Thank you Mihai,
It's an interesting point that you are making there.
Let's recap a bit the context.
This question that you are referring to, is part of the "I do not speak Romanian" exercises.
There, one of the sentences to be learned is "I did not understand what you said" which translates in Romanian "Nu am înțeles ce ați spus".
Since this is a pretty long sentence, and the exercises require you to type it fully and correctly, I have broken down the sentence in two parts
1) "I did not understand" - "Nu am înțeles"
2) "what you said" - "ce ați spus"
Now the second part, that you are referring to 2) "what you said" - "ce ați spus", if you look at it individually, and do not take into account the context, can be a mid mis-leading, I agree.
You're translation is "what did you say?" which is correct if this sentence would be a question. However this sentence is not a question, there is no question mark at the end of "ce ați spus". I have now clarified this second part of the sentence by adding the three preecedeing dots and one full stop at the end, which now reads 2) "...what you said." - "...ce ați spus."
I could easily add your proposed answer as the correct one, however this will even further mislead the students, as when they will have to translate the bigger sentence "I did not understand what you said", your answer would not be appropriate for the second part of this sentence as this is not a question.
I hope this clarifies your remark.
One more time thank you for pointing it out, and if you have any comments I'd be happy to hear it.
Thank you for your question, it is a very good one.
"more slowly" can be translated in Romanian by
1) mai încet
2) mai rar
3) mai lent
indeed "mai rar" means actually less frequently, because "rar" means "frequently".
Now the problem comes with the word "încet" that in Romanian can mean two things:
"Vorbiți mai încet"
has two translations in Romanian:
a) Keep it down
b) Speak more slowly
Typically when a Romanian would hear "Vorbiți mai încet" it would mean "Keep it down".
This is why I preferred to translate "Speal more slowly" by "Vorbiți mai rar" which is clear because it means Speak less frequently.
I have added "Vorbiți mai încet" as an alternative answer, meaning that if you would type it during the exercise you will get a correct answer, since it is correct, but Romanians would typically understand to keep it down.
So in a nutshell I preferred the unambiguity of "mai rar" rather than the precise answer "mai încet".
What do you mean by "scris marar" is this the exact text that you are seeing written precisely like this: "marar"? If yes, I'll investigate because it should be written "mai rar".
For the reason why I have chosen "mai rar" please find my answer of 5 min ago above.
What do you mean by "Coloque, nu Puteți"?
Is this the exact text that you see on the screen while taking the exercises? I'm happy to investigate further if there is an issue, but I would need your help to guide me on where you see this text, or what precisely is wrong.
9 comments
Incorrect answer
I translated "Ce ați spus" as "What did you say?", and I got "Incorrect! Please try another answer!"
Thank you Mihai,
Thank you Mihai,
It's an interesting point that you are making there.
Let's recap a bit the context.
This question that you are referring to, is part of the "I do not speak Romanian" exercises.
There, one of the sentences to be learned is "I did not understand what you said" which translates in Romanian "Nu am înțeles ce ați spus".
Since this is a pretty long sentence, and the exercises require you to type it fully and correctly, I have broken down the sentence in two parts
1) "I did not understand" - "Nu am înțeles"
2) "what you said" - "ce ați spus"
Now the second part, that you are referring to 2) "what you said" - "ce ați spus", if you look at it individually, and do not take into account the context, can be a mid mis-leading, I agree.
You're translation is "what did you say?" which is correct if this sentence would be a question. However this sentence is not a question, there is no question mark at the end of "ce ați spus". I have now clarified this second part of the sentence by adding the three preecedeing dots and one full stop at the end, which now reads 2) "...what you said." - "...ce ați spus."
I could easily add your proposed answer as the correct one, however this will even further mislead the students, as when they will have to translate the bigger sentence "I did not understand what you said", your answer would not be appropriate for the second part of this sentence as this is not a question.
I hope this clarifies your remark.
One more time thank you for pointing it out, and if you have any comments I'd be happy to hear it.
Mulțumesc
Thank you for the explanation. That makes sense.
mai rar
pls i know that slowly is încet and rar is less often
but in the example you wrote mai rar
"Rar" vs "încet" in Romanian
Hi,
Thank you for your question, it is a very good one.
"more slowly" can be translated in Romanian by
1) mai încet
2) mai rar
3) mai lent
indeed "mai rar" means actually less frequently, because "rar" means "frequently".
Now the problem comes with the word "încet" that in Romanian can mean two things:
"Vorbiți mai încet"
has two translations in Romanian:
a) Keep it down
b) Speak more slowly
Typically when a Romanian would hear "Vorbiți mai încet" it would mean "Keep it down".
This is why I preferred to translate "Speal more slowly" by "Vorbiți mai rar" which is clear because it means Speak less frequently.
I have added "Vorbiți mai încet" as an alternative answer, meaning that if you would type it during the exercise you will get a correct answer, since it is correct, but Romanians would typically understand to keep it down.
So in a nutshell I preferred the unambiguity of "mai rar" rather than the precise answer "mai încet".
I hope this answers your question.
Happy to help!
marar
Cred că are un problème grafic aici, dar de ce răspuns este mai rar și este scris marar. În plus, nu este mai încet?
What do you mean?
Hi,
What do you mean by "scris marar" is this the exact text that you are seeing written precisely like this: "marar"? If yes, I'll investigate because it should be written "mai rar".
For the reason why I have chosen "mai rar" please find my answer of 5 min ago above.
Happy to help!
Coloque e ți s ă repet a ți m a i r a r v ă r o g?
Pentru mine apare, Coloque, nu Puteți. Ce să întempla
Can you please help me understand what you mean?
Hi,
What do you mean by "Coloque, nu Puteți"?
Is this the exact text that you see on the screen while taking the exercises? I'm happy to investigate further if there is an issue, but I would need your help to guide me on where you see this text, or what precisely is wrong.
Happy to help!
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