Tag: translation

Posted in English, Portuguese

Ser Poeta – Florbela Espanca

Posted on by Colin Lusk

Here’s my translation of this Florbela Espanca soneto which I mentioned in passing in yesterday’s post. It’s quite easy to translate the words, but translating poetry usually makes it feel a bit leaden so I hope I don’t do it too much dirt. The main reason it caught my eye was the title of the song based on it: “Perdidamente”. It’s one of those words that’s really hard to translate on its own. How would you translate it_ It looks like it ought to be “lostly” but we don’t really have such a word in english. I suppose “hopelessly” or “desperately” are in the right area, but neither is quite the same. Sod it, I’m going to translate it as lostly and the Oxford English Dictionary can bloody sue me!

Ser poeta é ser mais alto, é ser maior

Do que os homens! Morder como quem beija!

É ser mendigo e dar como quem seja

Rei do Reino de Aquém e de Além Dor!



É ter de mil desejos o esplendor

E não saber sequer que se deseja!

É ter cá dentro um astro que flameja,

É ter garras e asas de condor!



É ter fome, é ter sede de Infinito!

Por elmo, as manhãs de oiro e cetim…

É condensar o mundo num só grito!



E é amar-te, assim, perdidamente…

É seres alma e sangue e vida em mim

E dizê-lo cantando a toda a gente!		To be a poet is to be taller, to be bigger

Than men, to bite like one who kisses

It is to be a beggar and give like one who is

King of the Kingdom of Within and Beyond Pain



It is to have the splendour of a thousand desires

And not even to to know what one desires

It’s to have in here a star that burns

And to have the claws of a condor



It’s to have an infinite hunger and thirst

For a helmet, the mornings of gold and satin

It is too condense the world into just one scream



And it is to love you like this, lostly

It is for you to be soul and blood and life in me

And to say it, singing to everyone!
Posted in English, Portuguese

Luís Represas – Na Curva do Horizonte

Posted on by Colin Lusk

Morreu ontem Luís Represas, o cantautor* e ex’membro dos Trovante. Não o conheço bem, mas decidi experimentar os seus top 5 de vídeos no Tutube. Acho que já ouvi “perdidamente”, uma versão de “Ser Poeta” da escritora lendária Florbela Espanca” mas este dueto chamou-me mais a atenção

PortuguêsInglês
A voz não veio de lá
Quem me chamou eu não vi
Se alguém ligou por ligar
Quem me ligou não ouvi
Entrei em casa e fiquei
Em pé e quase a dormir
Dos dias longos roubei
Alguns minutos para viver para mim
Só para não esquecer porque parti		The voice didn’t come from there
I didn’t see whoever called me
If someone called just to call
Whoever called me, I didn’t hear
I went in the house and stood
there, almost asleep
From the long days I stole
Some minutes to live just for myself
Just to remember why I left
Parti sem nunca partir
Fiquei sem nunca ficar
Saí sem nunca sair
Voltei sem nunca voltar
Falei sem nunca falar
Gritei sem nunca gritar
Guardei o que posso de mim
Pensei e posso pensar		I left without ever leaving
I stayed without ever staying
I went out without ever going out
I returned without ever returning
I spoke without ever speaking
I screamed without ever screaming
I kept what I could of myself
I thought and I can think
Felicidade faz bem
Simplicidade maior
A estrada não tem ninguém
Mas tem um vento que cheira a amor
Eu adivinho alguém
Na curva do horizonte
Se és tu que sinto chegar
Não te escondas mais por trás do monte
Sai
Vem e dá-me a mão
Vamos voar		Happiness is a good thing
Simplicity is larger
The street has nobody
but it has a wind that smells like love
I sense someone
On the curve of the horizon
If it’s you that I feel approaching
Don’t hide yourself behind the mountain
Come out
Come and give me your hand
Let’s fly
Parti sem nunca partir
Fiquei sem nunca ficar
Saí sem nunca sair
Voltei sem nunca voltar
Falei sem nunca falar
Gritei sem nunca gritar
Guardei o que posso de mim
Pensei e posso pensar		I left without ever leaving
I stayed without ever staying
I went out without ever going out
I returned without ever returning
I spoke without ever speaking
I screamed without ever screaming
I kept what I could of myself
I thought and I can think
Voltei sem nunca voltar
Fiquei sem nunca ficar
Saí sem nunca sair
Pensei e posso pensar		I returned without ever returning
I stayed without ever staying
I went out without ever going out
I thought and I can think

*Obscure word this, but keen followers of this blog will remember it from the footnote of this post. It’s a cantor-autor – a singer-songwriter.

