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- "Este é um pequeno passo para…
"Este é um pequeno passo para o homem, mas um grande salto para a humanidade."
Translation:This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.
16 Comments
I know that this is the famous sentence pronounced by Neil Armstrong, but you must accept literal words. Grande = Big; salto = jump, leap; humanidade = humanity/mankind.
He was supposed to say "a man" when he stepped onto the moon, but messed up and forgot to say the "a".
Could a native speaker comment on this? I know what Neil Armstrong said, and what he meant to say, because I watched it live on TV. But in the sentence given here, why is "the man" graded wrong?
The man in English points to a specific identified man. But in Portuguese, using the definite article in this sentence doesn't imply that.
Yes. But duolingo is often very literal about the translations, usually marking it wrong if you don't include the definite article. So it's very annoying when they mark you wrong for using it.
The literal translations should always be accepted, except perhaps in the rare case where it would make no sense.
I'd say even more so for idiomatic expression. Perhaps accept the answer but note the better answer.
In this case, I didn't get the question wrong because I didn't understand the portuguese or know the quote, but because I intentionally adjusted my translation to fit the expected duolingo norms.
Consistency = Usability
"Um homem" would have been a better choice for the Portuguese instead of "o homem", since Armstrong meant to say "a man"; he was referring to any man in general.
On Internet, I found this sentence : "That is (That's) one small step for man, but a giant leap for mankind" and wrote it, but Duolingo said it was wrong because it is not "That is" but "This is" .. I do not get it
question to be asked is why does DL Ptg use the definite article 'o' and not the indefinite article 'um' here?
My answer is the same thing. This is a small step for men, but a big jump for mankind. I don't think that grande salto can be translated as giant leap.
