to afford smth. -- позволить себе что-то купить.
А здесь речь не о деньгах, а о том, что семестр закончился и есть свободное время.

Совсем необязательно, Галина.

++Galia

Я тоже так думала. Но как быть с этими примерами?
http://context.reverso.net/%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B4/%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9-%D1%80%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9/afford

Они не про деньги вовсе.

Я тоже не согласен:
"We can't afford more casualties"
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/letters/we-cant-afford-more-casualties-28706062.html
"We can't afford to lose a game, says Ferguson"
That said, *possibly*, it was more correct to say "we can afford TO HAVE a rest"

Надеюсь, Улий прояснит этот вопрос.

😊

"to (not) be able to afford" can refer to money or to something that is(n't) in your best interest, depending on the context. In the original post, for example, we have no way of knowing if AFFORD refers to the fact that now that the semester is over, the speakers will have more free time to go on vacation -OR- if they're referring to having enough money. IN MY HUMBLE OPINION, there's nothing about the semester being over that suggests that they're referring to money, so I have to assume that it's a question of practicality, so I agree with grumbler and Galina that either AFFORD or ALLOW are correct here, since their usage is as ambiguous as the original post.

Grumbler, the correct syntax would be AFFORD TO HAVE A REST, however, we don't use HAVE A REST in the sense of taking a vacation, we use it when someone needs to sit or lie down for a while. We use TAKE A VACATION or TAKE SOME TIME OFF or GO AND UNWIND somewhere. Using "rest" incorrectly is a common pitfall for Russians. I once heard a girl say that she and her friends "go for a rest in the discotheque at night." hahaha. I thought: Now THAT must be one boring disco! :)

Also, AS at the beginning of a sentence looks and sounds horrible. You can use SEEING AS in this context.

To make it clear...
Are you saying that "can afford" refers only to money while "can't afford" is more general?
In the original text it's obviously not about the money.

Also, why didn't anyone use SEMESTER? That's what we call half a school term. Just TERM to me sounds like the entire year.

No, CAN AFFORD can refer to money or practicality. I agree that there's no indication of money being a factor in this sentence.

To be honest, if I were translating this professionally, I would just use CAN.

Все-таки, оттенок у "можем позволить себе" немного другой, чем у просто "можем"

I think the discussion arose from your comment "++Galia ", that was interpreted as an approval of her comment rather than her translation.

No, I was approving of her translation.

In English, you can use CAN in this context, and it's understood that it's in reference to affording something: Now we can buy that car we always wanted!

Улий, спасибо за разъяснения. Кстати, я сама сначала хотела написать просто "can go on vacation", но потом подумала, что будут возражения типа: а как же слово "позволить"? Ну и добавила allow :)

This is what we call in translation a "problematic" translation. I would just use CAN rather than risk making the English translation more convoluted than the Russian original.

Да, когда я переводу на русский, я эту "запутанность", конечно, не допускаю. Но когда переводишь на английский, всегда куча сомнений)

😜