Animals 2: Dog lovers 2.

Transcrição

1 Animals 2: Dog lovers 2

2 Conversa Brasileira Animals 2: Dog lovers 2 True story, the day we videotaped this lesson Simone actually came to baby sit while others were recording. However, as soon as she saw the dog (who they called Belinha in this lesson), Simone began to pet him, whisper sweet nothings into his ear, and shower him with tons of love and affection. She was doing everything for real that we had hoped to catch on film. So, instead of watching the baby, Simone joined Sandra in a very natural, and totally honest Conversa Brasileira. Que lindo! É seu?! It is so cute! Is it yours? SANDRA: É, é minha.! Yes, it is. É sua?! Is it yours? SANDRA: É. Yes. É mulher? Is it a girl? SANDRA: É... Yeah... Ela é fêmea? Eu posso pegar?" Is it female? Can I touch her? SANDRA: Pode, pode, à vontade... Sure, sure, go ahead... Não é brava? Isn t she agitated? SANDRA: Não, não, é super mansinha... No, no, she s very tame... Qual é o nome dela? Oh, it s a girl... that s cool! SANDRA: É Belinha. It s Belinha. 16

3 Animals 2: Dog lovers 2 Conversa Brasileira Oi, Belinha. Tudo bem, Belinha? Como você tá, Belinha? Hi, Belinha. Are you fine, Belinha? How are you, Belinha? SANDRA: Vê, super mansa... Look at how tame she is... Quantos anos ela tem? # How old is she? SANDRA: Tem cinco. She s five. Cinco anos? Ah, Belinha... você tá um pouco velhinha, hein Belinha? Five years old? Oh, Belinha... you re a little old, Belinha. SANDRA: Ah, não fala assim porque ela é tão boa...$ Don t say that because she s so nice... É mesmo? Really? SANDRA: É... apesar de já ter cinco anos é super companheira... % In spite of being five years old, she s a very good companion... É mesmo? Really? SANDRA:... tem muita energia ainda she still has lots of energy... E qual a raça dela? & What s her breed? SANDRA: Olha, ah, é meio vira-lata, viu?' Well, she s sort of a mutt... SANDRA: O pai era labrador, mas a mãe eu não sei... Her father was a labrador, but her mother I don t know... Não sabe? Ah, então ela... You don t know? So, she... SANDRA:... e ela não tem pedigree,( então é meio que and she isn t a pedigree, so she s sort of... Ah, então é vira-lata... So, she s a mutt... SANDRA:... meio que vira-lata sort of a mutt... 17

4 Conversa Brasileira Animals 2: Dog lovers 2 Mas não tem importância, né Belinha? A gente é carinhosa do mesmo jeito, né Belinha?) But this is not important, right Belinha? Either way we are affectionate, right Belinha? SANDRA: Você tem cachorro? Do you have a dog? Eu tenho, tenho quatro cachorros em casa... Yes, I have four dogs at home... SANDRA: Quatro? Four? Quatro... são todos vira-lata também. A gente pegou na rua, doentes e a gente cuida muito deles... Four... they re all mutts, too. We got them off the street; they were sick, but we took care of them... SANDRA: Uau! Wow! A gente pegou... leva ao veterinário pra poder cuidar e tudo e a gente castra também pra eles não terem mais filhos,* senão não cabe dentro de casa... We got them... we take them to the veterinarian to take care of them and we also castrate them, so that they don t have more babies; otherwise our house would be full of them mas a gente, eu amo muito, minha família toda gosta muito deles but we... I do love them, my whole family likes them a lot... SANDRA: Então você tá sempre no veterinário? So, you re always at the veterinarian, right? Sempre no veterinário! Always at the veterinarian! SANDRA: Meu Deus! Oh my! Mas a gente não importa não, porque a gente gosta muito... But we don t mind, because we like it so much... SANDRA: E só tem cachorro em casa ou tem outros... Do you have only dogs at home or any other... Tem oito gatos também... There are eight cats, too... SANDRA: Oito? Eight? 18

