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- "I read the menu and eat the …
"I read the menu and eat the cake."
Translation:Tôi đọc thực đơn và ăn bánh.
15 Comments
If the classifiers on their own express definiteness just like "the" does in English, why is the best translation of this English sentence not one involving classifiers (e.g. cái bánh)?
You are right. The answer with "cái bánh" should be accepted. However, some phrases like "eat bread, eat cake..." in Vietnamese usually (if not all) does not involve a specific "thing". If possible, I can change this sentence to "I read menu and eat cake" if it sounds natural in English in order to match with the Vietnamese answer.
I see... I'm not a native speaker of English but I think "I read menu" isn't proper English. Maybe the tip about the use of classifiers for "the" should be improved. I think it's more complicated. Someday I'll read a linguistic paper on it, then I'll know... :)
Yes, it isn't proper English. ckhadung meant that he could translate it like that IF English allowed it, but it doesn't.
Aren't the classifiers supposed to clarify and emphasize the form of the object? AFAIK "the" is default in Vietnamese, you don't need to use a word to express it
I wrote "menu" in English because I forgot the Vietnamese word, and my answer was accepted!
Why was I marked wrong for not using a classifier that wasn't introduced yet?
"You used the wrong word. Tôi đọc cuốn thực đơn và ăn bánh."
For me, thưc was marked as a typo even though it looked exactly the same in the Duo answer
403
No, just cake. Bánh by itself doesn't literally mean cake. It refers to a very broad range of baked or steamed things you eat, and can be sweet or savory: bread, cakes, cookies, dumplings, crêpes, spring rolls, even noodles and rice paper. All these have different names: bánh + X (bánh mì, bánh xèo, bánh tránh, bánh bao). The type of bánh that a westerner would call a cake (like a birthday cake), I believe is called bánh kem. So yes, literally a cream bánh, I suppose referring to the frosting.
I just found this. I hadn't thought of it, but it does seem that a bánh is basically anything made with any type of flour: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A1nh
