Point taken off on Spanish Quiz for using wrong term

[aviationwiz]

Damn it, I just got back my spanish quiz, and I got a point taken off for this:

we had to say what "la futbolista" is in english. I said football player, because that's what it is. I say "football player" since this is spanish class, I thought that we should be using European, not American terms. It was soccer player, but of course, a football player is a soccer player in this backward nation of ours (America) So that's my story of how I got 13/15 on a quiz instead of 14/15, and I'm pissed

[sapiens74]

Lol

They should have counted that. You may want to challenge that.

[sapiens74]

Hey bro,

Would you please keep your politics out of your SIG?

My wife is in the Army, my best friend is in Iraq, and I have family members there as well.

If you want to show John Kerry in your avatar be my guest, but we don't statitics of dead soldiers you are using to push your agenda

[aviationwiz]

I did challenge it, they said since we are in America, they can't count it. Ah well, it's only 1 point.

As per my sig, I am not using that to push my agenda, and it has absolutely nothing to do with Sen. Kerry, my avatar is for showing support for Sen. Kerry, I am leaving my sig to post facts about President Bush's term in office.

[sapiens74]

yhpm

i asked you to remove it, cause it is in poor taste

[TheWizard]

Regarding the Spanish quiz, I'd say both sides have a point. You can say football player when you actually mean soccer player, but chances are when your teacher first read the quiz, she associated your answer with what she knows as a football player; that being an American football player. Football player could also mean Canadian football player, Australian football player, etc. If your teacher was Australian, he/she may have associated your answer with Aussie Rules Football. This just proves my point, English is a very difficult language to learn because it has so many words with multiple meanings.

In correlation to your football/soccer - British English/American English incident, should American students be allowed to spell words like humour with the extra 'u'? How about the word specialization? Should American students be allowed to spell it the British English way: specialisation? If it were me, I would accept both spellings. It's all English to me, I guess it just depends which dictionary you look in.

[sapiens74]

Its hard to translate sometimes because some words, though literally translated correctly do not have the same meaning within thier context

The teacher however is wrong to have counted that against him.


I say things in spanish all the time that may be techincally correct but don't sound right to a person who's native language is Spanish

[aviationwiz]

Wizard,

In all of my english papers and essays I spell colour with the u. Never had it count against me. Ah well, 13/15 is still 86%, a B, but 14/15 would have been 93%, an A-.

[jmbrown12]

As per my sig, I am not using that to push my agenda, and it has absolutely nothing to do with Sen. Kerry, my avatar is for showing support for Sen. Kerry, I am leaving my sig to post facts about President Bush's term in office.

Fact? It is only part of Mr. Bush's statement: "We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease, and it suffers from poverty, as well. And my way of thinking is the only way for Africa to grow and to develop, and to provide hope and opportunity for its citizens is for there to be trade between the United States and Africa, between the EU and Africa."

This statement was in reference to Swedish Prime Minister Persson's statement: "The third thing was about HIV/AIDS. There is a terrible threat for many millions, not least in Africa. A generation can be swept away, children without parents and children born with HIV. It's a tremendous threat, and something we just can't neglect. We have to take our part of the responsibility. The American President proposed a fund together with the U.N., and we discussed also how the European Union could support in that work. That was the third thing we discussed."

[aviationwiz]

jmbrown12,

You do know that Africa is a CONTINENT, not a NATION.

As per the whole fact thing, my last sig was a fact about the Bush admin. but it isn't now...

[jmbrown12]

jmbrown12,

You do know that Africa is a CONTINENT, not a NATION.

As per the whole fact thing, my last sig was a fact about the Bush admin. but it isn't now...

I must have missed your original signature. Yes, I know that Africa is a continent. I also know that "African Nation" can mean "countries occupying the African continent". Getting back to your original post, I also think you got a raw deal on the Spanish quiz.

[dodecahedron]

Getting back to your original post, I also think you got a raw deal on the Spanish quiz.

me too.

americans, don't know what football is.

where the f*ck did the word "soccer" come from?

[dodecahedron]

also the Africa is a continent/nation - this is more of a Dan Quayle kind of mistake.

where's the beef ?

[jase]

Getting back to your original post, I also think you got a raw deal on the Spanish quiz.

me too.

americans, don't know what football is.

where the f*ck did the word "soccer" come from?

Soccer = Association Football

Your teacher was absolutely incorrect to mark this incorrectly. Soccer is a form of Football, due to the definition above. In any case, as you say, "futbol" means "football" in Spanish, and I am fairly sure that in Spain they refer to US/Australian etc football as "futbol" as well (since I have seen American Football on Spanish TV referred to as such), therefore you are correct and they are wrong.

In any case, isn't this a bit like getting a maths question wrong due to a spelling mistake? Totally wrong IMHO.

[aviationwiz]

American football in spanish is "el futbol de Americano"

Or, if you prefer computer translations "Footbal Americano"

So, as you can see, my Spanish is pretty good

My rants tend to have the longest life-span of any rants on the board!

[dodecahedron]

In any case, isn't this a bit like getting a maths question wrong due to a spelling mistake? Totally wrong IMHO.

well, that depends on what kind of spelling mistake you make, doesn't it?

like, you write y instead of x. critical error!

or, you misspell "thirty four" as "three hunder and fifty seven"

[XXXXX]

Regarding the Spanish quiz, I'd say both sides have a point. You can say football player when you actually mean soccer player, but chances are when your teacher first read the quiz, she associated your answer with what she knows as a football player; that being an American football player. Football player could also mean Canadian football player, Australian football player, etc. If your teacher was Australian, he/she may have associated your answer with Aussie Rules Football. This just proves my point, English is a very difficult language to learn because it has so many words with multiple meanings.

In correlation to your football/soccer - British English/American English incident, should American students be allowed to spell words like humour with the extra 'u'? How about the word specialization? Should American students be allowed to spell it the British English way: specialisation? If it were me, I would accept both spellings. It's all English to me, I guess it just depends which dictionary you look in.

I often wonder why the USA which was founded by British subjects ended up changing some of these spellings. We kept the illogical Imperial Measure system, why not the few instances of adding a "u" and "s" instead of "z" ????

[TheWizard]

I often wonder why the USA which was founded by British subjects ended up changing some of these spellings. We kept the illogical Imperial Measure system, why not the few instances of adding a "u" and "s" instead of "z" ????

You're preaching to the choir, my friend. To me, it doesn't matter if you keep the "u" or leave the "s" instead of a "z". Getting back to this topic, sort of, I don't think any teacher teaching at an American school should penalize a student for spelling humour (or any similar word) with the "u".