14 Comments
Any idea as to why "mail" wouldn't be a good translation of "post" here?
Should "a gceannasaí" also be accepted? Since it doesn't sound like the n in "an" is being pronounced here, and since we have no context, it doesn't seem like "their boss" (vs "the boss") is an unreasonable gloss.
I don't believe that it is possible to have more than one answer for "Type what you hear" exercises - it's not an "alternative translation", the sound is only linked to a single Irish sentence.
It's just a bad recording that shouldn't be used by Duolingo.
(Note that this is an issue of the directions given to the speaker - her pronunciation might be perfectly acceptable in other circumstances, but it shouldn't be used in a teaching environment like this).
I haven't seen a Duolingo "type what you hear" with more than one answer possible, but it strikes me that there's no reason why they shouldn't be allowed in the case of real homophones. For instance, if a speaker were instructed to read the phrase "four girls," someone shouldn't be penalized if they write "for girls."
Except that, "four" and "for" aren't homophones in all (most?) dialects of English, and when clearly enunciated, the point of such an exercise would be to penalize the learner who got it wrong. That's not what's happening here - the confusion only arises because of poor enunciation. The right solution is to fix the enunciation, not the Duolingo engine.
Yes its like using Alex Ferguson on an audio teaching people to speak English !!!
How is the pronunciation here? Is it actually /pəst/? Or should it be more like /post/?
It shouldn't be /post/, no. <Póst> would be more similar to /pˠo:sˠt̪ˠ/. According to the Wiktionary article on Irish orthography, since the <o> is stressed, it should be /pˠɔsˠt̪ˠ/. And remember the velarization!
There is no verb meaning "to have" in Irish, so you must use the construction Tá X ag Y (lit., "X is at Y") to mean "Y has X." Therefore, "The boss has a job." => "A job is at the boss." => Tá post ag an gceannasaí.
Really ?Most bosses I know don't really do anything. That's why their desks are always tidy !!!
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I’m glad this one was written for me, as opposed to a “type what you hear”. I listened to it several times, and it always sounds like the Irish for “sweater” (gan-zee) to me.
I just came here to see if I’m alone in hearing that.
Of course, I knew prior to creating this post that someone would reply with some comment like, “Sweaters can’t have jobs”.
I’ll have you know that on the rare occasion that I wear a sweater (not much need in Texas), it has a VERY important job: to keep me warm. :)
I hope everyone has a spectaculous week!
There's no /z/ sound in Irish; geansaí, 'sweater', sounds roughly like gyan-see. Gceannasaí has a schwa between the 'n' and 's', so roughly like gya-nuh-see.
