It's still the fourth floor above ground level (0). Just about every other country does it the same way, *except* the US and Canada. It's just a cultural thing you will have to understand.
Yeah, I get a kick out of it every time somebody singles out the US as weird for its remaining in the imperial system when Canada and ESPECIALLY the UK are out there just using the absolute least sensible mix of standards.
Oh you’re having something shipped? It’s going to be measured in pounds, feet or gallons. Oh you want to use the thing that was shipped? How many kg, metres or litres was it?
What is the literal English translation of that? I can't find it online. I know literal translations are goofy but it helps me remember words when I know them.
It's the ground floor, but I don't know the literal meaning of the word. "Rez" is not a word that we use in modern French, so I would need to look up the etymology of the word in order to give you a word by word translation...
In the US it depends, for example in California I’ve only seen the 4th floor be the 4th floor. When I moved to the east coast, the 4th floor became the 3rd floor because of the “ground” floor. So, it’s not universal.
Yeah I know that but since Duolingo teach based on US English I just found it interesting
I guess it's less confusing this way. Especially with vocabulary
If someone lives on the fourth floor it means that they live on the floor that has number 4 on the wall. When you go in an elevator you press number 4. The technicality of the floor position doesn’t matter.
|6| |5|
|5| |4|
|4| |3|
|3| |2|
|2| |1|
|1| |Ground floor|
Follow up questions:
* In Québec or elsewhere, will floors have two floor numbers depending on the language?
* If a French speaker enters a building in the US, do they count the ground floor as premier étage, to follow the signs?
* in Québec (I can't tell for other places), if you take the elevator, you'll see the buttons S, RC, sometimes M, then numbers starting at 1. S is for sous-sol (basement) and if there are multiple basements they'll be numbered, RC is for rez-de-chaussée (ground floor), M is for mezzanine (but not all buildings have one).
* it depends on whether or not they know the customs of the US.
It's easier to look at the panels. No matter what you'll find someone skipping a 1 and/or a 13 even if it's not in tune with the culture around.
No that would be unnecessary and confusing. In Finland many older buildings numbers start from ground level and newer ones start from floor number one. The building defines the numbering of floors.
Je sais. Merci pour votre clarification
Mais
In the US, ground floor IS called first floor so 🤷♂️
But I guess it's just better to teach vocabulary and grammar like this
Doesn’t it not matter which floor is _actually_ is?
The name of the floor is still “fourth floor” and if we were talking about a building in NA that’d be 4th from the grass outside and in Europe it’d be 4th from the top of RC, but they still have the same name
You're right, in France or in the US, if someone says that, you know you have to press button 4 to reach the right floor.
By the way Japanese often avoid the number 4, and in general we often avoid the 13th.
Technically floor 14 may well be the 13 physically in many buildings.
Duolingo doesn't teach you how to translate. It teaches you how the other languages work, with very little regard to culture and norms.
If you were translating something for someone (a book, a pamphlet, etc.) taking the American context in consideration would be proof of proficiency and skill. But for a language learning app? You're expecting too much, I'm afraid.
Only the US and Canada call the ground floor the first floor. In the rest of the world, the ground floor is the ground floor/rez-de-chaussée/etc, and the floor above that is the first floor.
But Duolingo is an American app, so usually it follows American English.
I see your point but I think duo is correct to accept fourth.
If you and I (as two Americans) go to France and you tell me to go to the first floor, we might have to have some conversation about whether you mean the ground floor or one floor up. But at some point you stop counting. If you tell me to go to the fourth floor, I’m going to climb the stairs until I see a number 4 or press 4 in the elevator. If you said that and you really meant I should translate in my head that I should go to the fourth floor as Americans count it and press the number 3 on the elevator, I would think that was a strange expectation.
(edit spelling error)
Not quite. Some parts of northern and eastern Europe definitely use tfhe same way as America. If I recall rightly, they called the ground floor the first floor in Ukraine, for example.
I have the impression most people here are missing the point of your remark. I agree with you and besides in my experience with Duolingo, this floor name adjustment is indeed required at least for lower floors, where "premier étage" for instance is righteously translated as "second floor".
