71 Comments
64
Me, too! I worked IN a school for thirty-five years. In and at are both acceptable without much distinction. August 3, 2018
Yes.. What is wrong with 'we work in a school'? In English this sounds better than 'at a school'.
i also used "in" rather and "at" and reported it. It's correct and should be accepted.
- 1432
I actually do work "in" a school, the only time I would use "at" would be in a setting where someone wanted to know specifically which school; as in "I work at Tyler Elementary." We would also "in" for content area or grade. "I work in the Music Department" or I work in 4th grade,
The point is that in SPANISH you work "at a school." In English, "in a school" may be preferable, but that's not the way Spanish-speaking people phrase it.
- 1432
The point I was trying to make was that in English we do use both, and if Duo is asking us to translate from Spanish into English, then both in and at should be accepted.
I miss the old days where Duo would list the various acceptable answers, as there is often more than one way, or more than one word order that works.
the point is that we here are required to translate Spanish to English , therefor in a school must work just as well
- 412
Yes, but translations that are literal are of very little use. They need to be both translations and transformations into the new languge
Even if we were translating from English to Spanish, en can mean the same thing as at, in, or on depending on the context.
- 199
I do not think that this explanation makes sense because obviously it is the same word in Spanish either way. Spanish usage cannot possibly dictate how thew phrase is translated into English any more than English can dictate the proper Spanish translation.
I wish people wouldn't downvote you Linda, but I am a bit confused here. How should the translation be said in English, in your opinion? Of course we are here to learn Spanish, but as the majority of the course involves translation into English, it needs to make sense in this language too.
- 848
My Chilean friends tell me that "en" is translated more commonly as "in" in this context.
- 64
The exercise is about translating the idea in Spanish to a grammatically correct sentence in English. "In a school" and "at a school" both fit that bill.
- 424
Two sentences later I had "Ellos quieren trabajar en una universidad". I translated it to "They want to work in a university" and it was marked correct. So it would seem "in a school" would be correct also.
"in" usually specifies a place as opposed to admin. Many teachers use IN. "at" is used, but I think the other is used more
Agreed - "in a school" is more natural in English in most cases. Perhaps "at a school" if one's job isn't normally done there. For example, if I repair computers, and today "I am working at a school" it would imply that's not where I really work, or that my job isn't tied to the school normally.
- 335
Tell me why is the correct pronunciation of "en una" not sound like this in the audio. I always get it wrong the first time. I hear and translate 'in school" and not " in a school".
The lady does, yes. But it should be pronounced "oonah" as normal. See my comment above.
I think in should be accepted, at the school in this instance could mean outside, which is obviously different than in- well.
AT is mostly used when students are talking and they drop 'a' or 'the'. We work at school today.
You wouldn't always say that though. If you are telling someone about where you work you say "in a school". If you are talking to someone who already knows what you do, then you would say, "we are working at school tomorrow" or something similar. But you don't say "we are working in school" in English. You need the article. Yes, the latter is grammatically correct, and I haven't explained it very well, but hopefully you get what I am saying.
Are you saying that's how English-speaking people phrase it? I disagree.
- 919
One could be doing short-term contract work in a school. Reported 1 July 2018.
Does anyone else hear "en la escuela" rather than "en una escuela"? Even in the slowed version I hear "en la escuela"?
Yes I can see what you mean. It could be either. By the way, nice to have a comment on this page that isn't about the "in school" debate.
It's the female voice's pronunciation. Unfortunately, you can hear it spoken like this all over the course. Just take it that she is saying "una" (because she is).
- 1152
"at" is correct usage - see https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/at-on-and-in-place
"at'' is used for school/college/university just think of ''at university''
I work IN an office AT a school.
More thumbs up for in a school. Sometimes DL can be childish about marking us wrong. They should know this stuff!!!
- 848
This is an "americanism" again. "In" is the proper english. Bit like being "on" a team rather than the proper english of being "in" a team.
- 412
Oh my. " Proper English" versus "Americanism. As an American who teaches English I really cannot agree with that distinction.