Posted in English, Portuguese

Capitão Fausto – Na-Na-Nada

Posted on by Colin Lusk

Welcome back to the Capitão Fausto Fan Blog! It’s still Friday night as I write this, and the translation I did for yesterday’s blog was so short I thought I’d try another

PortuguêsInglês
Quando aqui chegou
Foi porque ainda não estava
Nada se apagou enquanto eu protestava
E às tantas sossegou
Explicaram que afinal não era nada		When she* got here
It was because she wasn’t here yet
Nothing stopped while I was protesting
And at last it calmed down
They explained that in the end it was nothing
Andar em contramão
Calçar a botifarra
Quero ouvir calão e o som de uma guitarra
Se dás, eu também dou
Se gritas muito, eu dou-te uma dentada		Going against the flow
Putting on my clumpy boots
I want to hear slang and the sound of a guitar
If you give I’ll give too
If you scream, I’ll bite you
Cheguei a casa e sossegou
Explicaram que afinal não era na-na-na-na nada
Na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na nada, na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na nada, na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na nada, na-na-na-na-na-na		I got home and chilled out
They explained that in the end it was no-no-no-no-nothing, no-no-no-no-nothing
No-no-no-no-nothing no-no-no-no-nothing
No-no-no-no-nothing no-no-no-no-nothing
No-no-no-no-nothing no-no-no-no-nothing
Quem me der a mão é porque quer que eu nunca caia
Pode ser que queira vir comigo até à praia
Ou pode ser que não, de qualquer forma vai ter de entender
Que ainda há muita coisa pra aprender
Algumas delas servirão
Mas outras nunca vão servir pra na-na-na-na nada		Whoever gives me their hand, its because they don’t want me to ever fall
Maybe they want to come to the beach with me
Or maybe not. Somehow she’ll have to understand
That there’s still a lot to learn
Some of them will be OK
But others are good for nothing
Na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na nada, na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na nada, na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na nada, na-na-na-na-na-na		No-no-no-no-nothing
No-no-no-no-nothing no-no-no-no-nothing
No-no-no-no-nothing no-no-no-no-nothing
No-no-no-no-nothing no-no-no-no-nothing

*Honestly, it’s anybody’s guess what pronouns to use in most of this song. Who or what is he on about? Are those imperfect verbs in the first or third person? Can we even get an adjective with an ending that tells us what gender we’re dealing with? Throw me a frickin’ bone here!

OK, I think I’m sick of them again now,

Posted in English, Portuguese

Capitão Fausto – Santa Ana

Posted on by Colin Lusk

Well, I can’t see my new pro-Fausto stance lasting long because, as I said yesterday, their studio output is quite bland and overproduced, but while I am in the zone, let’s try a translation. This is Santa Ana from their first album, Gazela, and one of the songs they played as the finale for the show.

PortuguêsInglês
Está a chover dentro da sala de estar
A casa ardeu; ninguém parou de dançar		It’s raining in the living room
The house caught fire. Nobody stopped dancing
Ela diz que devo aprender
As noites simples e o que é ficar
Ela é linda e o seu parecer
Faz-me sentir que é tempo de mudar		She says I should learn
The ordinary nights are what it is to stay
She’s lovely and her appearance
Makes me think it’s time to change
Está a chover dentro da sala de estar
A casa ardeu; ninguém parou de dançar		It’s raining in the living room
The house caught fire. Nobody stopped dancing
Ela diz que eu devo aprender
As noites simples e o que é ficar
Ela é linda mas não quer ver
Que qualquer dia já cá não vou estar		She says I should learn
The ordinary nights are what it is to stay
She’s lovely but I don’t want to see
That someday I won’t be here

Is that all? 8 lines? I don’t feel like I’ve had much of a workout. That’s a long instrumental break they did at the end there. OK, well, I like the lyrics anyway, even if they are a bit terse, sometimes it’s best to keep it tight and not waffle on for 4 verses. I hope you enjoyed it.

Posted in English, Portuguese

Cães de Loiça

Posted on by Colin Lusk

I heard this on Instagram and I was entranced, and had to hear the whole thing. The name of the band is Rouxinol Faduncho, which is like “Bad Fado Nightingale”, which sets expectations right from the start. Let’s see what the hell is going on in the lyrics.

