Any fluent Portugese speakers around?

[yewberry]

I'm trying to write a letter to a Brazilian buddy of mine--we do pretty well in spoken conversation, but it's harder on paper. Might you be able to help me with a few troublesome ideas? I appreciate any help anyone might be able to offer.

*English colloquial "guys" (or you guys)--should I just go with amigos?

*"blizzard" or "snowstorm"--I can't find it anywhere. Maybe I just suck.

*Also "tired" or "sleepy"--maybe esgotado?

*Lastly--dissertation. Oof. I've tried wording it as "doctoral student project" but that doesn't really work.

Maybe I should just leave it sort of haphazard. He thinks my attempts at Portugese are pretty freaking hilarious.

Thanks for any help!

[yewberry]

1. Pretty please? n/t

[Deja Q]

2. Sorry, all of my speakers were made in China

[yewberry]

4. You...you...mock me?

In my time of need?


Enjoy your two hour walks. No more helpful advice from this soy product.

[Deja Q]

7. Please forgive me; I wanted to be of legitimate help but couldn't think

of anything to help you with.

[flamingyouth]

3. Commie Pinko Dirtbag is in Brazil

I'm sure he could help you out.

[yewberry]

5. Of course!

Thanks.

How's the store? Hope the insurance gets ironed out soon.

[flamingyouth]

6. Thanks for asking

We're putting it all back together again. And our insurance has been very cooperative. So far, so good, just mostly annoying. :hi:

[JimmyJazz]

8. If you can't find Commie Pinko Dirtbag,

BigMcLargeHuge is also portugese, but I'm not sure if he's fluent.

:hi:

Good luck.

[yewberry]

9. Hey! Thank you

Biscuit.

[yewberry]

10. Kick

for the evening crowd.

Anyone?

[yewberry]

11. Okay, I'll add one more

and maybe subtract one or two.


*blizzard --maybe tempestade?

*tired=cansado or sonolento?

However, "miss you" (as in, "we miss you") keeps looking more like lose you (falto-o) or lack you (percano.)

Can "dissertation" actually be as easily translated as dissertação?

Thank you!

[imenja]

13. miss you= saudades

tenho muitas saudades de voces. Tou morrendo de saudades, etc... depending on how dramatic you want to be.

[imenja]

14. sonolento is way too formal

tenho sonho

[imenja]

12. some non-fluent answers

I can't get my accent marks to work in DU, but you add them in:

What's wrong with voces for you guys? or more colloquially: caras, or rapazes

blizzard. not sure, never saw one in Brazil. tempestade de neve maybe? He'll know what you mean even if it's not exactly right.

tired: com sonho or cansado, depending on whether you mean to say you're tired as in sleepy or just worn out.

dissertation = tese

[yewberry]

16. Can't thank you enough.

Yeah, I guess vocês is good. Better than rapazes (too close to "boys.")

Tempestade de neve makes perfect sense...I'm such a New Englander that I expect a "one-word" exact translation. Silly of me.

And tired: I'm referring to a dog that's just plain tuckered out. Cansado seems right.

And dissertation=tese? I hadn't seen that anywhere!!

imenja, you are a ROCK STAR!!

Thanks so much, really. You've been a big help.

[imenja]

17. rapaz probably only works in spoken Portuguese

It's like saying dude. Gente or voces for you guys is best.



You can use disertacao as well, but I've far more commonly heard it refereed to as tese.

Glad to help! Not often my Portuguese skills come in handy.

[Ann Arbor Dem]

15. Here are a few suggestions...

just to add to the confusion ;-)

guys (you guys) - depending on the context it could also be "a gente" (guys) or vocês (you guys) (minha gente can work for "you guys" too if you are saying something like "my friends")

snowstorm - tempestade de neve is correct

tired - cansado (or cansada if you are speaking about a female) or, as imenja said, tenho sonho if you are sleepy

dissertation (doctoral) - tese (dissertação is usually used for a masters thesis, at least it did when I was at the University of São Paulo many eons ago)

missing you - tenho tantas saudades de você(s) or sinto sua falta (I miss you)

I'm sure Commie Pinko Dirtbag will be of help too.

