"People throughout the country speak Esperanto."
Translation:Homoj tra la lando parolas Esperanton.
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My dictionary says that tra = through, rekte tra = throughout. This question only accepts tra.
One says: "Homoj tra la lando parolas la anglan." But: "Homoj tra la lando parolas Esperanton." Not: "Homoj tra la lando parolas la esperantan." Is that correct?
That's right.
Most languages are referred to with an adjective -- e.g. la angla estas bela lingvo; mi parolas la anglan. The noun lingvo is usually omitted, though la angla lingvo estas bela lingvo; mi parolas la anglan lingvon would also be possible. Much as we might say "I can speak the English language" in English.
But a few languages have names of their own that are nouns, rather than adjectives modifying lingvo; these include Esperanto.
Those few languages are either "dead" languages [Latina, Babilonia, Antikva Helena] or conlangs, [Esperanta, Idoa, Volapuka]
There may be exemptions, but I haven't seen any yet.
Sometimes I revert to what I first learned when naming a language being spoken and give it an -e ending (Mi parolas … Esperante, angle, ĉine, jorube "I am speaking in Esperanto… ktp) and, as far as I can determine that form is still acceptable and understandable in Esperanto. But Duo doesn't like it.
In that form, it is an adverb modifying the verb "speak".
A possible albeit clumsy translation in English would be, "I speak Esperantishly, Englishly, Chinese-ishly, and Yorubishly."
In English, a phrase like this doesn't indicate that you speak such language, but that you speak in a manner that a speaker of such language would speak.
I don't know if this is the case in Esperanto, but perhaps the adverbial form has a different meaning.
Also, it's interesting because in English, "I speak IN German" using a preposition, or "I speak GERMAN" where GERMAN is the direct object. But in Faarsi, "I speak TO German": it uses a completely different preposition! In Spanish, they use EN for both ON and IN, so they would say "That movie is IN/ON German." How cool is language? So cool!
So I think that one can paroli Esperanton kaj paroli Esperante, and both are correct. Just one of the examples of the flexibility built into E-o. At least, that's how I've always understood it. But I'd love to geek out more if I'm incorrect/missed something!
But wouldn't "tra la lando" mean that people are like... speaking Esperanto while they are moving through/within the country? As opposed to the meaning of the sentence, which is more like "the language is spoken everywhere in the country"? Two different meanings, and I think this translation just isn't the most correct or faithful. I mean, if I translate this into other languages I run into a similar problem.
Tra la lando might also mean they are digging tunnels while speaking in Esperanto. Depending on context.
Context îs often the key.
I wonder if there isn't a way to slip tuta lando into this sentence?