"Мой брат хочет поступить на юридический факультет."
Translation:My brother wants to get into Law school.
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I must also add that in the US, "факультет" can translate to college as well. A college is within the university (college of science, college of law, etc), and a department is within a college (department of chemistry, department of statistics, etc). Although this can be confusing because universities are also referred to as colleges, which in this context translates to "университет" in Russian. And "колледж" is more like a community college, junior college, technical college, etc.
The verb "поступить" has several different meanings, but when used with school/college/university, it implies that one passed certain qualification criteria (high school diploma, entrance exam, aptitude test score, etc.) to get into the school. I believe in this sense "enter the university" is an adequate translation for "поступить в университет", and it should be accepted.
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I didn't mean that it's incorrect, but in my American life, yes, it does sound like a foreigner speaking. This isn't a regional or dictionary argument.
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I didn't say it's wrong, People! So stop sending links with "entering a university." I get it, thanks. Anyway this is Russian, not English, so as long as the Russian is correct, we're fine. Believe me, I regret bringing it up. By the way, входить в университет, так говорят на русском?
There are three distinct stages here with different English terms in my East-Coast American dialect. First you "apply" to a school; then you are either "accepted" or not, or in common parlance you "get into" a school; then you "enter," "enroll in," "matriculate at," or "begin studies at," which three may include by implication the two prior steps. "Get into" is ambiguous since it does not necessarily imply that you actually "go to" the school. You can say "I got into Harvard, but I decided to join the navy instead." To be "admitted to" implies that you actually "enter," but the meaning is somewhere between to be "accepted" and "enter," but without qualification suggests you enter. "Go to" and "attend" include the whole process, and in certain contexts can be used even if you finish or are graduated or get a degree. Which of the synonyms you choose depends on level: "get into" and "go to" are common speech. "be accepted" and "attend" are more formal. "Enter" and "enroll in" are also formal (mostly written) and specifically about beginning study, so usually with a time expressed. "Matriculate" will seen in official publications, but hardly ever spoken; it includes "register," which is specifically the act of signing the paperwork (as at a hotel). So the question is, would this sentence be interpreted by a native speaker to mean he wants to go to law school, or is it more specific?
In this case we conjugate it using the accusative case: "он хочет поступить [на кого?/на что?/куда?] - на юридический факультет".
The phrase "He is studying in the school of law" - "Он учится на юридическом факультете" - uses prepositional case: "он учится [на ком?/на чем?/где?] - на юридическом факультете".
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I've never heard of "entering a university," except in the physical sense. It's always been "accepted into" or "qualified for." There is such a thing as an entrance exam, though.
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Of course native speakers will understand. That's not the issue. They were polite that they didn't raise an eyebrow. "Getting into " or "got into" [UCLA] is common colloquially. "Entered" is NOT wrong but is unnatural and sounds like a foreign speaker speaking. Unless, you're in the parking lot, and one of your friends is suddenly gone. "Where's Linda?" -"She entered the university. " I won't argue this if we're talking about some regional differences. I grew up in the Western United States and have travelled all over America and both Canadian coasts. It is possible that "entering a university" is used somewhere but not commonly in the USA.
Merriam-Webster dictionary lists this as one of the meanings for the transitive verb "enter":
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/enter
Perhaps politeness was not the only reason I was understood on all those occasions?
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I'm not trying to argue this. I'm talking about colloquial speech, and you're giving me dictionary. Bottom line, it sounds unnatural. You sound like a foreigner if you say "enter a university," unless you mean actually entering a university. Incidentally, if you use "enter" for acceptance into the university, how would you say somebody actually entering? "Walking into"?
Your initial comment was that you've never heard the phrase "enter the university" being used as "поступить в университет". My reference to the dictionary of American English was to demonstrate the accepted use of the verb "to enter" in the sense "to be admitted / to get into the university". A web page from Princeton University has the phrase In fact, the valedictorian of the Princeton Class of ’02 was home schooled before entering Princeton.
https://admission.princeton.edu/applyingforadmission/admission-faqs/eligibility
Colloquial equivalents are a different topic. If they sound more natural to you, it still does not make the phrase "to enter the university" foreign or incorrect.
There is also nothing wrong with using the verb "to enter" in the sense of "entering the building". Just like the Russian verb "входить" can deliver a variety of meanings: entering a building, being a member of a group, being included into something, etc.
Dmitry_Arch has cleared up the confusion about the meaning of the verb. Duo should not, then, propose "get into," which is different from "enroll" or "matriculate," as a good translation. It's not getting accepted but actually going to the law school that is meant here.
As for Faculty, my take is that an institution may officially call one of its branches a "faculty," but in normal usage such as this sentence, we would still call it a "law school." If I'm being formal, I might say (or write) that I am officially enrolled as a student in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, so my brother could conceivably say that he "wants to enroll in the Faculty of Law" at the (understood) university.
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The "legal department" implies within a larger corporation, like the legal department for Banc Suisse. Юридический факультет means the School of Law at a university.
Such reports were probably part of the reason the free report section was eliminated. Undoubtedly, this is not something the course contributors can do anything about. Technical issues are for the programming staff in Pittsburg. Here's Duolingo's bug report form.