(Ora o público pediu, e mais aderiu e até ganiu nesta campanha internacional e até europeia intitulada: Help Me a Pôr os Cães de Loiça a Sorrir a “Gane”. A gane quer dizer a sorrir a gane ou a ganir. tem sido,
Maravilhoso…)		Well, the public asked and even subscribed and even whined in this
International, and even european campaign entitled
Help me make china dogs smile a gane*. A gane means smile until whine or while howling. It has been marvelous.
Oi pra o sofrimento um bom remédio há afinal
Ajudem os cães de loiça, esse pobre animal
Ao vê-lo feroz no portão, eu sempre me comovo
Se a tinta cair ao chão, dou-lhe mais uma demão** e ele fica como novo		Hey, finally there’s a remedy for suffering
China dogs help, that poor animal
When I see them, ferocious at the gate, i always feel moved
If the paint falls on the flour, I’ll give it some more
One more coat and he’ll be good as new
Se gostas de animais, cães de loiça
Que não sujem os quintais, cães de loiça
São “bobbies” bestiais, cães de loiça
São cãezinhos mal tratados, de olhos esbugalhados e nada saltitões
Nunca se vão babar, nem ganir, nem ladrar, nem ferrar os ladrões		If you like animals, china dogs
That don’t dirty the garden, china dogs
They are beastly “bobbies”, china dogs
They are badly treated little dogs with googly eyes and not at all frisky
They never drool or whine or bark or injure burglars
Por serem portugueses e parecidos com o Toy
Que os restaurantes chineses não fazem deles “chopsói”
Não largam pelos ou pena, nunca roem os sofás
Reparem bem nesta cena, são estrelas de cinema
Cento e um Dalmatás		Because they are Portuguese, and look like Toy
Because chinese restaurants don’t turn them into chop suey***
They don’t drop hairs or feathers, they never chew sofas
Pay attention to this scene, they are stars of cinema
101 Dalmatians
Se gostas de animais, cães de loiça
Que não sujem os quintais, cães de loiça
São “bobbies” bestiais, cães de loiça
São cãezinhos mal tratados, de olhos esbugalhados e nada saltitões
Nunca se vão babar, nem ganir, nem ladrar, nem ferrar os ladrões		If you like animals, china dogs
That don’t dirty the garden, china dogs
They are beastly “bobbies”, china dogs
They are badly treated little dogs with googly eyes and not at all frisky
They never drool or whine or bark or injure burglars
(Aquilo é uma maravilha, aquilo corre corre… é uma companhia… pfff! e aquilo tem que se fazer, tem que se levar um saquinho sempre para apanhar os cócós
Depois… Há que manter… que isto da camada do ozoto está a acabar, não é? temos que manter isto… planeta limpo… mas são muito engraça… e fofos? ui!)		That’s amazing, it runs… it’s company… pff!! And you know what you have to do, you have to bring a little bag with you every time to hold its poo afterwards, you have to maintain… because of this thing about the ozogen**** layer disappearing, right? We have to keep this planet clean, but they are very funny… and cute? Ui!
Se gostas de animais, cães de loiça
Que não sujem os quintais, cães de loiça
São “bobbies” bestiais, cães de loiça
São cãezinhos mal tratados, de olhos esbugalhados e nada saltitões
Nunca se vão babar, nem ganir, nem ladrar, nem ferrar os ladrões		If you like animals, china dogs
That don’t dirty the garden, china dogs
They are beastly “bobbies”, china dogs
They are badly treated little dogs with googly eyes and not at all frisky
They never drool or whine or bark or injure burglars

*I actually googled “sorrir a gane”, but I’m pretty sure this is a pun. The name of the campaign starts with “help me” so I guess “a gane” is meant to sound like “again”. Help me make the dogs smile again, where “gane” is the third person singular of the verb “ganir” – to whine. I went and looked at the release date, confidently expecting it would be in or after 2016, so playing on a certain well-known catch-phrase of that absolute fuckwit the Americans have elected to pretend to be a president and plunge themselves further into decline. But no – it was released in 2007, so they obviously just hit on a pun that would become much more topical and more depressing 9 years later.

** Wow, I was sure this was a typo in the lyrics and it should be “de mão” (ie, he’s painting it by hand) but no, uma demão is a coat of paint or a retouch.

***😬

****I think the original “ozoto” is a deliberate mistake, mixing Ozono (ozone) and Azoto (nitrogen) so I have translated it in the same way.

