"Mannen sitter alltid vid datorn."
Translation:The man is always at the computer.
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Could you say "mannen sitter alltid på datorn," too or does that sound wrong?
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Does this only mean that the man is at the computer and possibly not using it, or does this mean he is using the computer? In Dutch the literally translated phrase "the man sits behind the computer" would mean he's using it, so I translated this with "the man is always using the computer"
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Technically it can mean that he's only sitting next to it not using it, but you'd need a particular context for anyone to actually interpret it as such. "Sitta vid datorn" is basically a fixed expression with the sense of "to be at the computer, to use the computer". If you wanted to be less specific you could say "han är vid datorn", which would often imply the same thing, but usually not as strongly, and would be more possible to interpret as a mere statement of his location.
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hah, another Dutch person who put 'sits behind the computer' here :P Is that not a fixed expression in English, too? I'll report it as 'my answer needs to be accepted' but it may be wrong after all.
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Oh, haha, I didn't use that answer, I translated this with "the man is always using the computer". I was just asking if it's similar to the Dutch expression. It's not correct in English, and I don't think it should be accepted as a correct answer. After all the man is not literally sitting behind a computer. :)
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aah ok. I'd swear I hear 'sitting behind the computer' more often, but as I often talk english with Dutch people (due to there also being non-dutch people present) it might just be dunglish :P
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I think "the man is always sitting at the computer" should be accepted. Another way I'd probably say it in English is, "the man is always sitting in front of the computer."
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The man is always sitting at the computer is already an approved answer. Not 100% sure if we should approve in front of too. We use the exact same expression in Swedish too (with framför), so one could argue that if we meant that, we would have said so.