Guest Post: Brazilian Diglossia

Brazilian Diglossia is not a scary a new disease sweeping through South America, nor is it the name of one of the football teams popular in Brazil. Brazilian Diglossia is a theory regarding Brazil’s national language that is exceptionally important for any individual considering learning Portuguese. Brazilian Portuguese (BP) is diglossic, meaning that two dialects of the language are used by the same community. Within this theory, the two forms of Brazilian Portuguese are labelled as High (H-variant) and Low (L-variant). Which sounds tremendously boring to read about, it actually is, I know because I had to research it for this blog. Keep reading, this difference is critical if you want to actually learn Brazilian Portuguese, and I’ll try to keep it interesting.

The L-variant is also called Brazilian Vernacular. The Brazilian Vernacular is the spoken language that Brazilians use in everyday life. It is the language that is learned at home as a child, and the only language that some Brazilians truly master. This is the version of Portuguese that you will find in telenovelas, song lyrics, essentially any form of communication that is not considered formal. What’s interesting is that this form of the language differs so much from the H-Variant of the language that many Brazilians would have a hard time understanding someone speaking the H-variant.

The H-variant is the formal version of the language, it is also considered to be much closer to modern European Portuguese. H-variant is what is taught in school, used in most literary works, utilised during government proceedings, and at times used as a way to exclude different social stratifications. Some like to say it is the ‘prestige’ form of BP. What is interesting about this is that no one actually uses it in Brazil. This form of the language isn’t even used by the upper-classes as it’s seen as a sign of arrogance.

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An understanding of this separation between most writing and common speech is integral to finding success when Brazilian Portuguese is essential for you. If you are only able to speak European Portuguese or the H-variant of BP, you may be able to understand the common L-variant but find that your listeners are unable to understand you. A colleague of mine who is Brazilian spent some time in Portugal ran into an interesting problem while trying to buy a sandwich. She was looking for ham on the menu but it was nowhere to found. When asking for it in line they couldn’t understand what she was saying, and kept replying “Fiambre” “Fiambre!” She had no idea what Fiambre meant! As it turned out, this is how “ham” is pronounced in the H-Variant of the language. Other more troubling examples exist but they are not appropriate for this blog.

Ultimately, if you want to spend time in Brazil, you need to learn the Brazilian form of the language. This will help you avoid translation problems like the one above and many more. It will also allow you to enjoy a more thorough cultural immersion by actually conversing with all Brazilians, allowing you to develop deeper relationships with locals. So, catch yourself a case of Brazilian Diglossia and learn the language the right way.

This article is a guest post by Mike Lee, an American expat, originally from the DC metropolitan area now working for BRIC Language Systems, a language school that offers Mandarin, Brazilian Portuguese, and Spanish language lessons for professionals.

Cute words in portuguese Part 6 - tá ligado?

One of the acid tests of mastering a foreign language is your level of understanding of local slang. In most cases, especially if learning through traditional classroom methods, slang tends to be absorbed after formal language.

And yet, it is often the most interesting part. One of my favourite street expressions in Brazilian Portuguese, is "tá ligado?".

It is in fact a contraction of "você esta ligado?" which literally means "Are you switched on?" which in turn means "Do you understand?" or " Are you listening?"

It's roughly equivalent do the slang phrase "know what I mean?" in the UK or perhaps even the famous "innit?" and like its English counterparts it's best said not written.

Tá ligado?

"Tá ligado", often overused in Hip Hop circles

More cute words in Portuguese here

Which fruit is what fruit in Brazilian supermarkets

Having made a concerted effort to spend more time in Brazil and less time travelling this year I have recently been receiving compliments as to how good my Portuguese has become. This is very encouraging but there are still parts of the language that I find difficult to master.

Whether this is a common problem or whether it's just me, I'll never know, but in previous languages I have learned I have always found the names of plants especially difficult and in Brazil the vast diversity of different fruit complicates my vocabulary learning even further.

Here's an example from my local supermarket which has a plentiful but not exhaustive array of fruit in the fruit and vegetable department. I occasionally look at the labels just to memorise the names in the hope that having the fruit in front of me will provide a strong visual clue but I find that when I return I still get one fruit confused with another.

Here is an example. All the below fruit look very similar and yet they are all very different:

First up is the Atimoia fruit which is also known as the Pineapple sugar apple although it is related neither to the Sugar Apple nor to the Pineapple.  It is what is known in botanical circles as a hybrid fruit a cross between  the Annona Cherimola and the Annona squamosa. There are three types which are common in Brazil: The Gefner, The Thompson and the fantastically named Pink Mammoth

This one is a very common fruit called Graviola or Soursop in English. I started drinking the juice before knowing what the actual fruit looked like.  Originally from the Antilles islands, it's called Sape Sape in Angola and in Brazil it grows in the Amazon and the North Eastern states.

OK now it gets confusing. This one is Kino, or Cucumis Metuliferus and it's originally from Africa and rather than being related to either of the fruit above it is a close relative of the melon and the cucumber. It's referred to as the Horned Melon in English and apparently it tastes a bit like a kiwi, can't wait to try,

Yes, there's one more. This one is Pinha or Annona squamosa or Sugar Apple in English. It's popular in many tropical countries but not to be confused with the Pineapple Sugar Apple which is the first fruit mentioned above

Now are we all sure we know our Horned Melons from our Pink Mammoths?