5 Animals 2: Dog lovers 2 Conversa Brasileira Vira-latas também... Stray cats... SANDRA: Todos de rua também? Did you take them off the street, too? Pegamos pra cuidar também, do mesmo jeito... Yeah, we also took them off the street to take care of them, the same way as before... SANDRA: Uau! Wow! A gente gosta muito deles, são muito amigos... We like them a lot, they re very friendly... SANDRA: Meu Deus! Oh my! Eh, né Belinha? Yeah... right Belinha? SANDRA: Eu prefiro cachorro do que gato. I prefer dogs over cats. Eu gosto de qualquer um. Gato é bom pra dormir junto... I like either one. Cats are good to sleep with... SANDRA: Ah, é? Oh, really? Oh Belinha, foi um prazer te conhecer, viu Belinha? Prazer conhecê-la. Oh Belinha... it was nice to meet you, Belinha. Nice to meet you. SANDRA: Igualmente. Nice to meet you, too. Tchau, Belinha. Bye, Belinha. SANDRA: Tá, tchau. OK, bye. 19

6 Conversa Brasileira Animals 2: Dog lovers 2 1. É seu, é minha, é sua Notice that possessive pronouns have to agree in number and gender, but the important part is that it s the thing possessed not the possessor meaning that the gender is based on the things possessed, which in this case is a female dog. In English one would just say, Is the dog yours? When Simone asks é seu? she is supposing that the dog is male. When Sandra responds with é minha she is clarifying that the dog is female. And that is why Simone follows up with é sua? 2. Eu posso pegar? Brazilians often eliminate pronouns. In this case a possible English translation would be something like, Can I pet her? or Can I touch her? Both would sound a little strange in English as simply Can I pet? or Can I touch? In Portuguese however, the normal tendency is to speak without the pronouns. 3. Quantos anos ela tem? Note that Spanish speakers often change the word order to make a question, putting the verb before the pronoun. Brazilians rarely do that. In this sentence we don t see anything like Quantos anos tem ela which would follow a more Spanish type of pattern. 4. Ah, não fala assim porque ela é tão boa This is actually a very difficult sentence to translate because the English version sounds extremely harsh, almost mean. In Portuguese however it just doesn t carry that bold of a meaning, in fact it is rather playful. 20

7 Animals 2: Dog lovers 2 Conversa Brasileira 5. É super companheira Sandra has used the adjective super twice. First she said that Belinha was super mansinha (very gentle) and here she says that Belinha is a super companheira (a very good companion). This is pretty common, using the word super to intensify something. 6. E qual a raça dela? The English speaking brain wants to see a verb in this sentence, but Brazilians often use qual without a verb. One could say qual é a raça dela? but people are just as likely to say qual a raça dela? 7. Olha, é meio vira-lata, viu? What a great phrase in Portuguese. First of all Sandra starts with olha which is her way of saying, well, look, um I m thinking about what to say Then we hear the word meio which literally means half and it is used to show that something is half way there. And that is why the translation of kind of or sort of ends up being the modifier of nouns and adjectives. Finally we see the word vira-lata for mutt, literally being a dog that knocks over (virar) cans (latas). The dog s a can knocker over! 8. Ela não tem pedigree Listeners will be hard pressed to hear which syllable is stressed on the word pedigree. Is it pédigree or pedigrée? In English the word is clearly stressed on the third to last syllable, but in Portuguese it is stressed on the final syllable. 21

8 Conversa Brasileira Animals 2: Dog lovers 2 9. A gente é carinhosa do mesmo jeito, né Belinha? Here s another phrase that is really hard to translate directly into English. A gente of course stands for we, but we are affectionate of the same style just doesn t work. What Simone is really saying is that even if Belinha doesn t have a lofty pedigree, even as a mutt we all love her just the same. 10. A gente castra também pra eles não terem mais filhos Brazilians use the personalized infinitive a lot, even though grammatically you can say the sentence without it. Here we don t see a gente castra também pra não ter mais filhos. It s not even an issue of being ambiguous because we are sure that it s the dogs that are being fixed! The phrase pra eles não terem just clarifies and emphasizes who the subject of ter is, i.e., the dogs of course. 11. Todos de rua? Notice that if Sandra and Simone had said todos da rua they would have been speaking of a specific street. While in English it might make more sense to say from the street da rua, in Portuguese the idea of any street or from the streets in general is expressed by saying de rua without the definite article the. 12. Gato é bom pra dormir junto The question is why Simone said junto and not juntos. And the answer is because in this junto is an adverb, modifying the verb dormir. Adjectives have to agree with the noun they modify (homens juntos mulheres juntas), but adverbs only have one form. 22