Vamos la Brasil! errr ... ao Brasil
Kathie complains - and rightly so - that Alex's butchering of Russian doesn't compare to his treatment of Portuguese. I would have to agree; mainly he just can't pronounce Russian (or Ukrainian). And while he can't pronounce Portuguese, either, he and/or the Clue Crew also butcher its syntax.
So the other night, when there was a whole category of Brasilian things, I knew there was going to be trouble...
For starters, the category title "Vamos la Brasil" was apparently the Clue Crew's idea of saying "We're going to Brazil," which would in fact be either "Vamos para o Brasil" or "Vamos ao Brasil" -- the "o" because Brasil is masculine, and besides there's no article "la" in Portuguese. Even Google Translate yields "Nós vamos para o Brasil" (where "nós" is the optional "we").I feel your pain, Kathie.
"Sim" (yes) is pronounced approximately "seeng," not "sim." (For reference, "Não" (no) is pronounced roughly "nowng."
Portuguese is very much its own language, NOT a defective offshoot of Spanish -- grrrrrrr!!!!!!!!
2 Comments:
-
At 1:29 PM, October 08, 2014
Kathie had this to say...
-
-
At 5:54 PM, October 10, 2014
Kathie had this to say...
-
-
<-- Older Post ^ Home Newer Post -->Alex probably deserves a pass on the mistake in the category name, as most likely the clue-writers goofed.
I forgot to mention before that "vamos" can be translated not only in the indicative ("we go" or "we are going") but also in the subjunctive or imperative, in the sense of "Let's go," or "Go!" addressed to one or more others but including the speaker/writer.
Re Portuguese diction, there's no reason that Alex or the Clue Crew couldn't consult a teacher of the language in the LA area, as there are quite a few, from faculty at UCLA's well-regarded department to informal courses through nearby Artesia's DES (and doubtless other programs in the region).
BTW, Portuguese is the world's third-most spoken European language.
Oops! I forgot to add that "Vamos" can also be subjunctive -- in this context meaning "Let's go to Brazil."
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]