German)
Teaching notes

A series of strategies to develop students’ translation skills from English to German. The examples used can
be easily adapted to different contexts according to the topic you are studying. You will need one copy of
the activity on p.1 for each pair of students.

Starter (slide 2): translating the present tense

Students translate the verbs into German – this could be done on mini whiteboards. This activity highlights
the fact that the simple present tense and the continuous present tense are translated in the same way in
German. The answers are animated in, one by one.

Activity 1 (slide 3): dictionary skills

Divide students into groups of three and give each group a dictionary. Assign one of the 10 words from slide
3 to each group to look up. If you have fewer students, those who work fastest can look up more words.
Ask them to make notes on how to translate their word and to explain the potential problems.

The point of this exercise is to make students aware that they need to consider whether the word they want is
a noun, verb or adjective etc. as well as choosing the best word for the context of a specific sentence.

Selected students can then come to the front to explain the various translation options for their given word
and to highlight the potential problems.

Activity 2 (slide 4): corrections

Ask students to look at the three incorrect sentences and identify what the errors are and why they occurred.
More able students may suggest correct versions of these (the answers will animate in on clicking).
Emphasise the dangers of word for word translation and the need to ‘think in German’.

© www.teachitlanguage.co.uk 2014 23231 Page 2 of 3

 Translation skills (English to German)

Activity 3 (slide 5): Wordle translation

Ask students to translate the English sentence into German using all the words in the Wordle in the correct
order (Ich esse Brot und Marmelade zum Frühstück). If your students need more practice, use
http://www.wordle.net to create more sentences of your choice.

Activity 4 (slide 6): translation prompts

Students translate the sentences from English into German but are given the first letter of each word as
support. Students needing more support could be given Wordles of the vocabulary. The answers and an
extension are animated in.

Activity 5 (slide 7–8): spot the differences

Hand out one copy of the texts from p.1 of this document for each pair of students. Ask students to read and
compare the German and English texts with a partner and spot the differences. Students can come to the
whiteboard to circle the differences they have found. Answers (see below) will appear on clicking:

I live in a town called Wolfenbüttel about thirteen kilometres south of Braunschweig. We

have a detached house on the edge of town. There is a castle, a church and a small
supermarket in Wolfenbüttel but no cinema. I like living in Wolfenbüttel because it’s very
quiet.

They should then write a correct German translation of the English text on the right by adapting the German
phrases in the text on the left. This could then be self or peer assessed using the model answer on slide 8.

© www.teachitlanguage.co.uk 2014 23231 Page 3 of 3