Tricky Words in this week‘s OVI

To encourage. The proper Slovak translation of this verb is „povzbudzovať“, because it suggests a process. It is almost certainly a positive process, because it means putting the courage into somebody which they need to do something, but it contains no information about the end of the process. The end of a process is its product, which in this case would mean that somebody actually does something, like winning a race or inviting someone else on a date. If you want to translate „povzbudiť niekoho“ it's better to say “to spur somebody on”, because spurs are „ostrohy“, and if you think about the effect they have on a horse, then you can understand that this expression contains the idea of a real effect, i.e. a product. This year's results are encouraging, which should spur us all on next year.

Andy’s Wordshop

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