Good luck!!

[yewberry]

18. No, no confusion. This helps a lot.

I spent usually 6-12 hours a day, six days a week with four Portugese-speaking guys. Two-and-a-half years, and my spoken Portugese is just barely beyond horrible. On paper, I'm a laff-riot. So I NEED THE HELP.

*minha gente is is closer to what I want if it means "my friends."

*tese--is this commonly understood as a doctoral thesis?

*And the "Miss you" thing...not a big drama thing, just a friendly, "I spent 6 days a week with you for years and I miss you."
*snif*
Okay, Mauro was my best friend for years. I miss him--and I just want to be able to say that I think of him often. How without a big drama? (PS--His wife and I are friends--no nonplatonic issues. He's just a really good buddy.)

Thanks so much.

Geez, I miss my friends.

[Ann Arbor Dem]

19. I completely understand you missing your friends....

Tese is understood as doctoral thesis.

The miss you thing....tenho saudades de você is perfect for a friend.

I hope you will have the opportunity to visit them in Brazil someday! Where do they live?

I used to go to Brazil every 6-12 months, but I haven't had the time/money to do it lately. I miss my friends a lot too. Thank goodness for email and telephones!

[Swamp Rat]

20. Tô morrendo de saudades de minha namorada...

:cry:

"Solidão, que poeira leve..." gosta de Tom Zé? :D

[Ann Arbor Dem]

21. Oi Swamp Rat!

Também tou morrendo de saudades....de tudo e de todo o mundo lá. Você vai pro Brasil quando? E o assunto de residência? Vai conseguir logo?

Adoro Tom Zé!! Conhece "Companheiro Bush"....uma canção de Tom (2003)? É tão engraçada.


Companheiro Bush

Se você já sabe
Quem vendeu
Aquela bomba pro Iraque,
Desembuche:
Eu desconfio que foi o Bush.

Foi o Bush,
Foi o Bush,
Foi o Bush.

Onde haverá um recurso
Para dar um bom repuxo
No companheiro Bush?
Quem arranja um alicate
Que acerte aquela fase
Ou corrija aquele fuso?

Talvez um parafuso
Que tá faltando nele
Melhore aquele abuso.
Um chip que desligue
Aquele terremoto,
Aquela coqueluche

[Swamp Rat]

22. Super legal, esa canção!

Agora estou fazendo o dotorado, mas depois vou mudar lá. Quero ensenhar na Universidade Federal do Rio pra um ano e depois mudar ao Portugal pra conhecer. Meu irmão vai casar com uma Espanhola, então será mas facil, pra mim, obter uma VISA... eu acho. Também, vou casar com minha namorada... "com cerveja," eu serei Brasileiro! :)

Você gosta de literatura de cordel? Aí olha um exemplo:

[Ann Arbor Dem]

23. Tá fazendo doutorado? Quê bom!

Em que?

Gosto muito de literatura de cordel. Morei no Recife e tive a oportunidade de ler e comprar muito lá nas feiras.

Quando você for pro Rio, me fala. Tenho muitos amigos (e família) lá e posso ajudar você com qualqer coisa...até lugar pra morar.

[Swamp Rat]

25. Muito brigado

É possível precisarei ajuda no futuro, mas agora vou ficar em New Orleans até completer o doutorado em Estudos Urbanos... me interessa o globalismo, antropolgia, etnomusicologia, etc. Agora estou estudando linguísticas (Chomsky, Deep Structure, socio-linguistics), processos transnacional (political economy, migration, many many ethnographies), as formas das cidades (formations/physical shapes of cities like New Orleans or Brasília)...

Hoje, vou tocar com meu grupo de samba. Fazemos um espetáculo... vou tocar surdo. Desculpe, preciso que dormir... quero falar mais, mas...

beijos e abraços

[Tsiyu]

24. Tom Ze!

yeah!


Uma Mais Coisa acrescentar: A Blizzard = uma nevasca (f)