Language pitfalls. So many language pitfalls.
Ah Portuguese! It’s a constant source of both frustration and fascination. Lindsey put it very nicely in a recent post:
“It’s what will paralyze you on your weaker days, and give you the biggest sense of accomplishment on your strong ones.”
So true. The simplest victories will put a spring in my step for the whole day – the failures can make me feel utterly defeated. Mistakes and misunderstandings are common and occasionally your mistake will cause everyone to fall about laughing. In such situations they say that it’s better to laugh along with everyone but I find it difficult not to scowl. Sometimes I throw in a little sulking as well for good measure.
And the pitfalls are many. First of all there are gender issues – I will describe this using one of my famous animations. Those of you who speak Portuguese should be able to work this one out just from the imagery:
Spot the connection...
So Lusophones – did you get it? The gender issue here is that the word cigarro means cigarette, but if you get a little mixed up and put an “a” on the end you end up with cigarra, the word for a cicada (remember my terrifying insect encounter?). If you’re a smoker and ask someone for a large (and icky) insect that chirrups, you may well be laughed at…
But the pitfalls of pronunciation can be far worse. I remember hearing the story of a girl who had moved to Rio from her native North America. Each morning she would make the short walk to the local bakery and take her place in the queue to buy bread. She had started taking Portuguese lessons and so when she reached the front of the line, she would proudly ask the baker guy for some warm bread – pão quente. So far, so good.
After a while, however, she realised that each time she asked for the bread, there would be some stifled sniggering behind her. She became a little self-conscious and decided to ask one of her Brazilian friends. “Why is everyone laughing at me when I ask for pão quente?” she asked. Once her friend had stopped laughing, he explained!
The problem is that pão is properly pronounced almost like ‘pown’, but English speakers often make the mistake of saying it ‘pow’, so that it rhymes with ‘cow’. The problem with that is that there is already a word in Portuguese with that sound – pau. Now then, if you put pau into Google Translate, it will tell you it means ‘stick’ or ‘wood’ and whilst those are correct, if you go to Google Brazil Image Search and type in pau, you will see some other search results mixed in…
So many er, "sticks"... I trust this has banished any lingering confusion over the many meanings of the word pau.
As you might imagine, the girl decided to buy her warm pão from a different bakery after that!
Dear Tom,
I hear you! Portuguese can be a major B when learning.
I have an example that might serve as a consolation to you, we Brazilians also have a hard time and a lot of frustration when learning English. Let me give you some examples:
I remember asking for SOUP when I actually needed SOAP to wash the car when I first arrived here.
Sheet and Shit is a typical one that might cause embarassment.
Beach and Bitch, Son and Sun, Piece and Peace!
Don’t even get me started with PUSH and PULL!! It still gets me sometimes, and I have been living in the US for almost 15 years now, it’s somewhat of an instinct that triggers something deep into my brain and it’s hard to reverse it. You know in Portuguese PUSH means PULL, how confusing can that be!!!!
Trust me! You are not alone my friend! :)
Abraco
Ray
Ha ha! Thanks Ray!
The PUSH/PUXE one gets me all the time! As I approach a door, I tell myself over and over: “Do the opposite of what you think you should do…” – sometimes it works, sometimes I kind of out-think myself and get it wrong! :D
A lot of Brazilians tell me they have problems with beach/bitch and sheet/shit. That is my cue to spend the next five minutes trying to explain: “Sheeeeeeeeeet – Shit! Sheeeeeeeeet – Shit!” – people who happen to be walking past shake their heads and say to each other “Crazy gringo…”
I once said I liked “água de cocô” instead of “água de coco.” Fortunately, I made this mistake in Portuguese class and not on the street – although the teacher laughed so hard he nearly fez cocô!
Aha ha ha! I remember the first time I found out what cocô meant (if anyone doesn’t know, it means poo!) and I just thought to myself “Why would they do that?!! It’s like they’re setting a trap for me!” :)
I’ve seen in some places they actually put an circumflex over the first “o”, as in côco, just to be sure!
I can certainly relate to language pitfalls. This pretty much happened to me when I was in England. I, like the dude in the vid, also turned to a translator for guidance.
Don’t fret though as things do get better. In London I had already caught on to “bloke” and “wanker” by the fourth day of my stay, regardless if they were used in intermittent or continous fashion.
Ha ha ha! Good clip! We do start to get a little uppity when Americans correct us (-It’s not a “torch”, it’s a “flashlight” -Oh really?)
Hi Tom
(While I wait for your “o gato subiu no telhado”…)
I am probably in the middle of my biggest pitfall of all. I wrote a book in Portuguese and started writting the English version. OMG, I’m just pulling my hair! I don’t have problems writting casually and in slang but when it comes to some expressions I used, it can get very, very tricky. I don’t want to change the style in which I originally wrote it so I’m stuck with some bits of it. Maybe you can help me? Would you like to read my book and see what you think? Good exercise for you too!!
Hi again Eliana! :) I’d love to read your book! I’ll do my best to help with any suggestions – you can email me at eatrio.net@gmail.com! Looking forward to it already! :D