Brazilian English: Brazinglish, Portenglish or Englishese?
Posted by Stephan Hughes on February 16, 2010
From English to Brazilian Portuguese and back … Another great guest blog from Brazil, this time from Stephan Hughes, teacher, teacher trainer, translator, interpreter and educational technology enthusiast.
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Living in the country for more than 13 years has given me some “expertise” on the impact of English on Brazilian Portuguese. Words are adapted and formed based on English ones, e.g. deletar (to delete), estopar (to stop), printer (to print), and then there are those words which are incorporated lock stock and barrel, e.g. penalty, performance, approach, holding. Some are borrowed in the original form but have changed in meaning: an outdoor no longer refers to an open space, somewhere beyond the area of a four walled room, but a billboard or large advertising poster spread out around big Brazilian cities.
As an English speaking native and language teacher in Rio, I realized how influential my mother tongue could be. One aspect that I have found quite intriguing is the use of the Future Continuous or Future Perfect Continuous in Portuguese, especially in telemarketing jargon: “Dentro de uma semana, o senhor estará recebendo nosso catálogo” (which translates into English as “In a week’s time you will be receiving our catalog, Sir”). From what Brazilian colleagues have told me, the use of the tense in Portuguese was virtually non-existent until some years ago.
Another fun element of Portenglish/Brazinglish or whatever you might want to call it is the way Brazilian learners and teachers of English alike literally “translate” sayings and proverbs from one language to the other. For instance, the omnipresent What’s up is loosely translated as “Which is”, which is a literal translation of the original Portuguese equivalent Qual é.
Here are a couple more examples:
Makeshift translation: Don’t come that don’t have!
Original Brazilian saying: Não vem que não tem!
English version: Don’t even think about it!
Makeshift translation: It’s not soft, no!
Original Brazilian saying: Não é mole, não!
English version: It’s not easy! It’s no walk in the park!
Finally, a great way to see how one language impacts on the other is in music. One song penned by Brazilian artist Zeca Baleiro makes things crystal clear. Here are a few lines:
Venha provar meu brunch (Come try my brunch)
Saiba que eu tenho approach (Know that I take things head on)
Na hora do lunch (At snack time)
Eu ando de ferryboat (I take the ferryboat)
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Comments (6)
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Posted by Vivian on 16th February, 2010
Haha it’s so funny these makeshift translation … when people speak like in the lyrics, it’s because they want to show off (and most of them aren’t good English speakers).
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Posted by Fabio Fischer on 16th February, 2010
The telemarketing jargon is very annoying.
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Posted by Laura Hahn on 16th February, 2010
It’s very interesting to know the perspective of an English native speaker teaching English in Brazil. I’m a Brazilian English teacher in Brazil.
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Posted by Ana Ramos on 17th February, 2010
As a Portuguese English teacher living in Portugal, I can also tell you that in my country we also have and use many English borrowings: sport language is a wide field and I can give you a few examples of those borrowings – andebol for handball, hóquei for hockey or basquetebol for basktball.
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Posted by maria esteves on 17th February, 2010
It’s a very interesting point. I’ve been study english since I was young, and I have a Theory about that language borrowings. When learning, teachers advise you to try hard to think in english to improve your speach. On this way as the time past and your aim is achivied, becames natural that you make littles mistakes (confusion) on your mother tongue, and began to change or use some english words instead of portuguese words. It’s happens to me after came from a journey abbroad (N.Y, London), or have used english (spoken or written) for a long period. And what began as a mistake soon turns in a usual way of speak. Brazinglish, if you prefer.
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Posted by Maria do Céu Costa on 18th February, 2010
Dear Stephan,
While reading your interesting notes, it has occurred me the following which is currently trendy in my country, Portugal :
1- “É / estás muito fashion!” ( when you are observing, and giving very positive appreciation regarding your clothes or hairstyle, for example); 2 -”Fiz um backup do documento” (I have saved a copy of this document) ; 3 – “Preciso de ir ao médico para fazer um check-up” (I need see the doctor so as to know about my health conditions, and proceed according to the type of examinations required by the doctor)As for the example you have given above “In a week’s time you will be receiving our catalog, Sir.”, in Portugal we say : “Dentro de uma semana, o senhor irá receber o nosso catálogo.” It’s worth noticing the use of the definite article.
All the best,
Maria