Posted in English, Portuguese

Inter-City Rivalry

Posted on by Colin Lusk

This song was released a year ago but I haven’t got around to translating it. It was written by Capicua, who says on Instagram that Ana Bacalhau had challenged her to write a sort of “Let’s Call The Whole Thing off” based on different ways of speaking between Lisboa and Porto.

Hm, I thought it would be fun to translate but now I think it might be a struggle. It’s mainly giving words that mean the same in the two cities, so the translations will all be like “cheese is cheese” won’t they? Oh god… oh well, let’s see how it goes.

In the orange corner, representing Lisboa, Ana “I used to be in Deolinda, you know” Bacalhau and in the green corner, representing Porto, Cláudia “I made a forgettable Eurovision song” Pascoal.

Imperial é Fino

PortuguêsIngês
Ah, e quê?
Ah, então?
Ah, o quê?
Que algo se perde na nossa tradução?
Ah, e quê?
Ah, então?
Ah, o quê?
Ó bacalhau, eu vou-te explicar
Hum, conta!		Ah, and what?
Ah, so?
Ah, what?
That something gets lost in our translation
Ah, and what?
Ah, so?
Ah, what?
Hey, Bacalhau, I’m going explain to you
Er… bill please!
Dizes que não tens qualquer sotaque
Isto não é um ataque, mas tens falta de noção
E depois dizes
Pra não ser de surpresa
Eu tufono-te às dezoito pra marcar a reunião
Olha quem fala, tu dizes à minha beira
Com pronúncia da ribeira quando estás ao pé de mim
Dizes pega em vez de toma
Dizes bufa em vez de sopra, olha a lana, gola ialta e coisa assim		You say you don’t have an accent
This isn’t an attack but you’ve no clue
And then you say
For it not to be a surprise,
I should “tuphone” you at 6PM to arrange the meeting
Look who’s talking, you say “à minha beira”
With your ribeira accent when you’re next to me
You say grab instead of take
You say puff instead of blow, “look at IAna“, “gola ialta”* and things like that
Imperial é fino, tênis é sapatilha
Bica é cimbalino, chicla é pastilha
Aloquete é cadeado, e capuz, carapuço
Estrugido é refogado, chapéu de chuva é chuço
Se trolha é pedreiro, bueiro é sarjeta
Sertã é frigideira e cabide é cruzeta		Beer is beer, Trainer is trainer
Espresso is espresso, chewing gum is chewing gum
Padlock is padlock, Hood is hood
Fried is fried, umbrella is umbrella
Stonemason is stonemason, gutter is gutter
Saucepan is saucepan and hatstand is hatstand**
Ah, e quê?
Ah, então?
Ah, o quê?
Que algo se perde na nossa tradução?
Ah, e quê?
Ah, então?
Ah, o quê?
E mais te digo!
Oh pá!		Ah, and what?
Ah, so?
Ah, what?
That something gets lost in our translation
Ah, and what?
Ah, so?
Ah, what?
And another thing
Oh blimey!
Já tu dizes são quaise treuze
E já ouvi várias vezes tira o téni do sófá
O lisboeta come letras
Tira o u pra dizer pôco, diz óviste, é muita lôco
Assim não dá!
Tretas, pra ti mãe tem cinco letras
Dizer cumo é o cúmulo e tu sabes que assim é
Tu dizes testo e eu tampa
Eu digo coxo e tu manco e quando dizes tótil, eu bué		You just say it’s arlmust thorteen
And I’ve heard a few times take your shoe off the sófá
Lisboetas swallow letters
Takes the U away t say pôco, say óviste and very lôco
It’s no good like that
Rubbish! For you, mum has 5 letters
To say “cumo” is the accumulation and you know that’s how it is
You say lid and I say lid
I say lame and you lame and when yiou say tótil***, I say bué
Imperial é fino, tênis é sapatilha
Bica é cimbalino, chicla é pastilha
Aloquete é cadeado, e capuz, carapuço
Estrugido é refugado, chapéu de chuva é chuço
Se trolha é pedreiro, bueiro é sarjeta
Sertã é frigideira e cabide é cruzeta		Beer is beer, Trainer is trainer
Espresso is espresso, chewing gum is chewing gum
Padlock is padlock, Hood is hood
Fried is fried, umbrella is umbrella
Stonemason is stonemason, gutter is gutter
Saucepan is saucepan and hatstand is hatstand
Contigo o tão vira tom, contigo o são vira som
E depois bom vira bão
Pra mim o v vira b, para ti lesboa é com e
Oblá e então?
Ouve, não sou eu que falo torto, toda a gente me entende
Não é meu o defeito
S’eu falo à porto é meu direito e se o teu ouvido é mouco
O meu sotaque é perfeito
Se digo fala bem é pra tu seres meiguinha
Como eu sou também, no meu jeito alfacinha
E quando eu digo “bem” eu tou-te a dizer para “bires”
E eu até te falo bem, só é pena não me ouvires
E quando eu digo vem eu tou-te a dizer para vires
E eu até te falo bem, só é pena não me ouvires		With you, tão becomes tom, with you são becomes som
And then bom becomes bão
With me, the V becomes a B, for you Lesboa is with an E
Oblá so what?
It’s not me that talks weird. Everyone understands
It’s not my problem
If I speak Porto-style, it’s my right
And if your ear is deaf
My accent is perfect
If I say speak properly it’s just to make you more amenable
Like me, with my Alfacinha style
And when I say well, I’m just doing it to make you come to me****
And I speak really well. It’s just a shame you can’t hear me.
And when I say come I’m saying you should come.
And I speak really well. It’s just a shame you can’t hear me.
Ah, e quê?
Ah, então?
Ah, o quê?
Que algo se perde na nossa tradução?
Ah, e quê?
Ah, então?
Ah, o quê?
Imperial é fino, imperial é fino
Imperial é fino, imperial é fino, fino, fino-
Ah, e quê?
Ah, então?
Ah, o quê?
Que algo se perde na nossa tradução?
Ah, e quê?
Ah, então?
Ah, o quê?		Ah, and what?
Ah, so?
Ah, what?
That something gets lost in our translation
Ah, and what?
Ah, so?
Ah, what?
Beer is beer, Beer is beer
Beer is beer, Beer is beer
Ah, and what?
Ah, so?
Ah, what?
That something gets lost in our translation
Ah, and what?
Ah, so?
Ah, what?

