Just to show it’s not just me though, I can testify that my daughter, who has just started A Level French, and is a big fan of the Walking Dead video game series, has been getting just as much out of the French version of the Walking Dead graphic novel series as I got out of the Portuguese ones. She’s only a couple of volumes deep but she’s already better able to unravel complicated sentences, recognise new vocabulary that has come up before, and read out loud. I’ve been nagging her for ages to try the Astérix books but they’re not something that appeals to her and I’m glad she’s found her way to a series that suits her.
No ano passado, prestei muita atenção às notícias sobre as autárquicas mas, desta vez, a eleição passou me quase despercebida no meu sofá*. Estava desperto** para os acontecimentos, claro, mas só de modo ténue. Ouvi uns podcasts, vi uns tuites. Hoje, há um vídeo na Internet – provavelmente já viste – no qual um jornalista fala das legislativas e finge pedir uma explicação sobre o leque de partidos que fizeram parte.
É óbvio que os termos políticos, como “Liberal” e “socialista” têm significados (ou seja valores?) diferentes em países diferentes, e isso é bem ilustrado pelo contraste entre Portugal e os EUA.
* One of the problems of trying to reproduce my own writing style in Portuguese is that its not always easy to distinguish jokes or deliberately odd expressions from actual mistakes. I am really trying to say “It went almost unnoticed on my sofa” but of course that sounds weird in English so in Portuguese, I had suggestions like “passou quase despercebido enquanto estava no meu sofá” which is probably a more normal way of expressing it.
** I originally wrote that I was conscious (“consciente”) of the goings-on but that seems not to be the way Portuguese speakers use that word. Instead they are awake to it.
Oscar Wilde disse uma vez “Consigo resistir a tudo menos à tentação” e eu concordo. Não como porcarias* desde que não existem em casa, mas hoje a minha esposa fez montes de bolachas para a macaquinha e a amiga dela mas quando voltei para casa, ainda restavam montes e eu é que as comi.
Entretanto, instalei um novo jogo neste telemóvel e agora não consigo desistir de abrir a janela por cada dez minutos. Eu cá preciso de mais vontade para perder peso e ficar mais produtivo.
*=The word I originally used here was “petiscos”, which I usually think of as meaning snacks, but they’re only savoury snacks. The suggestions I was given, in addition to “porcarias” (actually means something like “filth” but can refer to any sort of junk food) were “guloseimas” (sweets) or “gordices” (fattening things)
Here’s a text I wrote, with correction notes at the bottom. Thanks to Eqdif and Dani_Morgenstern for the help. I’ve finished my thirty day yoga experiment now but as you can see we’re still using it as a family workout despite the lack of floor space in our flat. Writing about yoga on here has brought me a lot of new follows and likes from yoga-related bloggers, which is nice (hello yoga peeps!) but I hope they don’t think I’m some sort of fitness influencer because I can’t live up to that kind of expectation!
This isn’t the routine we were doing but it’s by the same instructor and it seems to fit the theme of the text!
A minha filha anda cada vez mais obcecada com a saga* Walking Dead, traduzida em francês. Mas ela precisa de ajuda portanto lemos juntos. Hoje passámos umas horas a ler. Uma vez que não tinha feito o meu yoga diário** (29 dias malta!), sugeri “faz uma sessão de Yoga comigo e depois lemos mais umas páginas.” ela concordou mas com pouco entusiasmo.
Durante a aula, estavamos de pé, ela no meu lado esquerdo, com as ancas dobradas***, as cabeças viradas para baixo e os braços pendurados frouxamente em direcção ao chão.
A professora disse “vira a cabeça para a direita”. Obedecemos. “Depois, volta para o centro… Agora, vira a cabeça novamente mas desta vez para a esquerda.”
Virei a cabeça na direção dela. Ela estava ainda virada para mim. Os nossos olhos encontraram-se e ela gemeu “Riick Grrriiimes”. Desatámos às gargalhadas.
* Although Série can be used it’s used to refer to a TV series, and I’m talking about the series of graphic novels, hence the word saga instead.
** Despite ending in an a, yoga is masculine apparently.
*** what I’m describing here is what the yoga instructor calls a “forward fold”, but the expression I tried to use – “dobrados da anca” = “bent from the hips” doesn’t really work so I’ve used the suggested “with our hips bent”. TBH, it’s a slightly odd phrase even in English, so I shouldn’t be that surprised but I’m pretty sure it’s how she describes the pose.
