Fiducia TogetherTranslation
Rendering sentences between languages, both ways, under exam conditions.
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.
What it is
GCSE papers include translation into English and into the target language, of short passages.
Where it applies
GCSE and A Level modern foreign languages.
How it works
Into English rewards accuracy of meaning and natural English. Into the target language rewards accurate structures — verb endings, agreement, word order — as much as vocabulary.
How to use it in your work
Translate the whole sentence, not word by word. Word-for-word rendering produces sentences that are wrong in both languages.\n\nInto the target language, check the verb first: person, tense, ending. Most marks are lost there.\n\nIf you do not know a word, write something plausible rather than leaving a gap. A gap scores nothing; an approximation sometimes scores.\n\nRead your English translation aloud in your head. If it does not sound like English, it is wrong.
Where to get help
Your teacher and your board's past papers, which have a consistent style.
Revise this with a song
These are ours. We write revision songs because a lot of people remember a tune when they cannot remember a page, and because revising out loud in the kitchen beats staring at a highlighter.
- The Spanish Song GCSE Spanish vocabulary and structures, set to music.
Where to read more
Last reviewed 2026-08-28 by Fiducia Together · Next review due 2027-08-28
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.