*I couldn’t work out what was going on here so I asked about it on Insta and Capicua herself answered my question! Apparently in Porto if one word ends in A and the next word starts in A, they put an I in between so Olha a IAna = Olha a Ana, Gola Ialta = Gola Alta (a polo neck or turtle neck). I like Portugal. I’m pretty sure an equivalently famous person in Britain wouldn’t take time out to explain linguistic quirks to old farts on Instagram!

**Did somebody say hatstand?

***How have i never seen this word before?

****Not sure about this, My reasoning is that it’s vires (personal infinitive of vir) with the v changed to a b. I don’t know if the next-but-one line confirms or refutes the theory though!

Posted in English, Portuguese

As Meninas da Ribeira do Sado

Posted on by Colin Lusk

This jumped out at me on Instagram yesterday. I didn’t know the song so I googled it and I think I like the drag version better than the original. It’s Sincera Mente, who I mentioned a few days ago, with another drag queen who was on a talent show, I think…? I don’t know, I haven’t seen it. Anyway, they both have good voices and I thought I’d translate it because why not? The video only has the first verses and the chorus, but I’ll include the other two verses from the original

🇵🇹🇬🇧
Estrala a bomba
E o foguete vai no ar
Arrebenta e fica todo queimado
Não há ninguém que baile mais bem
Que as meninas da ribeira do Sado		The bomb explodes
And the rocket goes up
It bursts and burns up
Nobody dances better
Than the girls of the Sado valley*
As meninas da ribeira do Sado é que é
Lavram na terra com as unhas dos pés
As meninas da ribeira do Sado
São como as ovelhas
Têm carrapatos atrás das orelhas		The girls of the Sado valley are the ones
They plough the earth with their toenails
The girls of the Sado valley
Are like sheep
They have ticks behind their ears.
Era um daqueles dias bem chalados
Em que o sol batia forte nas cabeças
As meninas viram que eu estava apanhado
E disseram: Nunca mais cá apareças		It was one of those crazy days
The sun was beating down on our heads
The girls saw I was caught
And said “Don’t come around here again”
Mas voltei e entretive-me a bailar com três
Queriam que eu fosse atrás no convés
Mas não fui e mandei-as irem dar banho ao meu canário
Que bateu as botas com dores num ovário		But I returned and entertained myself, dancing with three of them
They wanted me to go to the back of the deck
But I didn’t and told them to bathe my canary
Who had died of pain in the ovary**

*I’m going to translate “Ribeira do Sado” as “The Sado Valley” because even though Ribeira is a smallish river, saying they’re the Sado river girls makes them sound like mermaids. I think it’s more like the area around the river, so that’s what I’ve gone with.