Today is the hundredth day in a row I’ve posted on here. I didn’t really set out to make it a target but reposting my corrections and the occasional random though has all added up quickly. It’s helping keep me going; as work gets busier and it’s tempting to just skip a day, I’ve got these daily reminders to keep me motivated: one hundred days of blogging and recently passing 140 days (20 weeks) of daily writing on Writestreakpt as part of my epic quest for C1 dominance. It would be painful to break the streak now, so I keep powering on, harnessing my OCD to good effect.
I wasn’t as engaged in the Legislativas as I was in last years Autárquicas. I quite enjoyed this guy’s resection video though (in English) which you can use as an explainer for anyone who wants to know what the heck happened
(which would be “Não ligues aos bolos” of course, but I prefer the mixed version!)
Perdi completamente a paciência para* este governo. Por um lado, não quero perder tempo a falar sobre bolos e festas e tal quando o mundo está à beira do abismo por causa do imperialismo da Rússia mas por outro lado… Que raios? És o primeiro-ministro, seu burro, não és um organizador de entretenimento num campo de férias. Deixa de fazer palhaçadas e sê mas é um profissional!
*para not com. You lose patience for them not with them.
Alguém me recomendou um livro chamado “Stolen Focus” (“foco roubado”) que explica um grande problema dos dias de hoje: o de não sermos capazes de nos concentrar numa única…
Stolen Focus
Desculpa, fui distraído por uma notificação.
… Numa única coisa por causa da nossa cultura moderna, principalmente das redes sociais. Achei irónico que a primeira coisa que este gajo tenha feito depois de ler tenha sido abrir o Twitter e elogiar o autor.
O autor, Johann Hari, ganhou um prémio há uns anos pelo seu jornalismo. As suas entrevistas destacam muito bem as ideias dos entrevistados, mas houve um escândalo em 2011 que deu cabo de tudo quando um bloguista o acusou de ter plagiado parágrafos dos livros e entrevistas de outros. O Hari defendeu-se mas era óbvio que ele se tinha comportado mal. Fico contente por ver que conseguiu crescer como pessoa e voltar para escrever de um modo mais educativo. Os seus talentos encaixam melhor naquele modelo em vez de puro jornalismo.
(I don’t normally talk about books in english on here unless they’re textbooks, but in case you’re interested, you can get it from Foyles (they’re like Amazon but they pay their employees and their taxes) or Audible (who are owned by Amazon, thus subverting all the self-righteousness of the previous bracket)
Acabei de passar uma hora com a minha filha, a ler uma banda desenhada francesa (uma tradução do The Walking Dead). Foi muito divertido mas o meu cérebro está sobreaquecido* por causa de todo o esforço. Às vezes, lamento a decisão dos nossos antepassados de construirem uma torre até ao céu. Por resultado da sua vaidade, aqui estamos nós a falar várias línguas. A vida seria mais fácil se falássemos todos o mesmo idioma**, principalmente se fosse inglês.
*Although this is definitely what I wanted to say, it’s not a very common phrase and Desanipt, who corrected it (thanks Desanipt!) suggested “está em papa” or “está a deitar fumo” instead
**One of those annoying words that looks like it ought to be feminine but isn’t.
The choice of The Walking Dead was influenced by my saying I’d enjoyed reading it in Portuguese, and found it a good way of learning to read early on, because the pictures give you context and nudge you along towards understanding. I’ve talked about that in the graphic novel section of the blog if you’re interested. They’ve translated quite a lot of them into European Portuguese.
Here’s an attempt at translating the song “Lisboa Nao é Hollywood” by Os Azeitonas. It doesn’t seem to haave a translation on lyricstranslate so I thought I’d make one. Seems like quite a simple song but it’s really, really tricky!
