What is the correct way to ask someone if he or she can do something?

Question

I want to ask someone if he can translate something for me. However I do not know what the correct way of asking is. I do not want to ask if he wants to do it, but rather if he has the knowledge to do so. So something along the lines of: Do you know how to translate this, but with 'can' instead of 'Do you know'

I thought of something like:

これはできを訳しますか

However I do not think it is right.

So my question will then be:

What is the correct way to ask someone if he or she can do something? With the usage of できます (If possible)

Answer 1

One important grammar rule that pertains to this is how to ask for a favor from someone. This requires the knowledge and use of 上｛あ｝げる・くれる・もらう verbs.

上{あ}げる -> I give to you

くれる -> You give to me

もらう -> I receive from you

Stemming from this, what you're asking for is for a translation, but you're wondering if it is alright to ask for this. So, let's start with the English variant of the question:

Will you translate this for me?

If we examine this sentence first, you're asking for the favor of translation. Basically, you're asking to be given a translation as a favor. Therefore, you'd want to use くれる as your verb of request. To add additional politeness, you may add よければ or any such phrase at the start of the question to further indicate that you're asking this as a favor and not as a demand:

(よければ、)これを訳してくれませんか。
(If it's alright with you,) will you (Won't you) translate this for me?