New to translating texts

[mcthulhu]

I'm curious about the mechanics of how you're doing it. Are you translating from http://yiddish.forward.com/, or from the paper edition? Are you using a paper dictionary, or an online one? I had the impression that you were translating with paper and pencil, but maybe not. There's absolutely nothing wrong with working with paper (I did it for many years, before online dictionaries existed), but working on the computer could save a lot of the effort in looking up words, especially if you can use a dictionary browser extension that will look up words in response to a mouse hover. You might also be able to copy and paste into Google Translate to check your work; it's a crutch and not always a reliable one, but crutches are helpful when you can't walk on your own.

I would second the suggestion of using parallel texts for study. I notice that the Forward Web site has both Yiddish and English versions; are those all parallel articles in both languages, or at least some of them? If so then you have a model available to check against.

Do you recognize the most common words in what you're translating, or is just about everything new to you? If you're translating material far enough above your current level that you can't get at least the general idea from just reading it, maybe you should back off to simpler and shorter material for a while, until you can build up your vocabulary some more, or else work with a text you're already familiar with in English, so you know roughly what to expect from the Yiddish text.

[alans]

Hi Yiddish I sent you a personal message. It would be great to hear about your experiences studying YIddish. I leave in one week to
study in an intensive Yiddish program in Israel. I'm really looking forward to it.
Thank-you everyone for your assistance with my problem in translation. It is almost impossible to find a private Yiddish teacher, actually
it is iimpossible (there are also almost none on skype too).so I am very very fortunate to have an iincredibly passionate and caring
teacher to help me on my journey. My new approach to translation is to read the text in the original as many times as I can, then maybe
paragraph by paragraph and picking out the words that I don't know. With the latest work I have I get a sense of what the writer is
talking about, there are just some words that I stumble upon.

I was just trying to study before leaving today-want to be as immersed before I leave-and I just got so tired. My reading is very strong,
my grammar is terrible. The rules really bog me down.

Anyways you are all a helpful wonderful bunch. I'm really looking forward to my immersive program in a week. It's supposed to be the
best one in the world.

[iguanamon]

Good luck, mazal tov, alans! I hope you will come here again to tell us of your experiences there and what it taught you and how it taught you Yiddish.

I only wish there would be a similar program for Ladino! Mazal bueno!

[Ogrim]

Wow thanks everyone for ur warm welcome, I m still learning English so it's hard for me to write, especially with a good grammar, so I didn't think I'll ever write here, I just saw that it looks like @elens can use some help from a native speaker, and I know there isn't much of them to find or contact, so I special registered to tell @elens that he can contact me... I didn't know that there is a limit for starters to send pm's...

I would love to share more about me, but I don't know if i can do it in this threat, or if there's a special threat for that.

There is a thread called Introduce yourself here, where you can tell us more about yourself, what languages you speak or are studying etc.

And don't worry, your English isn't that bad, and by writing here you may get advice and corrections from native speakers in order to improve your English.