**Er… well, it was going well until the end there. What the hell happened in the last verse? I asked around and the consensus seems to be that going “atrás no convés” was a euphemism for going somewhere quiet to canoodle, but it was far from certain. In the next line, telling someone too go and give the dog a bath is like telling them to go and comb monkeys or go and bother Camões, Go away in other words. But they changed it to a canary and a terminal illness just to make it more silly.

Posted in Portuguese

Malhão Malhão

Posted on by Colin Lusk

Deparei-me novamente com este vídeo no insta. Tinha visto antes mas acho que a cena ganhou mais relevância face à xenofobia de André Ventura. Convém lembrarmo-nos de que os nossos compatriotas vivem em outros países mesmo que os estrangeiros vivem nos nossos países. Neste vídeo, portugueses celebram a sua cultura num palco no Luxemburgo.

A música é Malhão Malhão. Foi cantado por muitas pessoas ao longo dos anos, mas o melhor vídeo que já encontrei no YouTube é este de Linda de Suza

O Malhão é uma espécie de dança oriunda do Minho, e existem muitas canções que usam o ritmo para a gente dançar, como por exemplo Malhão de Portugal ou Malhão das Pulgas. 

The dance in full, complete with Amália Rodrigues’s voice and the full saia rodada action!

Então porquê “Malhão Malhão”? Não tenho certeza, mas é óbvio que as letras se referem a uma pessoa. Segundo a Wikipedia (versão inglês) a pessoa em questão é um “winnower”* ou seja uma pessoa que separa os cereais das suas testas. Pode ser, pode ser, mas segundo o Priberam, Malhão, quando é aumentivo de malho não significa nada mais do que o utensílio**. Mas também pode significar “pessoa hábil e experiente”. Tendo lido as letras, acho que a pessoa a quem o narrador está a falar não é experiente, é uma jovem, uma rapariga que o narrador quer namorar. Ainda por cima, nas letras que encontrei Online, Malhão tem letra maiscula. Até pode ser uma alcunha! Noutras palavras, Malhão Malhão é um malhão (música para dançar) sobre um malhão (pessoa hábil/pessoa que trabalha na agricultura e/ou pessoa chamada “Malhão”).

Ai Jesus, tanta incerteza!

As letras são repetitivas mas basicamente é isto:

Ó Malhão, Malhão que vida é a tua?
Comer e beber, ai trrim-tim-tim
Passear na rua

Oh, Malhão, Malhão, what is your life like
Eating and drinking, trim-tim-tim
Strolling in the street

Ó Malhão, Malhão quem te deu as botas?
Foi o caixeirinho, ai trrim-tim-tim
O das pernas tortas

Oh Malhão, Malhão who gave you your boots?
It was the boxmaker, trim-tim-tim
The one with the crippled legs

Ó Malhão, Malhão quem te deu as meias?
Foi o caixeirinho, ai trrim-tim-tim
O das pernas feias

Oh Malhão, Malhão, who gave you your socks?
It was the boxmaker***, trim-tim-tim
The one with the ugly legs

Ó Malhão, Malhão ai Margaridinha!
Eras do teu pai, ai trrim-tim-tim
Mas agora és minha

Oh Malhão, Malhão, oh little Margarida
You were your father’s, trim-tim-tim
But now you’re mine.

*winnowing, in case you don’t know, is an agricultural term, meaning separate out the wheat from the chaff proper to grinding it into flour.

** specifically: Utensílio para malhar cereais, composto de dois paus ligados por uma correia, sendo um curto e grosso (pírtigo), e outro um cabo comprido e delgado (mango).

“malho”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa [em linha], 2008-2025, https://dicionario.priberam.org/malho.

***Caixeirinho has multiple meanings too. It could also be an old word for someone who works on a shop (at the “caixa”)

Posted in English, Portuguese

Um Contra o Outro

Posted on by Colin Lusk

A little bird tells me that a well-known podcast might be publishing a Deolinda episode soon, and it reminded me that I hadn’t done a translation of one of my favourite songs of theirs, “Um Contra o Outro”.

