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Odd sentences

SeanBurlington
Great Britain

Odd sentences

Post by SeanBurlington »

I find the possessive sentence translations to English often quite odd

Things like "Τα άλογα είναι δικά τους." Translation:The horses are their own.

It's just not the way I would say it in English.

The closest I can think of is if I've made something - like say I've baked bread maybe I'd call it "my own bread" instead of just "my bread" - but then often people just think that's an odd way of speaking I see the confusion and follow up with "that I baked"

Which is to say that I don't think English has a reliable strong possessive and that is something that will be lost in translation

I wonder how much that goes the other way too and when we translate into Greek do we translate into atypical Greek?

Sometimes it feels like literal translation demonstrates an understanding of the language being translated from - but at the cost of loosing a feel for the language being translated into

Does this start to become less of an issue as you become more familiar with a language ? Is this a drawback of Duolingo? Or am I worrying about nothing because inevitably learning a new language feels odd at first ?

Cifi

Re: Odd sentences

Post by Cifi »

My impression is that Duolingo sometimes uses closer, more literal translations in the language you are learning from, even it is not a common way to say it, but the sentences in the language being taught are usually more natural (with a few exceptions). It seems like this at least in languages I know well enough to think I can tell, unfortunately Greek isn't one.

Anyway this is the reason why I avoid doing the reverse courses.

Native: :de: Intermediate: :uk: Lower intermediate: :es: Beginner: :fr: Absolute beginner: 🇬🇷
(If there are errors in what I'm writing in either language, please do correct me - I'll never take it as offense or something like that.)

SeanBurlington
Great Britain

Re: Odd sentences

Post by SeanBurlington »

Ah that's encouraging - I'm unlikely to pick up bad habits in my native language from this :-)

Phil682961

Re: Odd sentences

Post by Phil682961 »

SeanBurlington wrote: Tue Sep 27, 2022 1:41 pm

I find the possessive sentence translations to English often quite odd

Things like "Τα άλογα είναι δικά τους." Translation:The horses are their own.

An equally good translation would be "The horses are theirs": if Duo doesn't accept that, you could report it.

SeanBurlington wrote: Tue Sep 27, 2022 1:41 pm

Is this a drawback of Duolingo?

IMO, yes. Duolingo definitely has its uses since it's free, accessible, and it's a useful practice tool. But, for the reasons you mention, translation isn't the optimum way to learn a language: it's best to be as immersive as possible and to minimise the use of learners' native language.

In fairness, I should say that Duo (at least for the most popular languages) does recognise this and aim to address it with elements like Stories.

Phil682961

Re: Odd sentences

Post by Phil682961 »

Cifi wrote: Tue Sep 27, 2022 2:21 pm

My impression is that Duolingo sometimes uses closer, more literal translations in the language you are learning from, even it is not a common way to say it, but the sentences in the language being taught are usually more natural (with a few exceptions). It seems like this at least in languages I know well enough to think I can tell, unfortunately Greek isn't one.

This is my impression for the Greek course as well. If an English sentence is a bit awkward, it's usually because it's a slightly over-literal translation of the Greek - there aren't as many examples of that in the opposite direction.

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