"Eu o spionez pe nepoata mea."

Translation: I spy on my niece.

[razvannikolas]

This sounds weird.

[ElRiXIV]

Not really in a place where spying on family and neighbors is still probably done (for the sake of old days Romania with secu and Germany with Stasi and Rusia with .....

[Sofi966016]

Well, bufnițele do not talk in Romania and we can find that kind of sentences in Duolingo, just fot the sake of practice and learn

[hippietrail]

It sounds illegal.

[Lixmage]

I thought so too. Couldn't understand the fascination with using such an uncommon word but ElRixIV's explanation makes a lot of sense.

[sarefo]

Yeah, maybe don't announce this on Duolingo! Regards, your superviser

[LongHenry]

does nepoata really mean both granddaughter and niece? arent they two separate ideas?

[Renardo_11]

I suppose all languages have words that can mean more than one thing. Japanese or Turkish people might say “does brother really mean older and younger brother? Aren't they two separate ideas?”

[razvannikolas]

Yes it does. I am Romanian and can confirm it.

[PaulMinden]

It also derives from the Latin word that gives us "nepotism".

[J.C.M.H.]

It is the same as in Italian: nipote means both 'granddaughter'/'grandson' and 'niece'/'nephew'.

[jffoster]

Many cultures merge lineal relatives (e.g., granddaughter) with collaterals (niece) and note that there is in each case here one linking relative between "EGO", i.e. the point of reference, "me" and the kinsman referenced.

[hippietrail]

Isn't the idea of father's father different to the idea of mother's father?
Isn't the idea of parent's sister different to the idea of wife of parent's mother?

Welcome to the unexpected world of Kinship systems and terminology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinship_terminology

[cryp90]

Does "mine" really mean both "belonging to me" and "excavation"? Aren't they two separate ideas? :P

[Sofi966016]

Well that depends on the way the concept is built. It seems that in Romanian nepoată is any daughter born from the women in one family except your own daughter who is referred to with a different word

[PhilipNikolayev]

OK, on the 10th iteration over this sentence, I must point out that when confronted with a sentence like "I spy on my niece/granddaughter" in English, the only thing that comes to mind is sexual perversion, incestuous voyeurism. "Spying" often means peeping. And there are lost of sentences with a spiona in this Romanian course, boys spying on girls, girls spying on boys, etc. Does it mean something else -- something socially acceptable -- in Romanian?

[DzinYit]

So in Romanian, nepot/nepoata can mean both nephew/niece and grandson/daughter. That's interesting, because in my language, Shanghainese, it also works like this, but only with maternal ones.

[J.C.M.H.]

For sake of curiosity, how would you say nephew/grandson in Shanghainese?

[MichaelDnc]

There are nieces, that are older than the uncle. As far as I know a relation is allowed, so not realy accepted in western world. In Turkey they have other rules....

[Corry467713]

I have been in Romania. This sound you also hear.
It depends on where you are. In Covasna they speak like the other woman