The purpose of this small article is to cover a
few of the aspects that distinguish Portuguese and English.
Distinction 1: Sentence Length
One of the challenges of Portuguese to English translation, and particularly English to Portuguese, is the fact that
Portuguese sentences are substantially longer, making translation tricky in formats
like small display buttons for apps and software, headlines, articles requiring
a limited amount of words and so on.
Always be mindful that if you have an English
article translated, the Portuguese version will be bigger.
Distinction 2: Headers and their format
Headers are another matter. Do you see the
header there at “Distinction 1”? The first words are capitalized. If the headline
were translated from English to Portuguese it would be more like this header at
“Distinction 2” since in Portuguese only the first word is capitalized.
Distinction 3: What Time is it?
Anyone with foreign language knowledge will often
be aware that the time format between languages isn’t always the same, and this
is no different when it comes to transferring it between Portuguese and
English. So, in English we’d say – for example – 8 pm, while in Portuguese we
always refer to 20:00.
Portuguese always uses the 24 hour clock – just
as with the military, something else to bear in mind.
Distinction 4: That’s a Negative
A further obvious difference between English
and Portuguese is the double negative. You see, Portuguese speakers use double
negatives.
For instance, “I don’t know nothing” might
sound pretty strange in English as well as meaning the opposite to what is no doubt intended, but it is one way to say
that you’re clueless in Portuguese, so be careful not to misunderstand what is
being said or written in Portuguese.
I don't agree with "Distinction 3". The 24 hour clock is a formal way – just as with the military. The 12 hour clock is very much used, in spoken Portuguese and also in some formal and literary environments. For instance in the national public radio it's very usual the 12 hour clock.
ReplyDeleteWe can't set a rule about this; it varies.
To distinguish between AM and PM, the Portuguese use more complicated markers (when they do use any). For example:
1 AM - "Uma (hora) da manhã" or "Uma da madrugada", literally "one o'clock in the morning" or "one o'clock of dawn".
10 AM - "Dez da manhã" (never "da madrugada", "of dawn", after dawn or sunrise).
Noon - "Meio-dia", literally "half day".
1 PM - "Uma da tarde", literally "one o'clock in the afternoon".
7 PM - "Sete da tarde" (if there is daylight, in summer) or "sete da noite" (if it is dark, in winter).
11 PM - "Onze da noite", literally "eleven o'clock at night. Night and evening are both "noite" in Portuguese; early evening may be "tarde".
Midnight - "Meia-noite".
~
Francisco
Hi, Francisco. That is good feedback and very clear. Thanks for contributing. I hope you have a good new year!
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