"En generel soldat."

Translation:A general soldier.

August 30, 2014

27 Comments
This discussion is locked.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/km1
  • 120

we would say an enlisted man, a foot soldier, perhaps an ordinary soldier or something else I can't think of just now. The adjective general could be confused with the noun general meaning highest ranking officer so it should be avoided in military context.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/epac-mcl

I would use, "A regular soldier". A term introduced in the British army since 1960.


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

A much better phrase. The sentence as is in dansih now, is a bad sentence to learn the language. "A regular soldier" could be equal "En regulær soldat", "En almindelig soldat" or "En regelmæssig soldat", IMHO.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/epac-mcl

But, a "regular soldier" was a term constructed in 1960, when conscription was ended. "Regular soldier" was the counterpart of "coscripted soldier".


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Ozymandias0

^ Wikipedia says : "A general officer is an officer of high rank in the army, and in some nations' air forces or marines."


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

What about general infantry?


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

I don't really get the meaning of both- DK and EN phrase. Is it a "regular" soldier, like nothing special or a higher rang? Can someone please explain me?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/epac-mcl

I can't answer for the Danish version, but in English the term "general soldier" does not exist. It is hard to imagine what Duo means with this statement. If they mean an ordinary soldier of the lowest rank, then it could be "private, sapper, gunner, rifleman, fusilier etc." depending on which corps or regiment the soldier belongs to; but never "general". A "general" is a high ranking army officer, but is never referred to as a "general soldier".


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

Thank you! I hope someone will clarify the Danish version, as well.


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

As mentioned before, this simply does not make sense in danish either.


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

Ok, tak skal du have! :)


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

Tak. It does seem ambiguous. I knew English had more specific terms. It's hard to figure out if this person has the rank of some type of officer. The military is hierarchical so you wouldn't want to insult someone by getting their job description wrong in translation.


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

This is just an awful interpretation. It should be "an ordinary/typical/regular soldier", not a "general" soldier :P It won't accept any of the much better translations (ordinary, typical, regular).


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

Is he a general or a common soldier?


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

I tried "common soldier", and it was accepted. "General soldier" really doesn't make sense.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/marianne450383

Why not GENERELT ??


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

The adjective (descriptive word) has to agree with the gender of the word. If the word is an 'et' word' then the adjective takes 't' at the end, but 'soldat' is an 'en' word, which means there is no t on the adjective.


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

This is just confusing me with the "A general wine" from that other sentence. --"


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

Why is it "generel" and not "generelle" to describe the soldier? "Generelle" was used to describe a director in another Duolingo question earlier, so when I typed "generel direktor" it marked me wrong for not using "generelle". Now here it marks me wrong for using "generelle" to describe the soldier.


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

If it was THE soldier, then "generelle" would be right. There's a difference between definite article (the) and indefinite article (a/an).


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

I don't know the other case with the direktør, but it is because it is in singular. But im my opinion htis sentence should be changed to "En almindelig soldat" and "An ordinary soldier" or something similar to this, which make more sense.

http://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=generel


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

Does "generel" in Danish also mean "common, ordinary, normal"; "Not specialized or limited in range of subject, application, activity, etc." or just meaning like a rank? (not specifically asking about this sentence, because I've understood that as the English is off, the Danish might also be, but I want to know when I see the word in other contexts, what I'm supposed to get from it) Or can it be used for things like "in general"?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/E.E.v.V.

A generic soldier?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/ILF17

Some sentences before, Duo used the word "generel" also in combination with wine. In German, we use "generell" for statements which refer to things on the whole, and "General" for the army officer. In English, a general officer means a high rank in the army. Unfortunately, the spelling is identical in both cases, in German you cannot mix up these meanings. In Danish, we have "almundelig" and "generel" for the DE "generell" and "general" for the DE "General".


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/epac-mcl

This is a bad sentence in both English and Danish. The term "A general soldier" does not exist in English. Please see my earlier comment on this page. In Danish, an ordinary soldier is called a "menig", which comes from the low German "mene", meaning "almindelig" in Danish, and "ordinary" in English.

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