It’s a really nice extended metaphor, based on the idea that the guy she’s talking to just wants to play videojogos all day and she’s challenging him to forget all that nonsense because he’s missing out on real life by not going out with her. There are some gaming terms in there – lives (not to be confused with your actual life!), stealth mode, levelling up and so on. It would be so easy to have the result be super corny, but I think it works pretty well.

I basically get most of what’s being said, but as usual, it’s hard to “pull it together” into a coherent narrative without working through it like this. And I’m glad I did. There were a couple of things I misunderstood – like I couldn’t work out why she mentions “cavalos” at one point but apparently she says “mostra o que vales”. Ahhhh! And I hadn’t really understood the nature of the challenge she lays down in the last few lines either.

I’ve linked the live video here because it’s very energetic. The original music video is a bit confusing since it just seems to be suggesting she just wants to play Jogo da Macaca or Jogo da Laranjinha with him. And maybe she wouldn’t say no, but I think the game she wants to play is one that’s going to take a lot longer, maybe even the rest of his life.

PortuguêsInglês
Anda
Desliga o cabo
Que liga a vida
A esse jogo
Joga comigo
Um jogo novo
Com duas vidas
Um contra o outro		Come on
Unplug the cable
That links your life
To that game
Play with me
A new game
With two lives
One against the other
Já não basta esta luta contra o tempo
Este tempo que perdemos a tentar vencer alguém
Ao fim ao cabo
Que é dado como um ganho
Vai-se a ver desperdiçámos
Sem nada dar a ninguém		This race against the clock* isn’t enough
This time we waste trying
to defeat someone
When all is said and done**
What is given with a win
Will be seen as as time we wasted
With nothing to give to anyone
Anda
Faz uma pausa
Encosta o carro
Sai da corrida
Larga essa guerra
Que a tua meta
Está deste lado da tua vida		Come on
Take a break
Park the car
Get out of the race
Let go of this war
Because your objective
Is on this this side of your life
Muda de nível
Sai do estado invisível
Põe um modo compatível
Com a minha condição
Que a tua vida
É real e irrepetível***
Dá-te mais que o impossível
Se me deres a tua mão		Level up
Come out of stealth mode
Activate a mode that’s compatible
With mine
Because your life
Is real and unrepeatable
It gives you more than the impossible
If you give me your hand
Sai de casa e vem comigo para a rua
Vem, que essa vida que tens
Por mais vidas que tu ganhes
É a tua que mais perde se não vens		Leave the house and come with me into the street
Come, because this life you have,
No matter how many extra lives you gain
It’s yours that will lose out if you don’t
Sai de casa e vem comigo para a rua
Vem, que essa vida que tens
Por mais vidas que tu ganhes
É a tua que mais perde se não vens		Leave the house and come with me into the street
Come, because this life you have,
No matter how many extra lives you gain
It’s yours that will lose out if you don’t
Anda
Mostra o que vales
Tu nesse jogo
Vales tão pouco
Troca de vício
Por outro novo
Que o desafio
É corpo a corpo
Escolhe a arma
A estratégia que não falha
O lado forte da batalha
Põe no máximo poder
Dou-te a vantagem
Tu com tudo
E eu sem nada
Que mesmo assim desarmada
Vou-te ensinar a perder		Come on
Show me what you’re worth
You, in that game,
Count for so little
Swap one addiction
For another
Because the challenge
Is body to body
Choose your weapon
The strategy that won’t fail
The stronger side of the battle
Put it on full power
I’ll give you the advantage
You with everything
And me with nothing
So even like that, disarmed,
I’ll show you how to lose.

*It says fight against time really but I think Lutar contra o tempo is a set phrase meaning like a time trial, race against time or some sense that you only have a certain amount of time to achieve the goal, so I gave it a rough equivalent in english.

**Listening to it without the written lyrics, I thought she was saying “do cabo” – so “at the end of the cable” which sort of made sense if you imagine holding a game controller that’s plugged into a game console via a wire, but I think it’s cabo as in “levar a cabo”, so she’s talking about what you have left over, at the end, when you’ve won, what you win isn’t as good as what you lose by staying indoors all day

***The source I copied the lyrics from has this as “real e repetida” which clearly makes no sense and if you listen closely that’s not what she’s saying. It’s almost like we can’t implicitly believe everything we read on the internet or something

