"Η νονά μου είναι παιδί."
Translation:My godmother is a child.
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2475
Hopefully, my godmother is a little older than me, right?-) NOTE: "?-)" means that while my question is real it is also meant to be taken very lightly (hence the smiley after "?").... If you take any of these courses too seriously, you are bound to miss all the good things. I suggest, relax and enjoy owling!-) If we also learn a little more about different cultures, that's a bonus, right? Anyway, KUDOS to all the volunteers who put the trees together, the Duolingo team for making it happen, and to Luis for trying to keep it free!
- 2484
Yeah, I would not think a child would be canonically acceptable as a godmother. She would at least have to be confirmed.
Well, the majority religion of Greece is Orthodox Christianity, since ancient times. And in Orthodox tradition one must be an adult to become a godfather or godmother. So the sentence in this exercise is (perhaps) a fabrication, or comes from outside Orthodoxy, and cannot be too typically Greek!
It is typical nowadays. My godmother is just five years older than me, I was baptized Orthodox Christian by an Orthodox Christian priest within the official Orthodox Greek Church. The sentence above is something I used to say. These times, for better or worse, those rituals have lost their original meaning and are just traditions.
I came into the Greek Orthodox Church the same way you did, for what that's worth. It seems I'm considerably older. May you grow in the faith as you too grow older.
I've heard of this also. I think the purpose is sort of a family bonding thing. Almost like a political marriage, showing your closeness between families
I became a godmother when i was 15. Ok, not a child, but still young. It is possible;)
- 1213
Absolute non sense seen that a godmother/godfather's job is to replace the parents in case of their death.
- 2484
I agree, though I guess it brings up the question of what a παιδί refers to. Teenage godparents, for instance, are not unheard of.
- 1213
It is terrible when traditions loose their meaning and become nonsensical. But probably you are right. :D
It is not terrible, it's just evolution. As conditions of the society change, what may have once been practical becomes just a ritual to show one's cultural identity. It is normal and it was always like this since the dawn of civilization.
- 179
Godparents are not meant to replace parents in case of the latter's death; they play the role of spiritual parents. They are the sponsors of the child/catechumen, who vouch for them and promise to instruct them in the Faith, especially by example.
In the old days, ok, decades ago, godparents would become the parents if the real parents died. This is still true in the middle east. Greek community in Alexandria.
- 227
Nowadays in most European countries the status of godparents is not recognised by the law so in case of the parents death, the children rarely go to live with the godparents (which is good otherwise siblings would be separated since they rarely have the same godparents)
I really think this discussion is a bit OTT. Without knowing the context many of the sentences used could be bizarre. An equivalent sentence could be "My brother is an animal" it doesn't imply he' s got four legs.
- 482
Or the one in the German tree "Help, the horse is eating the holy potato". It's a language learning exercise, for goodness' sake. Lexically it makes sense, and introduces a new word ... and we'll probably all remember it a little bit better because of the unusual context.
- 2475
Agreed. One could easily put it in the proper context, as in: My godmother is a child of God too. But you have to admit that at face value it is a "funny" sentence while the connotation of your example is "easy" to read between the lines! Great course all around!
Maybe it means that his/her godmother is childish or acts like a child. You shouldn't take everything so literal
The "slow" version of the audio says "I-ta" instead of "I" (that is, it's saying how to pronounce the letter itself, not how it's used when speaking)
THis sentence utterly confused me. I thought it is another Greek tradition that I am not aware of. lol Whilst I am very tolerant of most sentences that don't make perfect sense on Duolingo, this one got on my nerves and I would recommend this sentence to be modified or deleted.
See my comments above. I would recommend a change also, removing the reference to child, for use of that word is an interpretation out of context.
So, I've been mispronouncing this my whole life. I thought it was "νουνά". Νονά makes sense.
I know plenty of Greek-Americans (originating from Lesvos) who spell it that way. I think it's a colloquialism