[Course Forum] Romanian 101 Typo in Solutions

Community-Created Courses Other European Languages
#1

In this course there is a problem with some of the Diacritics (The Romanian unique Letters).
For example when the fill in the translation question for “can you?” comes up, the correct answer should be “poți?”, however, Whoever made the course used the wrong Diacritic, they used the Turkish Characters, this can be further read about here. This makes it difficult to complete the course with perfect scores because although they offer an on screen clickable button for the Romanian characters, they lack the Turkish “ţ”. The only option they have is “ț”, which is visibly different from “ţ”. They have both of the “S”'s there for use, but then again this only compounds the confusion, because which “s” do I use when? “ș, ş” <— Clearly Different amiright?

Please get these corrected so I don’t have to re-review words I already know. I shouldn’t have to worry about when to use a Turkish Character in a Romanian Course.

1 Like
Romanian - seems to be a few errors
#2

Hey!
The correct way is to write the letters with a comma instead of a cedilla underneath, e.g. 〈ș ț〉 instead of 〈ş ţ〉. Basically, Romanians and Moldovans used to use the cedilla version because they did not have keyboards available that had the comma version. This means that in practice, typing and writing using the cedilla instead of a comma is common and accepted in casual works. However, the program/code running the word check is probably only checks for the comma version, so don’t use the cedilla version if you want the answer to be correct!

EDIT: You’re right and the course is written using the cedilla version! Weird. There are Romanian keyboards layouts that have the cedillas instead of commas, so I’d take a look in the meantime at that if you use a Romanian keyboard.

#3

I think you miss understand, my point is that the comma version is correct. However using both in the course has a certain level of arbitration so we don’t know which is right. This confuses and dissuades me from learning further using the Memrise course because it is inaccurate and teaches me false information. I think that to encourage and support learning, they should only use the comma version that way I don’t have to remember which vocab uses the cedilla and which uses the comma.

#4

Hi, I have also run into this problem, but ONLY in the Windows / Chrome version of Memrise. The ţ given in the mobile version (on Android at least) works fine. It would be great if, indeed as you suggested that both are sometimes used, if both versions could be marked as correct. Or just give the correct one in the on-screen keyboard!
Otherwise I’m enjoying this course very much besides this one minor issue.

#5

@Lien - The creator of this course, @TeonaBaetu does not appear on the forums. Would you be willing to contact her and see if she’s still available for course updates?

If not, I’d be willing to become a contributor in order to change the s-cedillas to s-commas and the cedillas to t-commas.

Here’s the link to the course: http://www.memrise.com/course/110929/romanian-101-3/

Thanks!

#6

Sure, I just pinged her an email so hopefully she can join us here soon. If we don’t hear back in the next week or so, please remind me so I can add you as a contributor.

#7

@Lien - Has there been any response from @TeonaBaetu regarding Romanian 101? If not, I’m still willing to be made a contributor.

Thanks!

#8

Nothing but silence, so I have added you as a contributor.

#9

Thank you!!

I’ve updated the course, replacing all s-cedillas with s-commas, and t-cedillas with t-commas. I added the former as hidden alts for the people who don’t read the forums.

Also, in the last lesson, there was a typo in, “el trebuie să îi dea berea ei,” which I’ve corrected. (It used to be trebiue.)

@Lien - One last question. Since I’m not the creator, I can’t change the on-screen keyboard. Are you able to edit those kinds of things? It should be: ĂăÂâÎîȘșȚț

#10

Sure, the virtual keyboard has been updated .

#11

Thank you very much!

#12

Because of this thread, Romanian - seems to be a few errors, I’ve made the following changes:

  • “pa = goodbye” is now “pa = bye, goodbye (short)”.
  • “bine = good” is now “bine = well, good”. You’re correct that bine is the adverb “well” and bun/bună is the adjective “good.” However, I prefer not to confuse people who are accustomed to seeing “good”.
  • “te rog = please” is now “te rog = please (informal)”

I am leaving the following entries as they are:

  • “pot = I can” and “pot? = can I”. Neither of these is incorrect. Like Spanish, when the subject of the sentence is clear from the conjugation of the verb or the context of the sentence, it is not required. If you’re asking a question, such as “can I go?” or “should she eat?” you put sa or să between the conjugated verb and the unconjugated verb.
  • “îmi trebuie = I need”. Although Google translates îmi trebuie as “I must have,” WordReference translates trebui as “must, should, need.” Also, there are several sentences in later lessons that use this word.
  • “mă duc = I go”. I see nothing wrong with this entry. I could change the English clue to “I go, I am going,” if that makes you feel better…
#13

Hi, first of all thanks for the effort you put into creating this course.

However, both my girlfriend and her father (native romanians from Sighișoara and Baraolt) insist that it has to be

“Vrei ceva de mâncARE” instead of “Vrei ceva de mâncAT”. google.ro results also heavily favor the first expression.
With kind regards, Frank

#14

Hi,
many thanks to the creators and maintainers of this course!
I think in level 10, “câte vrei?” should be “how many DO YOU WANT?” instead of only “how many?”.

#15

Hi creators of Romanian 101! Just a small correction, in the speed test the user gets to choose between “i look” and “I look”. And “I look” is the one that gets marked incorrect!