"一会儿在食堂见！"
Translation:See you later in the cafeteria!
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Unless I misunderstand what a 食堂 is, I think "dining hall" or "cafeteria" would be better here, at least as the default best translation, if Duo wants to be consistent in giving priority to US English.
Edit: The English has been changed since I first posted this comment.
Cafeteria (US), canteen (British), or mensa (European) are all appropriate here.
I'd have to take your word on "mensa". I don't see any dictionary support for it in English. Is it from Italian?
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I know they use it in German universities. It's from the Latin mensa, mensae meaning table. I've never heard it used in English in that context.
British is European. We do not say "Mensa" in English except for the high-IQ society. Don't be silly.
"See you at the canteen" should be acceptable. "Later" is already implied
- 2940
I think both "at the canteen" and "in the canteen" would be accepted. If the speaker regards the canteen as a spot, he/she would say "at the canteen" (not the library, not the entrance, but the canteen) while as a place with certain extent, "in the canteen" (anywhere inside the canteen). Posted on Nov. 19, 2017.
For American English, a canteen is a container for water... So this a weird. And why is "See you at the canteen. " acceptable? Later can be ommited in English
- 1622
In English, "later" and "in a while" ( 一会儿 ) have different usages when it comes to lengths of time. "In a while" or "in a little while" is typically used for short amounts of time (minutes or under 1-2 hours) while "later" is used for longer spans of time (hours). We wouldn't say "later" if we meant 10 minutes or "in a little while" if we meant 12 hours.
Is "later" a good translation of 一会儿 or should it be "in a while" ?
Usually "in a while" is a better translation of "一会儿".
However, it's not absolute, and here it seems that the speaker and listener would understand exactly when they would see each other again "in the cafeteria", so to my mind it wouldn't be crucial to be fastidious with word choice as between "later" and "in a while" (which have overlapping meanings in any event), as the context would be enough to make it clear.
I'm comfortable with my sense of this based on the context and my previous immersion experience, but of course I defer to native speakers. Perhaps one will comment here, but for now here are some Chinese native speakers discussing "一会儿" elsewhere on the internet:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9lU8tGe4es
- https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-%E4%B8%80%E4%B8%8B-y%C3%ADxi%C3%A0-and-%E4%B8%80%E4%BC%9A%E5%84%BF-y%C3%ADhu%C3%ACr
A couple of them that say 一会儿 could be hours (and one even says days).
In any event, we can't assume or expect that English expressions and their usage have their exact counterparts in Chinese expressions and theirs.
- 1622
Language is about communication. If you don't understand the proper meaning or use of a word, then it has the potential to cause confusion and conflict. "I'll see you later" and "I'll see you in a moment" are not interchangeable when two people are planning to meet each other.
过一会儿 (guò yī huì r) means "later" or "after a while."
A couple of them that say 一会儿 could be hours (and one even says days).
This is where you have failed to understand context. In terms of a day with 24 hours, 一会儿 can be interpreted as 2 hours or less. In terms of a month with 30 days or a year with 365 days, 一会儿 can be interpreted as days.
一会儿 means "a little" of the length of time being discussed.
下月我一会儿见 - I will see you later (early) next month.
The use of 一会儿 would imply the beginning of the next month, even if the span of time is 20 days away. A school day is usually around 6-8 hours (excluding universities or boarding schools) so using "later" in English is not a good translation of 一会儿 in this context.
So we're British now... Canteen is the only acceptable answer? really? (hand me my angry fire face emoticon)
Payback for the dozens of sentences that do not allow standard English and require the use of Americanisms.
See you in the canteen should be accepted, since later is obviously implied--the sentence cannot be referencing past or present.
Perhaps it is grammatically correct, but it does sound weird to me.
The hint gives "meet" as a valid translation for 见 but then doesn't accept "Meet you later in the canteen."
Just be aware that 见面 is more clearly "meet" (though the appropriate translation for both will be contextual).
