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- Topic: Portuguese >
- "Como faço uma limonada?"
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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!
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.
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?"