Still puzzled about Jack and that beanstalk

Question

The test question asks for a translation of "Jacques est descendu du haricot magique." The answer that is marked as correct is "Jack got off the beanstalk." This answer is not accepted: "Jack climbed down the beanstalk." Had the translation said "Jack climbed down FROM the beanstalk"would that be correct?

If that translation is correct, I would change the answer choices. The correct answer "Jack got off the beanstalk" is just not very intuitive for the ears of this English speaker. That's not what Jack does. He climbs down the beanstalk in the story. It sounds funny to have someone getting off a beanstalk. That's just not like getting off an airplane, for example.

Accepted Answer

Hi Diane,
Descendre de quelque chose is to get off something so if you say -
Il est descendu de l'échelle = He climbed off the ladder/ He came down from the ladder
Descendre une échelle = To climb down a ladder 
The 'de' changes the meaning.
So the story may be different in the fairy tale but the language here is tested not the logic.
Hope this helps!

Answer

Read the lesson again - être + descendre and avoir + descendre mean different things. If they were talking about Jack climbing down the beanstalk it would be "Jacques a descendu du haricot magique". I agree "got off the beanstalk" sounds quite strange to an English speaker, but I imagine it's referring to him jumping to the ground after climbing down the beanstalk?

Answer

What about "climbed down the ladder" compared to "got off the ladder"? Do those sound reasonable, and would you distinguish between them?

Answer

It seems to me that:Il est descendu du haricot talks about the final step off the stalk and onto the ground.Il a descendu le haricot is about the action of descending on the beanstalk.