Source Language Comprehension
Source language comprehension tests your reading of demanding texts in the source language - institutional, legal, policy and press material - not your ability to translate them. You must extract explicit meaning, implication, tone and argument structure, and separate what the text says from what you expect it to say. In translator competitions this underpins accurate transfer: a misread source is the most expensive error because it propagates into the target text.
Core rules
- Read for structure. Identify the function of each paragraph: claim, evidence, concession, recommendation or conclusion.
- Distinguish statement from inference. A valid inference must be logically forced by the text, not merely plausible.
- Track referents: 'it', 'this', 'the former', 'such measures'. Ambiguous pronouns are a common source of error.
- Watch modality and quantification: may, must, should; all, some, most, only; 'up to', 'at least', 'no more than'.
- Note contrast and concession markers - although, while, nevertheless, whereas - because they often reveal the author's real position.
- Use context for vocabulary, especially when the source language is not your first language and contains false friends.
Worked example
Passage: 'The proposal stops short of harmonising criminal penalties, but it obliges Member States to provide effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions for breaches. It also requires an independent authority to monitor compliance, although that authority may be an existing body rather than a newly created one.' Question: Which statement is supported? A. Member States must criminalise breaches. B. An existing body may serve as the monitoring authority. C. Penalties must be identical across Member States. Answer: B. Reasoning: 'stops short of harmonising criminal penalties' rules out A and C. 'May be an existing body rather than a newly created one' directly supports B. The 'although' clause is a concession, not a contradiction.
Traps that cost marks
- Choosing an option that is true in the world but not stated or implied in the passage.
- Confusing 'may' with 'must', or 'some' with 'all'.
- Missing a negation or the restrictive force of 'only'.
- Treating 'although' as 'therefore' and reversing the argument.
- Over-inferring from a single example or from the author's tone.