"Él es mesero y actor."
Translation:He is a waiter and an actor.
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He's not a real waiter, being a waiter and actor, sans article. He is just acting like a waiter. Whether he puts on a fine performance and acts like a good waiter or not, I don't know. But he is definitely not actually a good waiter or he wouldn't have to act like one. His main problem is his lack of an article. If he only had an article he could then be a waiter and an actor, both.
Leaving out the "an" changes the meaning. "He is a waiter and actor" implies that he has one job which entails both waiting and acting (maybe a cabaret show?) Whereas "He is a waiter and an actor", means he has two separate jobs/careers. I.e. Like most actors, he is not getting enough work, so he waits tables to supplement his acting income.
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I think they should. That's how I learn. If I get things right, even though I'm wrong, I won't pay as much attention to the correction.
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This is another example of Duo choosing one particular (and for me previously unheard) word for something. I previously learned that "waiter" is "mesanero" or "camarero". I think that a good part of the Spanish speaking world does not use "mesero", so we should at least be presented with alternatives.
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I feel a little lost on this one. In Venezuela, I think my wife's family used mesonero. However I looked it up and found innkeeper, host, and landlord. In a small establishment a host or innkeeper could also be waiting tables. So I am not sure where we stand on this. Anyhow, at 2AM I don't think I will wake my wife to check with her. Where was your exposure to the word?
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Mesero was correct, mesonero was a typo. Mesero is correct everywhere in Latin America.
Spanish does not use the article when simply stating professions / occupations. The exception is when you are modifying it with an adjective. Consider the following...
"Él es ingeniero" = "He is an engineer"
"Él es un buen ingeniero" = "He is a good engineer"
You can find more on when articles are not needed in Spanish here...
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/omitting-articles-in-spanish.html
Are spanish articles needed when describing jobs? In previous examples, saying, "él es un sacerdote" resulted in incorrect translations. In this lesson, I have already seen two forms of this sentence: one with articles saying, "él es un mesero y un actor," and one this one that does not possess any articles.
I think that the DL Spanish course is very Mexican Spanish orientated. My spanish is really good as I've spent lots of time in Spain. I thought I'd look at the DL Spanish course for practice and to learn some obscure words. But the pronunciation is really strange to me, plus some words - maybe it's Mexican Spanush rather than mainland/Iberian Spanish? I think I might stop my DL Spanish and just watch Spanish TV instead
= A and AN in english...... hijo y hija ( wrong ) , hijo E hija ; padre Y hijo (wrong ) padre E hijo ; un hombre sabio Y ilustrado (wrong) un hombre sabio E ilustrado , un hombre correcto Y interesante (wrong) un hombre correcto E interesante , etc.------ do you want to practice the spanish language?...... i want to practice the english . see you soon.