have i done this translation correctly?

Question

In my opinion, i think that doing school activities is important as it can teach you new skills.

En mi opinión, creo que haciendo actividades de la escuela es importante, ya que le puede enseñar nuevas habilidades.

Answer 1

Really close! I think you'd just have to change a little bit: "En mi opinión, creo que hacer actividades escolares es importante, ya que le puede enseñar nuevas habilidades.

nuevas habilidades sounds too literal. What do you think of nuevas capacidades, Piedra? - francobollo, Dec 3, 2012

That sounds even better! :) - LaPiedraAlegre, Dec 3, 2012

Answer 2

Can't argue with LaPiedra. His modifications to your original are simply right.

Here's the but - if you want follow this up with anyone from an email friend to the principal of your intended school in a Spanish speaking country you will need to do some research into what the two sides mean by "school activities" or "actividades escolares". I did a quick look and I didn't see, for example, "after-school karate classes" in the latter though there were several in the English speaking communities. Of course there was a lot of overlap but they just seemed to have a different emphasis.

My message is that translation needs to dig a bit deeper sometimes than simply taking a couple of words that mean a whole spectrum of things to you and then converting them into a different couple of words in a different language. This may also move you into a whole new spectrum, a parameter shift, if you like.