There is a very good example in this week's Ekotopfilm piece of how to use the English expression "according to" to translate the Slovak "podľa" in the sense of
presenting somebody's opinion: "… according to the World Health Organization …". Most of us have nothing to do with the WHO, let alone work for it preparing prognoses of future developments in
medical issues, so we can only take their word for it that Alzheimer's Disease is set to become one of the greatest problems in this area.
In fact, we don't really have to believe them at all, and the phrase "according to" expresses all of these ideas: I'm just passing on what they claim (len to, čo oni
tvrdia), and I don't necessarily agree with their opinion. For this reason it doesn't make sense to say "According to me" in English, because it suggests that you don't believe what you are
currently saying. Use expressions like "If you ask me," or "As I see it," or (more formal) "In my opinion,".
Empty