"يا كَري هَل زَوْجَتِك أُسْتاذة؟"
Translation:Carrie, is your wife a professor?
67 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Not sure you are aware of Arabic-speaking communities in countries like the US
Still, why are we not learning the Arab word for lesbian? You would likely hear that before hearing the word "زَوْجَتِك".
Learning a language isn't just about learning vocabulary. It's about learning patterns of grammar (including grammatical gender). In order to pick up these patterns, we need to be exposed to a variety of grammatically correct sentences, including some that buck the trend of what you expect.
I kinda get engrossed in the life and adventures of this lesbian couple. Waiting for them to get a new door for their pretty house and tame their hunger with some cold regular chicken. Might we see them drowning some of their tiredness in wine?
Well, it is. Try reading some of the discussion around this post, one of the more "exciting" exchanges on the forums.
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Mind Blowing fact: There are people that exist and are gay
I know right? Absolutely Shocking
Astagfirullah ??? any lesbianism in your country??? Carrie is woman has wife, isnt it???? Even as its just learn language !!!!!!
Good news from Switzerland: as of yesterday, the majority of voters and all the cantons said "yes" to marriage for all. So from now on, if I meet a Judy or a Carrie here, I can ask her if Carrie or Judy is her spouse.
My only issue is if you are going to introduce a lesbian couple, can you make the names more obviously female such as Susie or Lucy etc? I got this wrong a couple of times because I wasnt sure if it was a male Carrie or Cary as in Cary Grant. Since the spelling of the names differ greatly, I couldnt just use the common spelling to tell. Since the sex of the individual is required in many of these lessons, it would be good to know for sure what name that is. I have enough problems trying to figuere out all the differant names I have never heard before. Thanks for looking into this.
Not being homophobic or anything, but if ur gonna used lgbtq+ terms then please use them on other languages. Arabic is a language that mainly Muslims speak and obviously Arabic originates from Arab speaking countries and in Islam and some Arab countries its actually considered a sin/crime to be gay or what not. When mentioning stuff like this on an Arab course where the majority of people learning are Muslim its quite offensive and may make some people feel disgusted or put off. This is no hate towards the lgbtq+ or anybody who supports it, I respect them but please Duolingo, be careful about some things you say on different language courses as it can be really disrespectful to some cultures and beliefs.
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But technically, we can't really say that there was any lgbt term here. I really think "your wife" (even with the feminine possessive) was only made for the sake of learning grammar. I don't think duolingo really cares about the meaning of the sentence they're using ("the elephant is flying", "the ant reads the newspaper" etc.).
Hmmm, somehow I doubt that the inclusion of these sentences was random. Linguistically motivated, yes, but the authors knew what they were writing.
You make many assumptions, and your post is somewhat offensive.
how on earth is that offensive? i literally said it in the NICEST way possible and its true, most people on her who are learning arabic ARE muslim or arab from what ive seen
Yes, you very nicely told non-heteros that they do not have their place here. Also, I don't see the relevance of Islam. In most if not all religions, the basic position is that homosexuality, sex outside marriage, and much else is forbidden. And yes, I would agree with you, articulating arguments for gay marriage would probably be offensive to some. Fortunately for all of us, Duolingo does not do that. It simply provides a linguistic framework in which we can explore various options. Gay marriage exists (not in my country, at least not yet, but in many others, it does). So why be offended if it is referred to? If Duolingo were to write "Carrie is eating a ham sandwich" in Arabic or in Hebrew, would that be offensive? I mean, frankly, there are some things that I would not be happy with in real life, in these Duolingo language lessons. They don't square with my religious belief. But I don't harp on about it or tell Duolingo to stop. I understand that it is a normal part of experience of learning. One last thing. You mention about most people "from what you have seen". If you look at this discussion, you see that there are little up or down arrows, and you might notice that the homophobic comments are the ones that are the most "down". So, enjoy learning, and I look forward to you helping us argue that human rights are universal.
Well at least Alizah deserves points for saying it politely (and i mean i really appreciate it in this discussion) even though we can debate about the offensive vibes. But what interests me most is the statement about mostly muslims learning this course. I for example am not, but I am really curious how many muslims/nonmuslims are there (anyway if its mostly muslims than obviously quite progressive ones, as Captain stated)
oh boy a lesson mentioning gay people i'm sure the comments are going to be perfectly civil
Is Carrie a woman or a man? Why is there a question mark in the Arabic version?
Carrie is a woman. There is a question mark because someone is asking her a question about her wife.
Also the pronounciation and grammar of the زَوْجَتِك is wrong in this Duolingo course.
Yeah you do need a comma for this sentence. It would be grammatically incorrect without a comma.
I was going to say 'here before the haram police' but they're already here.
Is it necessary to include same sex marriage in learning Arab in this App? Is it really necessary to come up with these ideologies? I hope the next levels do not have this.
Yeah. (tamaman ya DavidAcost476578) We are learning Arabic, hence implicitly the culture of Arab countries. Its Rude to comment on their culture.
Same sex relations are not an ideology, it's about people finding love and acceptance in each other regardless their gender.
They do this often with learning languages. They create weird associations to remember better like Pink flying elephant. You will probably never forget the expression now
Except that this not weird. An example of weird would be: انا قطة وانا زميلة قطتك في المكتب Not something I would use daily, even in Arabic-speaking countries, but hey, it's all fun and part of learning.
Missing "," after "Carrie" No-one notice this It's confusing for non native English speaker.
I feel boring of those lesbian themes everywhere. Why I have not right to be just a me? Why even I must hear about all relationships between people? Leave me alone!
We live in a world full of happy and not that happy couples... But I, as a longterm single, agree with your feeling.
Can you explain your thinking? The ة is already there, in the sense that, by adding the suffix ك, it is replaced by a ت.
Carrie is your wife a professor? ( the answer doesnt make any sense ) loosing heart for nothing . Damn
Don't let your heart loose! The answer does make perfect sense. What is it that confuses you?
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Why can't I translate this as "Carrie, is your wife a ma'am?" since the word استاذة also means ma'am?
Actually, to give you a more full answer, and as concerns the Arabic, the word أستاذة is a polite form to say "Madam", but it doesn't actually mean "Madam". So, it can be used as a polite way of addressing a lady, but its real meaning is "professor". Therefore, it doesn't work to say it the way you ask. The closest would be, in English, to say "Your wife is a woman", or زوجتك امرأة in Arabic.
Yeah I know, celibacy is so much more fun. But some people just fall in love, and then they get married. Life is like that!
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There is a problem here with the English name Carrie- a woman and Kerry a man which would be the same sounds in Arabic, I guess. Hence I mourn the lost heart!
I think you're right that both "Carrie" and "Kerry" would have the same Arabic transliteration. However, there is no problem here inasmuch as the Arabic possessive has a gender which in this case makes it clear that we are referring to a woman.