Portuguese Language Blog

Two bars in São Paulo, Bar Aurora and Boteco Ferraz, aren’t just local watering holes. They have an incredibly innovative marketing strategy, and they’ve created several commercials (really, public service announcements) that have won awards at Cannes. The concept is to campaign against drunk driving, by promoting the idea “se beber, não dirija” (don’t drink and drive).

Here’s the first one, from last year:

How does the customer say “Holy crap!” in Portuguese?

And here’s the most recent commercial in Portuguese…

What’s another way to say drunk, other than bêbado, as used in the video?

…and if you need help, in English:

Answers after the jump.

Read More…

Yesterday I went to a huge hip hop festival here in São Paulo, with international names like John Legend, Ja Rule, & The Roots, but also some Brazilian independent artists like Copacabana Club (which isn’t a hip hop band, but they’re pretty good!) & then some big name Brazilian hip hop artists. I’m actually pretty embarrassed to say as much as I <3 hip hop, Brazilian rap has never really been interesting to me… until some of my friends here introduced me to some pretty good artists like Emicida, who played last night and was awesome!

Here are 2 videos (the regular & acoustic version – if you read this blog enough, you’ll know I love anything acoustic), and since rap  lyrics are so hard to translate, I’ll give you the translations for the “bigger” and slang words

Now listen again and watch out for some slang  -

dim – short for dim-dim which is a slang word for money

vagando – not necessarily a slang word, but it comes from the verb vagar, which means to not do anything with your time, vagabundear.

orixá – comes from Umbanda, an Afro-Brazilian religion, and in Umbanda (correct me if I’m wrong!), the orixás are like the gods of the religion. In the song he’s saying each and every orixá is protecting him.

busão – is the paulista slang word for onibus, or bus.

matrix – I’m not 100% sure on this one, but “entrar na matrix” – can mean to get high, so here he might be saying that by listening to his music, he won’t get into drugs? But matrix here could all be just to get sucked in to a “matrix” he doesn’t want to get into.

tropa – for those Elite Squad fans, here tropa is like a group of friends.

cê – is short for “você”

boot – sneakers or shoes

neguim – is short for neguinho which is a slang for negro or just an endearing word for a friend or loved one. My brother, for example, has pretty dark skin and my mom calls him neguinho.  It’s not considered racist here or in the song. In the song he’s just saying it as if he were saying, “bro.”

tô – is short for estou, which comes from the verb estar.

pra – is short for para, but can also be used regularly. It is not incorrect to say pra, but also not encouraged formally.

quebrada – means “streets”  or “hood”

tio – we all know this means uncle, but here he’s referring to just anyone who’s listening. This is also used for any older man (same with tia for women), or when you’re referring to someone who’s young who acts “old.”

Emicida – A Cada Vento

Refrão:

Hoje de manhã, atravessando o mar
Vou me perder, vou me encontrar; a cada vento que soprar

Cada dia é uma chance pra ser melhor que ontem
o sol prova isso quando cruza o horizonte
vira fonte que aquece, ilumina
faz igualzinho o olhar da minha menina
outra vez, a esperança na mochila eu ponho
quanto tempo a gente ainda tem pra realizar o nosso sonho
não posso me perder não
vários trocou sorriso por dim, hoje tão vagando nas multidão
sem rosto, na boca o gosto da frustração
to disposto a trazer a cor dessa ilustração
no meu posto, dedico o tempo por fração
pra no fim não levar comigo interrogação
ação sem câmera, só luz pra conduzir
sinceridade pra sentir a alma reluzir
os inimigo não vai me alcançar, não vai me pegar, não vai me tocar
nem me ofender, eles não pode me enxergar quem dirá me entender
eu sei que cada orixá vai me proteger
pq minhas rima são, oração de coração
homenagem a quem volta cansado dentro dos busão
então, sucesso na missão parceiro
é ter paz quando por a cabeça no travesseiro
conseguir manter quente faz bem, perto
parabéns mamãe, seu projeto de homem feliz deu certo

Refrão 2x

Com meus fones de ouvido duvido que a matrix me alcance
sabedoria pra que minha tropa avance
tudo isso pela felicidade dos meus
pra manter nosso contato vitalício com Deus
direto penso: dinheiro é a desgraça do povo
mas cê já viu o sorriso no rosto de quem ganhou um boot novo?
essa é a parada neguim
eu quero vida boa pras pessoa que vem de onde eu vim
deixar o sofrimento lá trás é quente
cê quer saber o sentido da vida, pra frente
to com a paciência de quem junta latinha
focado no que tenho, não no que vou ter ou tinha
começa outro dia, o trem se desprende, vai
cheio de gente que deixou a alegria, stand by
com a essência da rua, no espírito amordaçado
quando eles perceber o poder que tem, cuidado!

Refrão 2x

Clareza na idéia, pureza no coração
Sentimento como guia, honestidade como religião
Sinceramente, é isso irmão

[essa é pra todas as quebrada tio!]

When living or traveling in Brazil, you’ll notice that there’s quite a lot of foreign movies, TV shows, and music being consumed. Most of the time, you’ll find one of two things: subtitles or dubbing. We’ve talked a bit about this in the past, and as far as learning is concerned, I highly recommend both types. Subtitled videos are helpful for building vocabulary, and dubbed videos are useful for listening comprehension, especially for beginners, since you’ll commonly find dubbed content for children, like cartoons.

Subtitles are called legendas [leh-zjen-dahs], and something with subtitles is called legendado [leh-zjen-dah-doh]. Let’s see it in a sentence:

Eu vi um filme legendado, só que achei as legendas meio ruins. I saw a subtitled movie, but I thought the subtitles were kind of bad.

Then there’s dubbing. Dubbing is called dublagem, [doo-blah-zjem] and something that is dubbed is called dublado [doo-blah-doh].

Não gosto de assistir programas dublados. A dublagem sempre é muito diferente das falas originais. I don’t like to watch dubbed shows. Dubbing is always very different from the original lines.

Let’s take a look at the same video: one is legendado, the other is dublado.

Do you notice any differences between the legendas and the dublagem?