"Tu peux partir en expédition au Canada si tu veux."

Translation:You can go on an expedition to Canada if you want.

July 11, 2020

43 Comments
This discussion is locked.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/IlarioBono

Go away as translation of "partir" in this sentence looks like totally out of context


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/doublelingot

Partir en vacances. Go on vacation. Partir en expédition. Go on expedition.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Roland655103

Agreed. "Leave on expedition" is what one would say in English and is a literal translation.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/--Roody--

Leave is accepted, if the rest is correct.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Ripcurlgirl

I wrote "You can leave on expedition to Canada if you want" and it was rejected. Reported 14 Mar.

EDIT: Apparently, duo also requires "an" - I believe this is incorrect.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/aussie3931

Yes. I agree with you on both counts. I just had a 'type what you hear' exercise, so couldn't report, but when I saw the English translation I was not disappointed (if you get my drift :-))


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Jennifer_Colburn

I'm British and would never leave out the word "on". I would say "go on", "leave on" or "set out on" an expedition but leave out the word "away".


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/bluebec

What does "expedition" here mean literally? Does it mean like a hiking and camping trip? Is it travelling to small and out of the way places? I don't understand the use of this word because in Australia we don't use the word generally to describe types of travelling to other places


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Zarainia

Yeah, it sounds a little dramatic to me, like they're going to the south pole.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Jimmy919479

same, in Virginia we would never say this


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Ripcurlgirl

Have you been to Canada? I'm Australian and I have - a great deal of its north is wild and desolate, just like Australia's interior but for an opposite reason (cold vs hot etc). I would definitely refer to travel to those parts as an expedition. Plus the Cambridge dictionary defines an expedition as "an organised journey for a particular purpose" (be that exploration, research, etc).


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Luminous_Moose

It can be used in French for a long, extended journey as a tourist. I'm not aware of an idiomatic equivalent in English. One of the definitions from Larousse:

"Voyage scientifique dans un pays éloigné ou difficile, ou voyage touristique plus ou moins important ou mouvementé ; hommes et matériel participant à ce voyage".


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Bill237999

"Expedition" is very specific in English: "a journey or voyage undertaken by a group of people with a particular purpose", such as for exploration, so it is not usually a vacation or trip. I would say journey or voyage better suit the translation from the French.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/TumlehR

I would really like to know where these English rubbish sentences derive from. Certainly not from native speakers


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Paul_Lefebvre

I agree many are really quite terrible. I'm american and I try to consider that some phrases could be British expressions, but it seems many are neither natural in American English or British English.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/CSA_GW
  • 2176

"You can go away ..." sounds very rude to me. The French is simply neutral . The default should be using "You can leave ..." .


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/captaingarbonza

Je ne peux pas. Ils ont fermé la frontière !


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/LaelDenise

Oui, c'est vrai, dommage!


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Patty13647

I have tried this translation in a number of ways, and finally realized they won't accept, "if you want to." I have reported it. I thought they had been marking it wrong because I left out the "away," but it turns out they didn't like the "to" at the end. I can say that if I want to!! I just report the hell out of these sentences, and they eventually seem to accept them. In this way, they learn more English translations, and I learn French. Win-win.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/RobertHofl1

How would you say in French "You can go on an expedition to Canada if you want." Would it not be the same? Explain.


[deactivated user]

    Duolingo rejected "if you wish". Why was it rejected. It is more polite than "if you want".


    https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Bill237999

    "If you want" and "if you wish" mean two different things both in English and in French. The translation for "if you wish" from French would be "si vous le souhaitez".


    [deactivated user]

      Thank you for the clarification of the difference in meaning.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/kshamashas

      U wrote Go to an expedition and was marked wrong


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Paul_Lefebvre

      For "go on an expedition" can one use aller? If not, and one can only use partir then having the translation read "go away on" and not simply "go on" is confusing. Regardless, Duolingo could draw this distinction either in the tips or by using examples where the phrase is sometimes "Go away on" and sometimes "go on".


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Louradour5

      The French expression is "partir en expédition".


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Paul_Lefebvre

      What is "expedition"? Is this a british term? I know what it is in the "polar expedition" sense, but in everyday speech is an expedition what in America we would call a "road trip" or a "tour"?


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Pigslew

      No more British than American.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/neko_sapiens

      I wrote in Canada in my translation, which was accepted. In this sentence, is au Canada taken to mean the goal of movement (partir au Canada), or the place where the event of expedition took place (expédition au Canada)?


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Louradour5

      You leave for a trip but you leave on an expedition...


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Bill237999

      "Expedition" is not the right word in English. It should be "journey" or "voyage" in English. We do not say "going on an expedition to Canada". Very awkward especially since Duo only seems to accept "expedition" as the translation.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Hilbo6

      what a stupid sentence. Go on a expedition to the Antarctic or to find the north west passage maybe, to find the lost army of Cambyses yes, but a holiday is not an expedition. And we learned the verb partir ages ago.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/captaingarbonza

      There are some very remote parts of Canada that you could definitely go on an expedition to.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/SallyGreen3

      you can leave on an expedition to canada if you want should be accepted. Why offer leave as an option for partir if you then don't accept it?


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/PeggyEd

      Partir is to leave


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Louradour5

      It seems that in English, you also have other ways of saying it.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/AmandaOsbo17

      In British English, we don't need the 'an'. Go away on expedition is also common.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Jennifer_Colburn

      Really? I'm British and it sounds weird without the word "an". On Safari yes, but not On Expedition.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/SeanFogart4

      Are you serious? "Go away" or "go on (an) expedition", definitely not both. British English is surely not so awful as Duolingo's here, the opposite of it.

      "set out on an expedition" 1,300,000

      "go on an expedition" 694,000

      "leave on an expedition" 591,000

      "go on expedition" 572,000

      "go away on an expedition" 215,000 (the horror! We're losing them!)

      "set out on expedition" 40,400

      "leave on expedition" 11,800

      "go on anexpedition" 466 (a typo, but left in for comparison)

      "go away on expedition" 7


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/--Roody--

      Those whacky numbers again!


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/--Roody--

      Not to be a contrarian, but partir = leave or go away. Aller = go.

      Learn French in just 5 minutes a day. For free.