Quiz questions/translations - how do we answer when it could be right or wrong depending on country?

Question

It would really help if the English translations were closer to the answer you're looking for, especially in this lesson where depending on whether you're in Latin America or Spain, people could choose either option and be correct.

This is the question from the quiz that I got wrong:

Hoy no _________________ a nadie interesante.I haven't met anybody interesting today.
I selected "he conocido" because that is the direct translation and it seems like that's what they'd say in Spain due to the timing. But in Latin America (which is my selected profile but I'm not sure that it actually impacts my quizzes or not), it would be "conoci".
If you translated it to "I didn't meet anyone interesting today", that would make sense in English and prompt the correct answer, would it not? Because it seems like based on this lesson, either answer is correct depending on what Spanish-speaking country you're in!

Answer

Me again - just had this on another quiz today and because it was two weeks ago I forgot what the Kqiziq answer was and because it is counterintuitive, I got it wrong again lol :)

Here it is:

Hoy no _________________ a nadie interesante.I haven't met anybody interesting today.
I think that "I haven't met anyone interesting today" would be "Hoy no he conocido a nadie interesante".And "I didn't meet anyone interesting today" would be "Hoy no conoci a nadie interesante".
Can you explain the translation and the answer in the quiz please, considering this? Thanks!

Answer

Hello there Melissa,You are quite right:(i) that "I didn't meet anyone interesting today" would have corresponded better with the answer "... conocí ..."(ii) that "... conocí ..." would indeed be more consistent with Hispano-american usage even when translating "I haven't met anybody interesting today" ... So maybe Kwiziq was in fact choosing that option because it was well aware that you had asked for a Latin American profile.Preferences for choosing a straight preterite form rather than the compounded one [i.e., using 'ha' or 'he' + participio pasado] do actually vary - to some extent - across different parts of Spain. So it is probably worth taking a flexible attitude to it, instead of judging the matter rigidly in terms of what is 'right' or 'wrong'.