"Στην Αμερική μιλούν αγγλικά και ισπανικά."
Translation:In America, they speak English and Spanish.
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Portuguese as well. And many non-european languages (such as Guarany, which can be found in Duolingo)
This is from an article in the NY Times newspaper:
"While there is no precise count, some experts believe New York is home to as many as 800 languages..."< :D
Does this mean "(When) in America, they (that group of people) speak English and Spanish"? If the intended meaning is "In America, English and Spanish are spoken" shouldn't the phrase be instead Στην Αμερική ομιλούνται αγγλικά και ισπανικά. (using the passive verb)? I was not aware that Greek allowed the impersonal use of "they" in this manner like English does...
Yes, Greek uses third person plural forms of the verbs for impersonal statements (meaning something like "the people", Στην Αμερική, οι άνθρωποι μιλούν αγγλικά και ισπανικά). But "they"="αυτοί" is not used for impersonal statements. If you said "Στην Αμερική, αυτοί μιλούν αγγλικά και ισπανικά" you would talk about some particular "them"
Interesting. Σ'ευχαριστώ! When is ομιλούνται used? Does that mean more like "are being spoken"?
Yes, ομιλούνται is passive voice and means "are spoken" or "are being spoken". It's impersonal.
Hmm, so is ομιλούνται an acceptable alternative then? Can the sentence be Στην Αμερική ομιλούνται αγγλικά και ισπανικά. ? Is it just more formal to say it this way?
I don't think it should be accepted here, as it uses different syntax and grammar. But yes, they mean the same thing and the passive voice is (as always) more formal and refined.
in other question the same phrase was written μηλουν τα αγγλικα και ισπανικα. Is τα needed?
It refers to the entire continent, America. It is possible that someone uses to word "Αμερική" to refer to the USA, but that's an inadvertent,colloquial mistake. USA=ΗΠΑ in greek (Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες της Αμερικής)
On parle fraçais icitte avec.
As luck would have it I was speaking to a class today about the USA and told them that in America 300 languages were spoken in the home. So, of course, French is spoken in fact there is even a dialect from the time that parts of America were a French colony. Louisiana was purchased from the French in 1803. The language is called Louisiana Creole French and an effort is being made to prevent it from dying out. Have a listen here I think a native French speaker will be shocked.