Cute words in Portuguese Part 5

An alternative way of saying “where is” in Portuguese is “cadê?” It’s used as an equivalent to “what’s up” as well as in “cadê você”?

I learnt this relatively late. It confused me at first because it is not intuitive and doesn’t have a twin word in other Latin languages. So where does it come from?

Nobody really knows. One theory is that it is derived from “Que e de” – literally “what is of”. So “que e de sua mae” would be “what is of your mother” and this over time would have become “Cadê sua mae” i.e. where is your mother:

“Que e de sua mae?"

"Quede sua mae?"

"Cadê sua mãe”


The other somewhat less plausible theory is that there has somehow been some Slavic influence in Brazilian Portuguese as the word “where” as in “where is” is very similar to “cadê” in various Eastern European languages:

Bulgarian: къде (pronounced: [kâ`dé])
Polish: gdzie (pronounced: [gdjé])
Russian: где (pronounced: [gd(i)e])
Czech: kde (pronounced: [gdé])

This does seem more of a coincidence than a theory as there would surely be other Slavic influences in the language. Plus, there has been no significant immigration between these two areas of the world.

Either way it’s become one of my favourite words!

More cute words in Portuguese here:

Cute Words in Portuguese Part 4

 A hyper-distorted portuguese anglicism AKA a cheeseburger

There are a number of anglicisms which have been adopted and integrated into Brazilian Portuguese. A lot of them have been distorted or morphed along the way which makes for some interesting and amusing reading for those lucky enough to be bilingual.

Here are some examples:

"Picape" (pick-up truck).
"Bife" (whiche derives from "beef" but actually is closer to "steak" in meaning)

and my personal favourite "X-burger"

The letter "x", in Brazilian Portuguese makes a "ch" sound and is spelt "xis"  So a cheeseburger is written X-burger and as "tudo" is "all" you can be sure that if you order a X-tudo you will get a mighty big burger as in the menu below:

Add caption

See also:

Cute words in Portuguese Part 3
Cute words in Portuguese Part 2
Cute words in Portuguese Part 1

Cute Words in Brazilian Portuguese Part 3

"Para inglês ver" means for the English, or Englishman to see and it's used, quite frequently, in Brazilian Portuguese to describe something that is just for show. I found this quite a funny expression and was curious to find out if there was an interesting etymology behind it, and indeed there is:

Back in 1831 the Brazilian goverment came under pressure from England to abolish slavery. At the time England exerted influence on Brazil due to manufacturing, trade and financial dependence. Bowing to the pressure then, a new law was introduced which would severly fine importers of slaves and which made slaves free upon arrival on Brazilian shores. 

However most people including the deputies in parliament did not believe the law was enforceable and didn't think it would be effective and it would be only for the English, or Englishman to see. Therein was born the expression para o inglês ver.

In fact as predicted Brazilian slavery continued despite the change and until a new law was passed some twenty years later in 1852. 

  
See other cute words entries here:

Cute Words in Brazilian Portuguese Part 2

Here are three of my new favourite words each which caught me unaware when I first heard them, I'm sure fellow expats in Brazil will connect with these:



The Number 6
Six is pretty cool because it has 2 names: "seis" which is similar to Spanish and "meia" which means "half" or "sock". At first it can get pretty confusing when you're not used to it. If you want to say, you want six coffees you would order "seis cafés" which is fine but if you have a six in your phone number (e.g. 65726321 you would effectively say: sock five seven two sock three two one or half five seven two half three two one!

Then again if you wanted to meet at 06:30 you would say "seis e meia" but then "meia" would be half not sock or six which is "seis" Get it?

The SMS
Maybe it's just me but if you have a visual mind you will love this one too. SMS just like six has multiple names too. And one of the most common is "torpedo" which is a general term for either SMS or MMS. I just love the idea of sending someone a torpedo although the first time my operator told me they were about to send me a torpedo I did find it mildly troubling :)

If you want to try you can fire away for free here: http://torpedogratis.net

The Last Drink
Anytime I am with a Brazilian and he/she is about to go home they always convince themselves to have on more drink which inevitably turns out not to be the last drink at all because they get stuck in a loop and again convince themselve to have a last drink. I guess this must be quite common because the last drink even has a name of it´s own which is "saideira".

See also: Cute Words in Brazilian Portuguese Part 1

Cute Words in Brazilian Portuguese Part I

As my command, if you permit me such a verb, of Brazilian Portuguese improves I am starting to enjoy the subtleties and nuances of the language. One of the fun things about Brazilian Portuguese versus Portuguese Portuguese is the very direct and pragmatic way in which the language is adapted. New words are created at ease with little worry about the fit with traditional Portuguese resulting in very cute combo words such as the ones below:

Revista = Magazine SO Revistaria = Kiosk/Newsagents

Similarly Bicicleta = bicycle SO Bicletario = Bikeshed

Absorver = to absorb SO Absorvente  = Sanitary Towel

Café = coffee, Manha = morning SO Café da Manha = Breakfast

My favourite: Moça = girl SO Aeromoça = Stewardess! Brilliant! 

ps. Personally, I am all in favour of making new words even if the purists say the existing ones suffice. Language is alive and kicking and should be constantly evolving. More cute words to come, I´m off for my morningcoffee..