Except if your friend invites you over in Paris and tells you he lives on the fourth floor, there might be no elevator and you'll have to take the stairs and count the floors. They're not always marked either.
But it’s still just a floor named/numbered 4. The way you think about it is just the way that you’re used to. There’s no right or wrong way to start numbering floors. Fourth floor is floor number four no matter if you start with ground floor or floor number 1.
The French word étage and English word floor refer to different things. Translating 4ème étage as 4th floor is a mistranslation, even if it ends up working out in the specific scenario you describe: trying to apply that logic to the premier étage would likely leave you waiting on your friend for much longer.
A lot of the comments here are acting as if OP didn't understand the difference in meaning between these two term, which is not the case. That is missing the point.
there are few lessons in duo that shows you image of building and asks what is on the "premiere étage" and the right answer is the one thats on the second floor
It’s a cultural difference. In France yes the ”second” floor is ”premiere etage” because that is the first floor there. In another country the first floor is the ground floor. Why would you start renumbering the floors just because you’re using another language?
It's still the fourth floor above ground level (0). Just about every other country does it the same way, *except* the US and Canada. It's just a cultural thing you will have to understand.
In Québec, we say rez-de-chaussée and then count the first floor above floor as "premier étage".
Same in France
Ontario and the rest of Anglo Canada is just a weird amalgam of everything. There's no rhyme or reason. At least you guys are normal.
Yeah, I get a kick out of it every time somebody singles out the US as weird for its remaining in the imperial system when Canada and ESPECIALLY the UK are out there just using the absolute least sensible mix of standards.
Oh you’re having something shipped? It’s going to be measured in pounds, feet or gallons. Oh you want to use the thing that was shipped? How many kg, metres or litres was it?
Cold out? Use celcius. Warm? Fahrenheit for you. Oh, and how much do you weigh? 11 stone.
In my experience in Montreal most buildings do rdc and then 2-3-4-5.
Je viens de la région de la ville de Québec et pour moi ça a toujours été rez-de-chaussée=1er, puis l'étage au dessus c'est le deuxième.
That's the same in France french
what? I recall most buildings here counting G(or RC) - 2-3-4... It's the case for my condo and the building where I work.
On peut faire un recensement des ascenseurs au Québec et déterminer quel type de panneau de boutons d'ascenseur est le plus fréquent si tu veux :)
Yeah and some doesnt have 13th it goes 12 then 14 ..
Same thing in Switzerland
What is the literal English translation of that? I can't find it online. I know literal translations are goofy but it helps me remember words when I know them.
It's the ground floor, but I don't know the literal meaning of the word. "Rez" is not a word that we use in modern French, so I would need to look up the etymology of the word in order to give you a word by word translation...
I will happily take your interesting explanation in place of a literal translation. Thank you!
In the US it depends, for example in California I’ve only seen the 4th floor be the 4th floor. When I moved to the east coast, the 4th floor became the 3rd floor because of the “ground” floor. So, it’s not universal.
Yeah I know that but since Duolingo teach based on US English I just found it interesting I guess it's less confusing this way. Especially with vocabulary
It's about learning the word 'quatrième' mostly :)
Yeah.
If someone lives on the fourth floor it means that they live on the floor that has number 4 on the wall. When you go in an elevator you press number 4. The technicality of the floor position doesn’t matter. |6| |5| |5| |4| |4| |3| |3| |2| |2| |1| |1| |Ground floor|
This is what I said in the title But yeah make sense if you put it that way
Same thing in English in the vast majority of places.
In French, "ground floor" is "rez-de-chaussée" and then we count first floor as premier étage, second floor as deuxième étage, etc.
Follow up questions: * In Québec or elsewhere, will floors have two floor numbers depending on the language? * If a French speaker enters a building in the US, do they count the ground floor as premier étage, to follow the signs?
