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- "בשבועות בדרך כלל אוכלים מוצר…
"בשבועות בדרך כלל אוכלים מוצרי חלב."
Translation:On Shavuot one usually eats dairy products.
16 Comments
What's wrong with "On Shavuot dairy products are usually eaten"? Isn't it acceptable to translate the impersonal construction with a passive?
It should be, but for understandable reasons Duolingo inclines toward very literal translations. I reckon your sentence would be a better translation in most contexts.
2140
I once heard an explanation saying that Jews generally didn’t consume dairy throughout the year, or consumed it far less, because meat took priority and they wouldn’t mix the two. (I live in Israel but I don’t know, I’ve never been an Orthodox Jew.)
I don't know about way back then, but nowadays it's definitely not true. I personally am דתי, and although I do wait six hours after eating meat before I consume milk, I consume dairy products almost every day, as do nearly all of my religious family, friends and community. Where did you hear that from?
By the way, you can read several of the real reasons for eating dairy on Shavuot here.
This past year, I was in a Yeshiva for Israelis in Israel. We had milk, cottage cheese and butter every morning for breakfast there
- 670
I was also in a couple of yeshivot in Israel and mostly all the lunches were with meat or fish and all the dinners dairy or parve.
What you say is correct but only regarding shabbat and holidays other than shavuot
- 975
The verb is in the plural so I tried "we eat'. They want " one eats" which is singular.
I put generally which also works for בדרך כלל and it said it was wrong. Kind of annoyed it was so מדויק about the wording.
"Generally" and "Usually" are not the same. I would translate "generally" as "באופן כללי". I can't think of a context in wich בדרך כלל means "generally".
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If you look up the word "generally" in the American Heritage Dictionary, one of the definitions is "usually." I think it's acceptable as a translation of בדרך כלל.
