Translation and Applied Language Skills
What this section tests
This domain checks whether you can carry meaning across languages and use Urdu in real tasks: tarjuma, notices, advertisements, dialogues and comprehension. The test is meaning, not word-for-word substitution.
Core rules
- Read the whole sentence before translating; identify subject, verb, tense and voice.
- Keep technical terms in English where Urdu has no settled equivalent; explain in Urdu if needed.
- Match register: formal for notices and applications, simple for dialogues.
- Translate idioms by meaning, not by literal words.
- After drafting, read the Urdu sentence aloud to check gender, number and word order.
Worked example
Translate: 'The students have completed their homework.' Reasoning: present perfect, plural subject, completed action with present relevance. Urdu: 'طلبہ نے اپنا ہوم ورک مکمل کر لیا ہے.' 'طلبہ' is plural, 'نے' marks the perfective transitive subject, and 'کر لیا ہے' carries the completed present relevance. A word-for-word 'طلبہ ہیں مکمل کیا' is wrong because it copies English order.
Traps
- Translating 'he is running late' as 'وہ دیر سے دوڑ رہا ہے' literally.
- Ignoring muannas or plural agreement.
- Turning a notice into a personal letter.
- Adding information not in the source.
- Using very literary Urdu in a simple dialogue.