31 Comments
The suggested translation "Her sister does not go in America" is very unnatural in English. "Her sister does not go to America" would be better.
In Italy the "America" is the USA.
Of course we know that the America is the whole continent, but "Andare in America" always mean go to the USA.
If we go in Canada we say "Vado in Canada", or "Vado in Messico" for the Mexico or "Vado in Brasile" for the Brasil.
You know "Tu vuo' fa' l'Americano"? :-)))
Actually, "America" is short for "The United States of America", so "going to America" means "going to the USA". Perhaps someone like C. Columbus named the "New World" "America", but things have changed over the last 526 years.
If you want to be precise, you would say, "going to the Americas", i.e., the western hemisphere, or "going to North America", or "go to Mexico" or "going to New York City".
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As far as I can tell, the Italian word “America” actually means “the Americas”, not the United States; unlike the English word, which is more commonly used for the United States even though it shouldn’t be.
If so, then ideally this should be translated as “Her sister does not go to the Americas.” (not currently accepted, but should be even if it does not become the main translation).
I'm Italian and I can tell you that America actually means United States as well. Thanks
There's a huge difference between "goes" and "is going"
"Her sister does not go to America" connotes her sister shunning all travel to America, akin to "Her sister refuses to go to America". "is going" OTOH (On The Other Hand) simply means she has an up-coming trip to America scheduled. Also, "is going" would rarely and probably never be used to describe someone in the process of "going", because is also connotes "not having departed yet". And usually, you'd add something to "is travelling" like "as we speak" or "right now" or "at this moment".
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I said "Her sister is not going to America" today (October 26, 2014) and it was accepted. If it doesn't accept the contraction "Isn't", report it, because it should accept that.
Even as a US citizen, I have a huge problem with referring to the USA as "America"
The name of the country is "The United States of America". The name of Canada is "Canada". The name of Mexico is "Mexico". All are in the continent of North America. It is pretty easy to understand why the U. S. is the only country frequently referred to simply as "America". It is the only country with America in its name.
DL, please! First time I said TO, i lost a heart. This time I said IN, and both answers come up altough in America was still wrong!!!!
If is correct "her sister does not go in America" why the sentence "His sister doesn't go in America" Is wrong?? Thanks
Because "His sister doesn't go in America," is extremely bad English. Italian always uses "in" when referring to a country or province, but when referring to a person travelling, English speakers always say "to".
It has to be accepted. Since the "Sua"'s first letter is capitalized, it stands for the polite "you". So please report it.
DL just usually doesn't recognize the formal "You". It's better never to translate 3rd person as "you", unless the exercise is specifically dealing with that form of a verb.
so is it interchangeable to use "a" or "in" with andare? I mean I would've said sua sorella non va ad America, so is this considered right?
No.
Countries and provinces are always preceded by "in". Cities are always proceeded by "a".
Io vivo negli Stati Uniti. Io vivo a New York.
Well, yes and no. Yes, it is a Latin form of this preposition, but it is also an Italian version. If "a" is followed by another "a" word (and in rare cases, this can happen with other vowels in conversation, from what I've heard), it becomes "ad", so the speaker can easily elide between the two words.
So if I lived in Arezzo (a city in Tuscany), I'd say, "Vivo ad Arezzo."
