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Labels: friend, Portuguese, secret
 Everyone makes mistakes with a foreign language, and of course, I was no different.
The first morning I was in Rio, I requested two fried uvas (grapes) instead of ovos (eggs) for breakfast. The waiter heard the ‘uvas’ but politely said, “Two fried eggs for the senhorita.” He’d probably heard it before.

In training, we had been told of the Brazilian soft drink Guarana. The flavor of Guarana might be described as a cross between ginger ale and apple juice. It is supposed to be a high-energy drink, which probably means it is loaded with sugar. When we stopped at a restaurant for a snack on one of our first days in the country, one of the other trainees ordered a Guanabara, which is the state in which Rio is located. That would be like visiting Denver and ordering a Colorado instead of a Coca Cola.

When I was in Brazil, the three favorite flavors of ice cream in the area where I lived were avocado, prune, and coconut. The first two didn’t sound all that tasty to me, so I always chose coconut ice cream. The problem is that the Portuguese word for coconut is ‘coco’ which is quite similar to another Portuguese word which resulted in many a foreigner ordering shit ice cream.

Americans have the habit of, when not understanding someone, saying “Huh?” In Brazil, an R at the beginning of a word is pronounced like an H and an Ã is pronounced sort of like a nasal ‘uh.’ Thus, when an American says “Huh?” in Brazil, it sounds like the Portuguese word ‘rã’ ---and the Brazilians wonder why americanos go around saying ‘frog?’ all the time.

One Volunteer decribed an embarrassing language faux pas on the Peace Corps Brazil website.  After a full dinner with a Brazilian family, the male volunteer exclaimed, “Estou cheio.” Literally that means “I am full” but in reality the phrase is commonly used to say, “I am pregnant."
The Brazilian hostess explained that it is more correct to say, "Estou satisfeito" or “I am satisfied.”
The next evening after arriving home late the volunteer explained, "O omnibus estava satisfeito." (The bus was satisfied.)

My fellow PC Volunteer Gary, who served in Espirito Santo, sent me this story:

“During my first three months in PC in Brazil, I was invited to dinner at a home of a large Brazilian family on the street where I lived. There were mom/dad, grandparents, seven children, aunts and uncles, etc. all at the house. My Portuguese was halting at best, but I wanted to be socialable and try to blend in to this lively family gathering. After finishing dinner and before leaving the table, I thanked my hosts and ---trying out a new Portuguese slang I had learned that week ---attempted to say that I would always look forward to 'shooting the breeze' with them (bater o papo) but instead I said "bater o papa". I could not understand the shocked stares and open mouths of the group after I had proudly tried my Portuguese-best. It was later explained to me that I had not said 'shoot the breeze/bate o papo' [literally ‘beat the talk’] but had actually told everyone how enjoyable it would be to 'bate o Papa'....or "beat the Pope" with them.”

Que vergonha, nao e!!!

Gary also tells stories of learning Portuguese during Peace Corps Training. Unless you know both Portuguese and English, you might not understand these.

One of the Brazilian language teachers told my PCV group that we could order orange juice anywhere in Brazil by just quickly saying "Lone Ranger...Lone Ranger....Lone Ranger!"

Likewise, we were told that a toasted cheese sandwich was just minutes away after requesting a "Miss You Ken Gee!"

This same instructor from Rio Grande do Sul convinced us that getting an apple would be no problem if we said "My son" with a US southern accent.

Those mischevious Brazilian language instructors are probably still laughing at the crazy and naive norteamericanos.  Pois e gente! (©2010, C.J. Peiffer)

Posted by CJ at 12:01 AM No comments: Labels: language, mistakes, Portuguese TRANSLATE THIS BLOG: click on a flag to choose a language Links to view more of Carolina's art work Solitaire & Other Free Games Warning: may be addictive Learn Brazilian Portuguese - Word of the Day Links about Brazil and/or the Peace Corps