"O lote de suco pode chegar em dezembro."

Translation: The juice lot can arrive in December.

[Pantodynamos]

What is ,,THE lot of juice"? I've never heard of that, I always use ,,A lot of ...". Can anyone explain, please, what's the difference?

[erudis]

It's lot as in batch, load, a set of objects. Although I'm not sure of it's usage because I'm not a native speaker, it doesn't seem wrong to me. Maybe it's just not a common word (with that meaning).

[jgritty]

It's not common, unless you work in shipping or warehousing.

[gringo_polones]

How about "O lote de .." in portuguese ? Is it common ?

[Danmoller]

Erudis and jgritty are absolutely right. That's the usage of "o lote".

(There is another, in another context, "o lote de terra", which is a land with it's limits well defined, like a plot of land)

[BobKaucher]

Same in English. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_lot

[Danmoller]

@BobKaucher - Exactly.

[Torcoclown]

Or in a retail store.

[BobKaucher]

Everyone is seriously over-thinking this sentence. The term "lot" in English has a meaning within the shipping industry and clearly applies to this sentence. Juice manufacturers would not ship their products to large grocery stores by the can. They are going to do it in larger groups. These large groups are called "lots". Here are some examples from the shipping industry. Defining the term shipment. "Shipment: The tender of one lot of cargo at one time from one shipper to one consignee on one bill of lading." Defining the term Freight Forwarder. "Freight Forwarder: A freight forwarder combines less-than-truckload (LTL) or less-than-carload (LCL) shipments into carload or truckload lots. Freight forwarders are designated as common carriers. They also issue bills of lading and accept responsibility for cargo. The term may also refer to the company that fills railroad trains with trailers." Here the term is used in the WikiPedia article defining Cross-Docking (third bullet): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-docking#Typical_applications

Furthermore since we can assume we are discussing shipping we know that time-frames are important. The use of can in the present tense is because we want to know if we purchase our shipment now (present tense) is the shipment able (can) to arrive in December? "Yes. The shipment can arrive in December."

[devonreed]

I'm just as confused about "the lot" as I am by "can arrive".

[margaritaguese]

right can arrive here is super awkward. What do they mean - will arrive? could arrive?but can? errr no. lol

[BobKaucher]

No, it is simply can. Store Owner: "Can I get my shipment of juice in December? January is too late." Shipping Supplier: "Yes. The lot can be there in December."

[AlexTheTutor]

I think "supply" is a more natural and general translation of "lote" in English.

[SeaOfSand]

Yes, or batch.

[owenhenkel]

I think 'shipment' or 'supply' would be the best non-technical translation (both are accepted by duolingo). I think the tricky part here is that many words have several "layers" of translations... what might be a fine direct translation of a single word (lote = lot) can be a little misleading when this word is placed in a different context.

Think of "saco" : it most direct translation is bag, but it can also be used to mean filter (coffee filter), boring, ball sack, and in some places pockets.

This is can obviously be frustrating, but I like to think about it as part of the fun of translation... if everything was one -to-one literal translation languages would lose so much of their distinct personality.

[BobKaucher]

I agree. I have also learned that people often have a much lower understanding of their own native language and its variety than they think they do (and I mean this to include myself). I for one have been amazed at the number of new expressions and vocabulary in English that I have discovered since I have started learning other languages because in the past I simply might never have noticed them.

[Libor]

it is lot it's a lot ...like life

[carosoza]

"Lote" can be translated as a "bunch"....weird sentence anyways. But I have stopped trying to make sense of all. Good luck!

[Lingodingle]

Could one use "shipment" or "allotment" in this instance for "lot" ? The expediter may be saying, "it can arrive in December (if you so desire).

[BobKaucher]

You will see this a lot of time in grocery stores when there is a recall it is done per lot. See definition 5 here: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lot

[a.vickers]

And at auction, items are sold by the lot, which could be a single item or two or more in a collection. It's still an odd word to apply to juice or beer, though

[Duomail]

"The lot of juice may arrive in December" ?
"The juice lot may arrive in December" ?