"Como faço uma limonada?"
Translation:How do I make a lemonade?
16 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
We forget that this not about learning English, it's about learning how the Portuguese and Brazilians do it. If you don't get that in your head then you will find it hard to take in the language. For all you folks saying "well in English"....
People aren't complaining about the Portuguese not matching the English, they're complaining because they are asked to give the English translation and the one that would naturally be used wasn't accepted.
I completely agree. We cannot technically use the article as liquids are uncountable.
How do I make a whiskey sour? is a commonly used English sentence.
Like the DL example it is a liquid, yet most US speakers would find it acceptable.
I think that we, who are trying to learn Portuguese, would like to be corrected more on the Portuguese language and less on the English sentences.
Unfortunately, each translated sentence will have a literal translation and a "prefered" usage. Think of what would happen when the above English is presented and one would have to remember to change the YOU to EU and the associated verbs.
Idealy DL would look a blind eye to minor errors to English when translating from Portuguese.,
And then somehow present the best English to translate to Portuguese but insist on the best Portuguese usage (with correct Portuguese grammar!) when translating back.
As my Galician grandfather would say GRRRRRRR!
Why is "How do you make a lemonade?" incorrect? It is the idiomatic translation to English
Actually, faço is the conjugation for "to make" for the 1st person. Maybe the person is asking for the steps on how to make lemonade. "How do you make lemonade" would be "como se faz (uma) limonada?" / "como você faz limonada?"
Although in English it might be more common to phrase the question as"How do you make lemonade", asking someone else "how do i make lemonade" is just as correct. There are also other contexts where asking "How do I make lemonade" is perfectly acceptable (e.g., when asking yourself a rhetorical question to jog your memory). As such, I don't see how this sentence should have "how do you make lemonade" as an acceptable translation. I don't think this is the idiomatic translation.
I feel "how do you make lemonade" should be a correct answer since "a lemonade" is not something that would be said in the English language unless you were ordering one lemonade
Can I report it without coming across the sentence in training? Or do I need to wait until it shows up again?
There's a slight possibility of finding that again, then you report. I dunno if the support button down the page may be used for that (maybe if you specify the problem....)
You could say "how do i make a beer shandy? " or "how do I make a rum and coke? " so technically you could ask how to make a lemonade (one drink). You're just not likely to ever ask that, since the answer would be the blindingly obvious: "Open the bottle. Pour liquid into desired glass. Serve. Must I draw a picture for you?"
if you insist on formal usage all the time, i doubt that you'd really be getting an accurate portrayal of english or any other language. also, take into account that language changes over time. that also goes for anyone who gets bothered by progressive stative verbs in english. language is cultural, and always linked to a particular time and environment, not a grammar handbook. making a note between formal and informal usage will suffice. it does language learners a great disservice to cut off informal usage because it clashes with your aesthetics.