"Lei è un topo di biblioteca."
Translation:She is a bookworm.
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1931
I didn't know this phrase in italian and translated it literally to "she is a mouse of the library" and it corrected me to "she is a bookworm". How are we meant to know that's what it meant??
Duolingo teaches a lot of idioms. :)
You make a mistake once, but then you learn a word for a lifetime.
To me, it sounds like a good deal.
(Bookworm is an idiom, too. ;) )
- 1931
Thanks :) yeah it is an effective way of learning these things. I guess I just get frustrated when I get something wrong simply because I never learnt it in the first place. I'll try to take the "game" aspect of this a little less seriously :P
it's more hard to look at it this way when you lose your last heart on the last question of the lesson
You have not lost your last heart. You will lose many more. That's all part of the method. My advice don't sweat the hearts. I've been here over a year and have nearly finished my second tree and still lose hearts. Keep smiling.
- 1086
If you do it on a computer, there are no hearts. So now I try to do new lessons on the computer and practice lessons on the phone.
I don't have that feature anymore. I don't have any hearts. I don't know why. I earn lingots but it doesn't show how many I have unless I click on the Shop icon.
But then Duo's algorithms don't know what you really know. I think this idiom is pretty obvious, at least translating Italian to English
I like the literal translation of "a mouse in the library." She lives in the library as would a mouse. It is a more pleasant visual.
- 1314
Like a church mouse. Always there: quiet, hidden away, and practically a resident.
I prefer to bookworm.
- 2367
I think that Duo should give us a clue when we first meet an idiom, to warn us that a literal translation is wrong. Could they put the text into italics, or add an asterisk or something?
- 2902
@thesoph33; that is really no clue since Duolingo often uses incorrect or ungrammatical English or Americanisms that are nonsensical to the rest of the English-speaking world.
But then DL wouldn't have you losing so many hearts and trying to tempt you to buy the app. Not preparing us for idioms or strange/difficult translations is just a very poor teaching methodology.
- 1878
Yh library mouse is accepted. May have to use that in English now, much cuter than bookworm
I wish people would stop whining about not previously having been taught the thing they have just learnt. A bookworm is a library mouse, its charming, so smile. For goodness sake the real objective is to learn a language, not maintain your score.
I just typed it from the audio, which isn't always reliable. I had every word but "topo," and just couldn't believe that was it. However, I couldn't think of any word that sounded similar, so I put "topo" and was surprised to find it was correct. So, I've heard of "church mice," but never "library mice."
Yes, I love it. And it means "bookworm" of all things. These lessons do give us a broader view of the world.
- 484
It's a pity the audio sounds like "Lei mia" but I'm used to it now, and if an Italian speaker didn't say it I'd get confused! :-)
I'm not a native speaker, but I note that it does show up in Italian dictionaries. "Lettore accanito, assiduo frequentatore di biblioteche, erudito che passa il suo tempo in mezzo ai libri a studiare e divorare volumi, come un topo chiuso in una biblioteca a rosicchiare pagine." (An avid reader, a frequent visitor to libraries, a scholar who spends his time in the middle of books studying and devouring volumes, like a mouse locked in a library gnawing pages.)
I had previously learned that 'secchione' had the connotation of a bookworm (and also a geek or a nerd). Is there a difference between that and 'topo di biblioteca'?
What are the hearts you are losing? Are they in Duolingo Plus? Thanks.
Why is it not verme di biblioteca. Topo is mouse. That would be like me saying tranquillo come un verme. It is a sentence but it is not correct
I don't know but perhaps in Italian the don't use the bookworm term but library mouse instead. Therefore it will be counter productive no to know it's exact meaning. At the end of the day topo is mouse...
In this example we were asked to say it in Italian and then saw the translation and could see it is an idiom- personally I felt this was OK, different from being asked to translate with no clue that it was an idiom.
Better a mouse than a worm. Better a library mouse than a gym rat! Of course that is my "bookworm bias". Idioms are fun, if only I could remember them all.
- 1998
Anch'io... Great phrase. In German the phrase is Leseratte, reading rat...not as pretty...
I agree, I simply don't understand how you can get "she is a bookwork" from the Italian "lei e un topo di biblioteca"
