You are being overliteral. If I wanted to express in German that I was allowing someone to something I hadn't necessarily asked them to do, I'd use erlauben instead of lassen. I imagine the situation is similar in Dutch.
I don't know if it's more or less consolation that these distinctions are somewhat foreign to other languages. The Chinese 讓 ràng tells us nothing about the volition of either of the agents--I could have asked the person to plaster, I could be making him do it, or I could be allowing him to do it against my will.
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momijizukamori
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Date: 2008-06-12 08:33 pm (UTC)I don't know if it's more or less consolation that these distinctions are somewhat foreign to other languages. The Chinese 讓 ràng tells us nothing about the volition of either of the agents--I could have asked the person to plaster, I could be making him do it, or I could be allowing him to do it against my will.