Posted in English, Portuguese

Anda Estragar-me Os Planos – Salvador Sobral

Posted on by Colin Lusk

Spotify keeps recommending this song to me, and it’s a great choice! It’s worth noting before we start that the title is an example of a very ambiguous sort of portuguese sentence. Of course we’re used to having no subject pronoun, and but the tu form of the imperative tense usually overlaps with the ele/ela form of the present tense, meaning you could translate this as a statement “She/he/it keeps messing up my plans” or as an instruction, “Keep messing up my plans!” Since love songs addressed to an individual are more common than songs complaining about minor annoyances, I generally read it as the latter, but I haven’t listened closely enough to really know for sure

PortugueseEnglish
Ah faltam-me as saudades e os ciúmes
Já, tenho a minha conta de serões serenos
Quero é ir dançar		I’ve lost all my sorrows and my jealousies
I’ve had my share of quiet nights in*
I just want to go dancing
Sei por onde vou
É o melhor caminho
Não deixo nada ao acaso
Por favor, anda trocar-me o passo		I know where I’m going
It’s the best path
I’m leaving nothing to chance
Please, trip me up**
Tenho uma rotina
Pra todos os dias
Há de durar muitos anos
Por favor, anda estragar-me os planos		I have a routine
For every day
It’ll probably go on for years
Please, mess up my plans
Tira os livros da ordem certa
Deixa a janela do quarto aberta
Faz-me esquecer que amanhã vou trabalhar		Take my books out of their order
Leave the bedroom window open
Make me forget that I’m going to work tomorrow
Ah, faltam-me as saudades e os ciúmes
Já, tenho a minha conta de serões serenos
Quero ir dançar		I’ve lost all my sorrows and my jealousies
I’ve had my share of quiet nights in
I just want to go dancing
Um, dois…
Ah, faltam-me as saudades e os ciúmes
Já, tenho a minha conta de serões serenos
Tardes tontas, manhãs mecânicas
Eu quero é ir dançar		One two,
I’ve lost all my sorrows and my jealousies
I’ve had my share of quiet nights in
stupefied afternoons, predictable mornings
I just want to go dancing

*Serão doesn’t come up often as a noun, it’s more usually the third person plural future tense of ser, but it’s usually some kind of nocturnal activity – a party or some night time work. I’ve gone for translating serão serena as “quiet night in” because it makes the most sense in the context of the following line.

**Wow, “trocar-me o passo” seems hard to translate. In fact, I could probably break this footnote out into a whole blog, but… Anyway, literally, he’s saying “change my step”, but what could he mean? Well I checked Priberam and it certainly isn’t the same as “e troca o passo”, which is just a way of talking about decades when you don’t know the specific year. As I see it it can only be one of two things (1) something like “shake me up” or snap me out of my routine; based on the preceding lines, he says he has carefully planned everything out, but he wants the person he’s singing to to cause him to do something completely different, walk a different path, or just generally throw him off balance or (2) based on the fact that he’s going dancing and passo can mean a dance step as well as a walking step, maybe he’s saying he wants to trade dance steps with her – in other words, he’s just saying “dance with me”. And I guess there’s a third option (3) both: it’s intended to have a double meaning. I think I’m leaning towards option 3. It sounds like the main meaning of the expression is meaning 1, but he likely chose it for its proximity to dancing. I can only find one other place on the internet where the same expression is used in the first person, and it’s in a poem called Forte on this page, and it definitely sounds like it fits definition 1.

Troca-me o passo,
Faz uma revolução,
Põe o mundo inteiro em convulsão…

and there’s another example in the third person in this story about Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington in Lisbon

Ella não queria entrevistas. Por isso fugiu para o carro que a aguardava. Mas o repórter trocou-lhe o passo. E a conversa começou fria, sem balanço nem ritmo

This doesn’t sound quite as earth-shattering but there’s definitely a sense that the reporter has interfered with her plan to escape.

Swapping the tense I get a few more hits including a whole song about it (but without an indirect object) and this page which mentioned the Priberam definition but adds

A expressão também pode ser utilizada literalmente e significar trocar de pé, para acertar ou desalinhar o passo com outra pessoa.

and just to bring it full circle, this is again in the context of dance! So I googled trocar de pé and came up with a couple of videos of shuffle dance tutorials but also podiatrists, people worried about tripping on escalators and all sorts of things!

Oh well, it might be that I can never be fully certain about the exact meaning but it seems pretty clear in the context of the wider song, what he’s driving at! I’ve opted for “trip me up” because it seems the closest equivalent, being both foot-based and also an invitation to cause problems.