Chega Cândida de capeline Cândida arrives wearing a capeline* Como ela respira saúde** She's glowing with health Quase que parece a Marilyn She almost looks like Marilyn Ao chegar*** a Hollywood On her arrival in Hollywood Mas sem tapetes encarnados But with no red carpets Sob os seus pés de dama Under her ladylike feet Os seus sapatinhos delicados Her delicate little shoes Apenas pisam na lama only step in the mud Lisboa é paleio de Aljube**** Lisbon is well known to criminals Por entre ruas, esquinas Among its streets and corners Também tem suas colinas, mas It has its hills too, but Lisboa não É Hollywood Lisboa isn't Hollywood Lá vai Cândida a correr atrás There goes Cândida, chasing Seu peito diz sorria Her spirit***** says smile Mas nos seus dentes nunca brilha o flash But the flash of a photograph has never Da fotografia Lit up her teeth Lá vai Cândida a mandar beijinhos There goes Cândida, blowing kisses Com o seu jeito rude In her rude way Como quem atalha caminho Like someone taking a shortcut Para chegar a Hollywood To arrive in Hollywood Lisboa é paleio de Aljube**** Lisbon is well known to criminals Por entre ruas, esquinas Among its streets and corners Também tem suas colinas, mas It has its hills too, but Lisboa não É Hollywood Lisboa isn't Hollywood Como ela cai na trama How she falls into the trap****** E vai esbanjando******* virtude And squanders her virtue Pelo passeio da fama mas On the walk of fame, but Lisboa não É Hollywood Lisboa isn't Hollywood Olha Cândida na solidão Look at Cândida, all alone De capeline, rouge e baton In her Capeline, rouge and lipstick Não foi parar ao panteão She didn't end up in the pantheon Morreu na vala comum She died in the gutter Lisboa é paleio de Aljube**** Lisbon is well-known to criminals Por entre ruas, esquinas Among its streets, and corners Também tem suas colinas, mas It has its hills too, but Lisboa não É Hollywood Lisboa isn't Hollywood
* = It’s a kind of hat apparently. Never heard of it!
**=Respira Saúde = Literally “breathes health” so visibly healthy, confident and in good form, not just “is healthy”. Researching this on the web, there’s some use of it in a more loreal way, meaning “breathing in a healthy way”, eg giving up smoking, but it is used as an expression too.
*** = I wrote about this “Ao + infinitive” construction a couple of months back and I seem to have seen it everywhere since.
**** = This line is a real enigma. The word aljube with a small letter can be a dark prison or a cavern. The fact that it’s written with a capital letter in all the sources I can find seems to imply that it’s a reference to A Cadeia do Aljube, which was the name of a prison (cadeira) that has been in existence since the peninsula was colonised by the muslim imperialists in the 8th century. The name Aljube comes from the arabic for a well. After the reconquista, its use changed but certainly by the twentieth century it was being used for political prisoners of the fascist Estado Novo, and had a pretty terrible reputation. These days, it’s a museum of resistance and liberty. “Paleio” means gossip or small talk, so the sentence “Lisboa é paleio de Aljube” doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. My wife didn’t know what they were driving at. I asked around on reddit and had four different replies, all different. The two closest guesses were along the lines of “a rumour in the prison”, meaning it was something lowlifes and criminals talk about, which is why I’ve translated it as “well known to criminals” but others have suggested “A trick in a cavern”, or even “pillow talk” (because Aljube can also mean alcove, and “de alcova” in Brazilian Portuguese can imply something relating to sex). Meh, its slightly odd that there’s a lyric like this that no two listeners can agree on the meaning, but there are plenty of songs on English that are obscure and ambiguous so I suppose I shouldn’t be that surprised!
***** = Not sure about this one either. “her chest says smile” just sounds weird but one of the lesser meanings of peito is “ânimo” so I’m interpreting it as she’s making an effort of will to smile…? But at least one of the people who replied to my question about paleio said that there was an implication that Cândida is a prostitute so maybe there’s some sort of implication that people are smiling at her cleavage…?
****** = Another iffy one: Trama can be a thread, either literal or in the sense of a unifying plot-line of a book (in fact, I think I used it in a a book review a couple of days ago!) or even a tram line. I wondered if we were supposed to imagine her literally tripping on a tram track but it didn’t seem to fit well with the next line.
******* = fantastic! I only learned this word a week or two ago, doing one of Paulo Freixinho’s old crosswords and here it is again!
By the way, I see Os Azeitonas are candidates for this year’s Eurovision but they’ve come down a long way since they lost their most talented dude, Miguel Araújo, and the song is vanilla AF.
Luso 