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- "La donna vive lungo l'acqua."
92 Comments
I think the most correct, non-literal translation would be "The woman lives by the water."
I'm Italian and we don't say: "lungo l'acqua". It's a literal translation and it's wrong. You can say this in a thousand other ways, but not so.
Actually this sentence formulated in this way is rather foolish. So very simply I would translate "la donna vive vicino all'acqua", because "lungo" suggests a direction and the word "acqua" is too general and doesn't include this feature. Also you need to specify what it means "vive" (does she have a house? does she sleep in a bed outdoors?). So specifying the context, perhaps you could say "la donna vive lungo la riva (del fiume/del lago)", "la donna vive lungo la costa", etc.
510
This is how I would think of it too in British English. Along the water implies a direction to me too. It seems American to me but I'm sure there are Americans for whom this is also odd.
- 1384
No, it is not correct in American English either. You can walk along the water, but you live by the water.
"Vicino all'acqua" is the simplest I can think, obviously without a context. But it's the form you normally use. It's "lungo" and "acqua" that don't accord each other, not even in colloquial speaking.
I wouldn't say so. It's not very appropriate in this case. "Accanto" can be a synonym of "vicino", but it implies a side. You could stay "accanto all'acqua", but for living doesn't make much sense.
"Along the water" makes sense in English, but isn't very common. In coastal cities I hear it, as in the waterfront of a river, lake, or ocean.
In my speech community (native English speaker from midwest USA) we would only say "along the river" or maybe "along the shore". We say "near", "by" or "on" the water if it is a lake or pond, (and often for rivers and the shore as well). "Near", "by" and "on" sound natural, and "along" sounds awkward, when followed by "water". But "along" sounds natural enough (but, as you say, rare—it's a class thing) followed by "river".
So it is a class marker and determined by the shape of the water body, either a river or "stretch" of shore. I wouldn't use "along the water" to teach English because "near", "by" and "on" are all more universal and acceptable alternatives. I can accept it as an awkward translation of an Italian phrase, but others here are claiming that it is not well formed Italian so Duo should probably avoid it in future revisions of the tree.
I have family who live along a river. Mostly people say "along", "by", or "on" the water in order to refer to people who live in a house (or other) next to a waterfront. Of course, there's a dozen other ways to say the same thing, so it's really just preference. I have to believe there's a better Italian version of saying this, however...
I pointed that out to Duo in my answer to the other sentence where this came up.... and this is a weird sentence anyway. It would seem more natural to say "lives ON the water," if you're talking about just one person. A village can be "along the water," but one person? Gives rise to strange images....
If we need to use "along" it would make more sense to say she lives along the coast.
Yes, "along the coast" sounds better than "along the water", but "along" itself still is strange for one person. Along means "in a line with the length" according to Wiktionary. And one single person cannot be "in a line". A village can be along the coast, because there are many buildings comprising a village. Those buildings can be in a sort of line with the length of the coast.
Well yeah, but if the woman lives in said village, the she lives by the water, doesn't she?
Literally, that is true. But it is very common where I live (Connecticut, USA) to say someone "lives on the shore (or beach or river)" meaning they have a house there. If someone lived on a boat I would say "They live on a boat".
Just wondering if anyone tried "alongside," and if so was it accepted? I wasn't brave enough to risk losing a heart.
Can someone explain about hearts? What are they for, how do you get them, and how do you lose them?
I can't tell how old this question is, so you may know the answer or no longer care, but duo used to start you off with three hearts in each section. With every mistake you would lose one. Once you lost all three, you would have to start the section again.
Not exactly. We use "mare" if we’re talking about "sea", which is what it means.
Lungo means "long" or "along"? Earlier they taught it as long, and now along!!
- 926
Still giberish whichever you use. She lives alongside the river/lake or by the water is what we would say in English English.
"Along the water..." is commom english (in the midwest and south at least). I can't believe so many people find this awkward. I'm unsure if the Italian translation is correct.
Please, use this challenge only once or twice, then shuck it. No English speaker would ever say this. Unless she is homeless, a woman would live "by" or "near" the water.
- 926
Along the water is hardly English. Alongside possibly, but by or near make far more sense in English.
I would think this translates more accurately into English as "alongside the water".
I have said it before but the English translation is NOT an English sentence. It doesn't help to learn Italian if DL use incorrect English.
- 858
I believe " a lungo " can mean 'alongside' so assume the 'a' is missing in the italian here. And the translation should say alongside the water
Along the shore may be a better translation, perhaps? Or "by" the water if you must use "water".
- 197
Crazy not to accept lady for donna .We use lady all the time in England in preference to woman as a polite way of addressing or speaking about an adult female.
- 353
What a lot of heat about not a lot! In the module I'm doing, this exercise was immediately preceded by 'Il panino è lungo'. DL is clearly showing us different uses of lungo, as an adjective and as a preposition. Maybe if I go along a bit further, I'll also be introduced to lungo as a noun.
- 157
In English, we would say ‘lives by the water’. Some of these translations are no good in English or Italian judging by the comments below
Judging by comments in this thread by silen03, it sounds like you might be better off using all' instead of lungo, because lungo indicates direction rather than placement. I don't see much other commentary about it so I am open to what others can add.
I thought lungo meant long and not along which has a totally different meaning
- 1923
Many words in any language have two or more different meanings.
- (preposition) lungo = along
- (adjective) lungo = long
- (noun) lungo = length
The sentence doesn't match the translation, very basic words who can be misinterpreted