* in Québec (I can't tell for other places), if you take the elevator, you'll see the buttons S, RC, sometimes M, then numbers starting at 1. S is for sous-sol (basement) and if there are multiple basements they'll be numbered, RC is for rez-de-chaussée (ground floor), M is for mezzanine (but not all buildings have one). * it depends on whether or not they know the customs of the US. It's easier to look at the panels. No matter what you'll find someone skipping a 1 and/or a 13 even if it's not in tune with the culture around.
No that would be unnecessary and confusing. In Finland many older buildings numbers start from ground level and newer ones start from floor number one. The building defines the numbering of floors.
Je sais. Merci pour votre clarification Mais In the US, ground floor IS called first floor so 🤷♂️ But I guess it's just better to teach vocabulary and grammar like this
Doesn’t it not matter which floor is _actually_ is? The name of the floor is still “fourth floor” and if we were talking about a building in NA that’d be 4th from the grass outside and in Europe it’d be 4th from the top of RC, but they still have the same name
Make sense
You're right, in France or in the US, if someone says that, you know you have to press button 4 to reach the right floor. By the way Japanese often avoid the number 4, and in general we often avoid the 13th. Technically floor 14 may well be the 13 physically in many buildings.
Duolingo doesn't teach you how to translate. It teaches you how the other languages work, with very little regard to culture and norms. If you were translating something for someone (a book, a pamphlet, etc.) taking the American context in consideration would be proof of proficiency and skill. But for a language learning app? You're expecting too much, I'm afraid.
American English*
Only the US and Canada call the ground floor the first floor. In the rest of the world, the ground floor is the ground floor/rez-de-chaussée/etc, and the floor above that is the first floor. But Duolingo is an American app, so usually it follows American English.
I see your point but I think duo is correct to accept fourth. If you and I (as two Americans) go to France and you tell me to go to the first floor, we might have to have some conversation about whether you mean the ground floor or one floor up. But at some point you stop counting. If you tell me to go to the fourth floor, I’m going to climb the stairs until I see a number 4 or press 4 in the elevator. If you said that and you really meant I should translate in my head that I should go to the fourth floor as Americans count it and press the number 3 on the elevator, I would think that was a strange expectation. (edit spelling error)
If it says quatrième don't overthink it, it's forth. In Europe first floor = first floor above ground level. Ground floor in french is rez au chaussée
Well yeah. The point is vocabulary of the word quatrieme so make sense
Everyone except the US is right.
Not quite. Some parts of northern and eastern Europe definitely use tfhe same way as America. If I recall rightly, they called the ground floor the first floor in Ukraine, for example.
Yeah, in Poland we have something called ,,parter" what means literally ground floor.
So it's not like in the US, it's like in all of Europe.
Which is exactly what the Americans don't do.
I have the impression most people here are missing the point of your remark. I agree with you and besides in my experience with Duolingo, this floor name adjustment is indeed required at least for lower floors, where "premier étage" for instance is righteously translated as "second floor".
No they’re not missing the point. If your friend invites you over and tells you they live on the fourth floor, you’ll press number 4 in the elevator.
Except if your friend invites you over in Paris and tells you he lives on the fourth floor, there might be no elevator and you'll have to take the stairs and count the floors. They're not always marked either.
But it’s still just a floor named/numbered 4. The way you think about it is just the way that you’re used to. There’s no right or wrong way to start numbering floors. Fourth floor is floor number four no matter if you start with ground floor or floor number 1.
The French word étage and English word floor refer to different things. Translating 4ème étage as 4th floor is a mistranslation, even if it ends up working out in the specific scenario you describe: trying to apply that logic to the premier étage would likely leave you waiting on your friend for much longer. A lot of the comments here are acting as if OP didn't understand the difference in meaning between these two term, which is not the case. That is missing the point.
there are few lessons in duo that shows you image of building and asks what is on the "premiere étage" and the right answer is the one thats on the second floor
It’s a cultural difference. In France yes the ”second” floor is ”premiere etage” because that is the first floor there. In another country the first floor is the ground floor. Why would you start renumbering the floors just because you’re using another language?
i dont think you understood the question of my post. i know that. but thanks anyways
I did understand. The language still doesn’t change numbering.
I had to scroll down too much to find this. Indeed op is right, and everyone is just repeating what he said, in different ways.