The way to say ‘backstage’ or, ‘behind the scenes’ in Portuguese is, os bastidores.
We went behind-the-scenes at the show! >> Visitamos os bastidores do show!
The video shows the behind-the-scenes of political power >> O vídeo mostra os bastidores do poder politico.
I hope we can get some behind-the-scenes coverage of carnaval! >> Espero que consegamos os bastidores do carnaval!
How would you say something like:
“I’m bad at remembering names” –?
or,
“Shes’s good with money” … “I’m no good at doing that” –???
People learning english have a real problem with phrases like these because the prepositions (good at, good with) seem arbitrary.
Let’s try some:
“I’m bad at remembering names” >> Eu sou ruím em lembrar de nomes. (but, people on the street will say: “Eu sou ruím de nomes”)
“She’s good at managing money” >> Ela é boa em lidar com dinheiro. (people really say: “Ela é boa com dinheiro”)
“I’m no good at doing that” >> Não sou bom em fazer aquilo. (street trad: “Ei não sou bom naquilo”)
“Are you good at tennis?” >> Você é bom no tênis? (The formal version of this is: “Você é bom em jogar tênis?”)
…hmmm. At the start of this post I really though it as easier in to say these things in portuguese but — it’s not. It is easier ONLY if you are already fluent and used to using the shorthand, “street” versions of these!
Just as Brazilians love to talk and be social, they are equally enthusiastic about facebook, twitter, skype and all the rest.
*just a year or two ago everyone had an Orkut account — now replaced almost completely by facebook.
Some of our readers have been asking us to talk about the current vocabulary of média social.
This, for example form Chris:
Just wanted to make a request: is there a chance you could do some lessons on vocab for Social Media? Things like “friending/unfriending” someone on Facebook. “blocking”, spammers, posters, followers, “retweet”, “hashtags”, always stump me. How do I say “like” a page/post for instance? I’m sure there’s a lot of English used … The other day a Brazilian friend in Rio posted that he was “fazendo um clean” of his Facebook profile! I don’t know if this subject is something you’ve thought of before…? I speak quite good Portuguese but more and more I’m finding it really awkward talking about these things specifically.Bom, most important is that you get the way they “friend” — they always use the verb adicionar, like this:
Ana > Você tem Facebook? Tiago > Claro! Pode me adicionar.
Ana > Vou te adicionar, sim.
To DEFRIEND someone you deleter or, tirar the person like this:
Clara > Amiga, você me tirou do deu face?
Tania > Sim... Desculpa amiga foi por engano.
Vou te 'ad' novamente.
To LIKE something is to curtir, like this:
*** Note to Chris: ”fazendo um clean” is just what you would think it is >> cleaning house. In this case, he means that he’s tidying-up his facebook network (or, rather : removing some “friends”)
DAR TRABALHO = ’to give work’ (literally) but, means ‘to make work’ , ‘to cause trouble’ or, ‘to make things difficult’. Let’s look at the context:
> Minha filha está me dando muito trabalho — ela chora toda hora!
> O cachorro está dando muito trabalho fazendo bagunça em casa e etc…
> Ele só tem onze anos e já está dando muito trabalho! (he’s already becoming a HANDFULL)
Learn Portuguese – it can change your life! Mas, vai dar trabalho para aprender.
That’s what olympic athlete Rafaela Silva said after being eliminated (declassificada) for an illegal Judo move.
And the expression, “cabeça quente” — hot head is something we would say as well.
What’s worth learning from this is that Brazilians use ‘cabeça’ in expressions all the time.
Let’s see…
de cabeça para baixo = upside-down
> Depois que ela foi demitida, a vida dela virou de cabeça para baixo.
cabeça cheia = overloaded
> O João está com a cabeça cheia hoje.
levanta a cabeça = lift your head up / be proud
> Levanta sua cabeça amiga. Você fez o melhor que pode hoje!
cabeça dura = stubborn / hard-headed
> Ele é um cabeça dura! Nunca aceita um conselho de ninguém.
cabeça oca = airhead
> Juliete realmente é uma cabeça oca.
esquentar a cabeça = get excited, worried
> O passado já era. Não vale a pena esquentar a cabeça!
cabeça fraca = impressionable
> Ele é um cabeça fraca, nem tem opinião própria.
*** Use ‘estar+com’ (or, ‘estar+de) when it’s a temporary situation, use ‘ser+um/a’ when it’s permanent!
> Series 1 will get you squared=away with the verbs SER & ESTAR!
Are they calling you a ‘nota dez’ or simply a ‘um-sete-um’ -?
You better know. Brazilians love to use numbers with hidden meanings. Let’s look at the most common;
zero = brand, spanking, new.
> Ele ganhou um carro zero para trabalho.
10= really, really good.
> Ela é linda, inteligente e simpatica — Ela é NOTA dez!
22= maluco. No Tarô há a carta do ARCANO 22 – O LOUCO.
> Ela deu uma de 22 e começou a gritar igual um macaco.
24= gay (veado). This comes from the betting game “jogo do bicho” which is played with numbered cards, each with the image of an animal. No. 24 is the deer or, veado. Not totally sure why deer = gay, but it does.
> Olha, eu vi ele saindo de uma boate gay no centro então, acho que ele deve ser ’24.’
171= rip-off, con (estelionato). Comes from the código penal in which 171 is that which deals with cons and fraud.
> Aquele home é maior 171, vive dando golpe.
0800= grátis, de graça. 800 is the toll-free prefix!
> Antes das 10 horas a entrada na boate é 0800.
mil= really, really great. Just like ‘dez’ only more so.
One of the toughest things to get used to in this language is how you ‘ask’ for things. I mean, in a polite way — like when you’re requesting something from a store clerk. We dare used to saying for example, ‘I would like…’ / ‘May I have…’ / ‘Could you please give me a …’ — BUT, all of that is pretty much out the window here. It’s not that Brazilians are any less polite, but the words that they use, if taken literally can sound pretty abrasive. Here’s how for example, a typical request goes:
Me dá um quilo de mussarela / porção de batata fritas / melancia / beijo, por favor. *note the ‘por favor‘ — that’s important.
Quero 5 pães franceses / um litro de gasolina / um hamburger
Vou querer um açaí com granola / fazer uma viajem para Buenos Aires.