Teaching idiomatically vs. literally...

First off, having a blast learning French here. But... Given the sentence, "Est-ce que tout se passe comme vous le souhaitez ?" And then having the translation below being, "Is everything to your satisfaction?" With regard to syntax, would not it be worthwhile to have the translation be, "Is it that all that (happens) (passes) is how you wish (it)?" I'm aware that "Paul" does a fine job of making such distinctions clear in the lessons. Yet I wish sometimes the 'below the fold' translations would point explicitly to exact translations, because it's that structural guidance that helps me in subsequent lessons.

I'm interested in your question, because it raises the question of "exact translation". There is a "literal" rendering which I think of as being slavishly word-by-word, which you've put down, but this rendering is hardly a translation, in the sense that it is something that makes sense to an english speaker. Depending on the broader context, the "best" translation might be from "Everything OK?" to "are your heart's desires being met". There is a certain delicacy to "est-ce que tout se passe ..." in the french that isn't going to get reflected in english no way no how. So, I guess you could ask for literal renderings, but I don't think exact translations exist!

Bonjour! The problem with literal translations is that in many cases there are no exact equivalents because each language has evolved in a different environment and under different circumstances. It can be dangerous to get caught up in the need to have a literal translation because it often distorts the original meaning of the sentence. I can understand that it can be helpful sometimes to have one in order to understand the structure of a sentence but I would still advise against it. Courage à vous tous! Keep up the good work! - Marie-Claire

Bonjour! I'm new here, but loving Rocket French so far, and learning faster than I thought I would, after a long-ago year of HS French and 6 of Spanish, back in the day. I have had to sort of "teach" myself not to need literal translations, but rather just to grasp the concept of what's being said in French. I read somewhere (here?) that you have to "learn not to translate, but rather to just understand it", and for some reason that really helped me to just...learn...the phrases that don't literally translate. Hope that helps.