Showing posts with label english to portuguese. Show all posts

Friday, 14 February 2014
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Legalities of a wedding in Portugal

In our series of legal requirements for getting married in another country we’ll take a brief look at Portugal.

Portugal is a popular destination for many non-Portuguese nationals to marry with stunning scenery, beautiful venues and rugged coastlines.

To legally marry in Portugal, bride and groom must both be 18 years of age although a marriage may take place with parental consent if bride and groom are aged 16-17. In neither case must the intending spouses be related.

Bear in mind that your ceremony will be performed in the Portuguese language with no exceptions so if this makes you uncomfortable then you can opt to have a Portuguese to English translator present to convey everything that is being said.

Something that makes arranging a wedding in Portugal simpler than in some other European countries is there is no need to have resided in Portugal for any length of time prior to your wedding day.

The most official part of the marriage arrangements in fact takes place before you even arrive in Portugal and an established Portuguese wedding planner can guide you through all the formalities. This is because certain official documents must be provided to the Registo Civil in the area where you wish to marry. The Registo Civil is equivalent to the Registry Office and where births, deaths and marriages are recorded.

Note that some documents must be authenticated, or legalised, by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to be accepted by the Portuguese authorities. More about authentication can be found on our Certified Translation page or via the FCO site itself.

If you happen to be resident in Portugal then you must provide your residence permit, otherwise your passport is required and this is one document that need not be translated. Likewise, the Certificate of No Impediment which must be provided does not require translation since this is ordinarily obtained from the embassy and therefore issued in Portuguese.  

Documents which must be translated following the authentication/legalisation process are as follows. Birth certificates and, if applicable, divorce documents and death certificates if one of the intending spouses is widowed. To be accepted in Portugal these translated documents must have been authenticated within the preceding six months.


Unlike the UK, where there is no sworn translation system, the way to have a document recognised by the Portuguese authorities is to ensure your documents are translated by a court sworn translator. This is usually a professional linguist qualified to degree level who is authorised by a district or regional court in Portugal to provide official translations. The on-document certification and accompanying certification with stamp confirms this official status. Contrast this requirement when a document must be translated from Portuguese to English for the UK authorities.
Thursday, 13 February 2014
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X, Y and Z

X, Y, Z The final three letters of the Roman alphabet and yet again there are discrepancies between their pronunciation in both the Spanish and Portuguese alphabets.

Spanish pronounces X as "eh-keess" but this letter is pronounced differently depending on where it appears in a word. For instance, it follows the English "eggs" sound of "exam" when the Spanish equivalent "examen" is spoken. However, "experto" likewise follows the English "expert" by using the softer sounding "ecks", or even in the Spanish word for "sixth", "sexto".

Of course, depending on where the Spanish speaker is from there may be more consistent pronunciation of the "eggs" sound and the "ecks" sound throughout the spoken language. Spanish also has a further pronunciation of X and that is the same as the Spanish letter J which requires the guttural "ch" sound like that in many Scottish words.

In the Portuguese alphabet the letter "x" is "sheesh", however Portuguese pronunciation of the alphabet goes a little further than Spanish or English with 'x' having four primary sounds. Firstly, in 'xícara', Portuguese for cup, x is pronounced as "sh" as in "shop", the word xícara being pronounced shee-kah-rah with emphasis on the first syllable.

However, the letter does adopt a more familiar sound, that of "ecks" in a word such as "fênix" or "fénix", meaning phoenix. The "ecks" sound of the Portuguese "x" is softened somewhat when it precedes a consonant and "contexto" is an example of this. This softer pronunciation is also heard in some other words such as the Portuguese for "next" which is "próximo".

Translations2u is a uk based translation company specialising in Portuguese to English translation, as well as English to Portuguese services, in addition to providing English to Spanish translation or a Spanish to English translator for all our clients' business and legal requirements.
Monday, 10 February 2014
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A "B" sound that doesn't quite touch the lips

Here is the penultimate instalment in the line of our little mini-series on the pronunciation of the Spanish and Portuguese alphabets. 

 The next letter is V and this letter has a pronunciation that will frequently reveal the status of non-native Spanish speaker. You see the Spanish v is pronounced as a soft b sound in that it the speaker's lips don't quite touch.when saying unlike the letter b which requires the lips to touch completely. It could be thought of as an aspirate b but care must be taken by the non-Spanish speaker nto ensure this  gap between the lips does not sound like a p. The best way to conceive of the differences is simply to practise making the relevant sounds. 

 In Spanish, particularly that spoken in Spain, v is typically pronounced "oo-veh", remembering that soft b sound. However, some other Spanish speakers and very often those from Latin American Spanish speaking countries,tend to refer to this letter as "b pequena" or "b chica". In other words, "little b". This starts to make sense once you are aware of how v is pronounced. Readers will be pleased to know that Portuguese speakers are more consistent by simply pronouncing this letter as "vay" with the v sound being that expected in English and other languages. 

 Moving on to w and the Portuguese alphabet will no doubt again curry favour among non-native Spanish and Portuguese speakers wishing to familiarise themselves with these languages. This is because w is simply pronounced "dawbel-yoo" or "dahbel-yoo" by Portuguese speakers. In Spanish, the soft b sound of v is again required as this letter is typically pronounced "dawbleh-oovay" with emphasis on the "oo". There are instances among Spanish speakers both from Spain and other countries where "dawbleh-vay" is heard with the pronunciation of v being as expected to the anglophone ear. Interesting that the pronunciations in both these languages of "double v" (double vee) is closer to the appearance of this letter than the English which describes it as "double u".

 #Translations2u is a legal translation specialist working between many languages that include the offer of English to Portuguese and English to Spanish translation for all continents. For a Portuguese to English or Spanish to English translator, Translations2u has the specialist knowledge to ensure 100% accuracy.