Tuesday 30 June 2015

Brazilian Colloquialisms, Sayings, and Slang #84

Me engana que eu gosto! - Fool/decieve me for I enjoy/like it!

A way of saying “Yeah, right - like I’m ever gonna believe that!” or “Nice try!”.

My guess is that the thought behind its origins is “try to fool/deceive me, for I find your  attempts amusing”.

Thursday 25 June 2015

Brazilian Colloquialisms, Sayings, and Slang #83

Presente de grego - Greek present

A present that’s a disservice and/or not beneficial rather than a genuine gift. 

Usually used when someone gives you something that is gonna give you more work rather than make your life easier/a really boring present that isn’t good for anything.

E.g. Someone gives you a car accessory despite knowing full well you don’t own a car.

The term is referencing the Trojan Horse.

Saturday 20 June 2015

Brazilian Colloquialisms, Sayings, and Slang #82

Nó!

Yet another permutation of Nossa!/Nossa Senhora! that I forgot to add in with that post. There’s a lot of variations. it’s hard to keep track.

Nó is also the noun for “knot”. 

Wednesday 10 June 2015

Brazilian Colloquialisms, Sayings, and Slang #81

Deu nó no cérebro - There was a knot in/on the brain

Even more literally, “it gave a knot in/on the brain”

When you get things confused/switched around (i.e. you meant to say left instead of right, you get people confused in your head, etc). 

A close cousin of “getting one’s wires crossed”, the “brain fart” and “blonde moment” in English.

Brazilian vs European Portuguese #2

brazilspill:


anililina:

brazilspill:

Dublar vs Dobrar

Both refer to dubbing a film/tv show, etc.

Brazilians call it dublar (probably from the English term), while the Portuguese call it dobrar (literally, “to double” or “to fold”)

WoW! The Brazilian term looks spanish.

I know, right?!

It’s very common for that to happen, which makes learning one after knowing the other a double-edged sword - it’s easier to learn the basics but half the time you find yourself wondering “Oh damn, is that just me trying to make it sound like the other language or is that how it actually goes?”. Or using the wrong noun gender - when I lived in Cuba for 4 months I kept using “la” when asking for water because it’s a feminine noun in Portuguese. (The Cubans thought it was hilarious).

I’ve personally always felt that Brazilian Portuguese sounds/looks like Spanish with some French sounds thrown in (which is probably why it’s easier for Portuguese speakers to understand Spanish than the other way around - I think the nasal tones throw Hispanophones for a loop :P).  :)

Friday 5 June 2015

Brazilian Portuguese Grammar #4

When the letter H appears at the beginning of a word (i.e. helicoptero, hospital, Henrique, etc) the H is always silent. 

If you come across any exceptions (i.e. hamster or hashi, where the H is pronounced like an R), you can bet the word was borrowed from another language (in these cases, German and Japanese respectively).