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- "她用左手写字。"
"她用左手写字。"
Translation:She writes with her left hand.
51 Comments
106
Agree - but it's not just a question of better English. "She uses left hand to write" is incorrect English.
Absolutely!!!! It has been months since I pointed this out. No response whatsoever and no correction whatsoever..
It's frustrating to have to learn not only Chinese but also the idiosyncrasies of their Chinglish too.
the one thing that's worse than chinese people telling you how to speak chinese is chinese people telling you how to speak english
- 1216
I put "She uses her left hand to write." Duo suggested another translation is "She uses left hand to write." For non-native English speakers I want to point out that Duo's current preferred answer is absolutely incorrect, not a better answer.
There is not a 'her' in the word bank. It's required to make a proper English sentence.
Or I would say: She writes with her left hand.
- 927
When I did this one, it was a type in answer. No word try to choose from. Funny how they do that!
"She uses left hand to write"
And they speak Chinglish very well, but English very badly.
from wikipedia :
Specifying Chinglish to mean "Chinese words literally translated into English", an experiment in linguistic clarity found that mathematical terms are more readily understandable in Chinglish than English.[37] English words for mathematics typically have Greek and Latin roots, while corresponding Chinese words are usually translations of neologisms from Western languages; thus quadrilateral (from Latin quadri- "four" and latus "sided") is generally less informative than Chinese sibianxing 四边形 (literally, "four-side-shape"). For example, compare the semantic clarity of English axiom, Chinese gongli 公理, and Chinglish (literal translation) "universal-principle"; median, zhongshu 中数, and "centre-number"; or trapezoid, tixing 梯形, and "ladder-figure"
English vocabulary sure is a mess when compared to other languages because loan words have displaced so many words with self-evident meanings.
That's just not how it's said in English. 'The' implies that the object being referenced (left hand) has been previously mentioned or will be further described in the sentence. It isn't in that sentence.
Or to further this, it would be used if "the hand" was something more significant. Everyone has a hand, it's not special. You have to specify what hand... that hand, this hand, her hand. The only time you wouldn't need to specify would be if it was something significant.. like THE HAND OF GOD, or something like that.
Probably a more "normal" usage to demonstrate this: she uses HER computer. She uses THE internet.
As you eluded to, the only way around this is to have sufficient context that adds significance to the particular object you're describing. Only then would you say she uses THE computer.
There is nothing "wrong" about your sentence. It simply is not as strong as it could be.
There really needs to be an option to report errors when we answer "correctly"...
even if you consider this a "Wright answer" this English ie Wrong: she uses left hand to write" is wrong! You guys really have to review your English if you want your Chinese course to be credible! We already know that you don't care about our comments but you really have to do something about this! There are plenty of similar issues throughout this course that to this day are not dealt with... Takes months to solve, as it seems....
"She uses her left hand to write," but there's nowhere to report the error.
I use right thumb to post backhanded comment from hand-device. What fun free app! Cheaper than college.
Holy poop! This whole lesson is the most poorly written in the entire Duolingo Chinese course. 9/23/2018
"She uses left hand to write." Awkward. It should be, "She uses HER left hand to write" or, better, "She writes with her left hand." English often uses "with" in an instrumental sense.
"She uses her left hand to write" or "She writes with her left hand." Definitely NOT "She uses left hand to write."
- 862
This lesson is getting worse. Now when you enter the correct chinglish, you are still told it is wrong.
写 means write. 字 Means characters. Literally together it means write characters, specifically chinese ones. And yes the "characters" can be assumed in in most translations, but "write characters" is not wrong. So gimme the green befo i get angry!
"she writes left-handed " is also wrong."she uses her left hand to write" is not wrong but i agree that it does t sound elegant.
"she writes left-handed" is wrong."she uses her left hand to write" is not wrong but it doesnt sound like elegant colloqial english"
